The highly concentrated raspberry sauce that's added to this buttercream makes this a new go-to recipe of mine. The lack of fake extracts and bright food coloring truly makes the ultimate difference in each and every bite.
This cake was a 9-year-old's birthday cake request, a chocolate cake with a bunch of raspberries in their very purest of forms. I gotta say, this little girl has good taste!
French Buttercream
French buttercream has an incredibly silky, creamy texture somewhat similar to pastry cream. It's a meringue-based, incredibly stable buttercream that is a perfect accompaniment to the next celebration cake you make!
When making French Buttercream it's essential that your butter is room temperature. This means that it is malleable and soft - if cutting with a butterknife, the knife should easily glide through the softened butter.
This buttercream uses egg yolks to make a custard-like frosting that’s so good you’ll hardly believe it! The closest thing I might compare it to is pastry cream. Due to the butter and the high number of egg yolks, it’s very stable and you can use it to pipe with very sharp definition.
This being said, the result of this buttercream is naturally a pale yellow without the addition of raspberry sauce. If you choose not to add any additional ingredients or gel food coloring and want a bright white buttercream, I would stick to using either Italian or Swiss Meringue buttercream instead.
French buttercream is fantastic for frosting cakes, cupcakes, piped into macarons, or even between shortbread to make sandwich cookies.
French Buttercream Vs. Italian Buttercream
The process of making Italian and French buttercream is actually very similar! Within both recipes, hot sugar syrup is added to egg whites that have been whipped in order to incorporate air. Finally, soft butter is added slowly until buttercream is complete.
There's truly one main difference - Italian buttercream is only made with egg whites which are whipped into the meringue while French buttercream is solely made with egg yolks.
Rich with Egg Yolks
French buttercream saves the day when you are left with one too many egg yolks after making macarons, meringue, or other recipes that require a large number of egg whites.
Other egg yolk recipe examples are Hollandaise Sauce, Lemon Curd and Pastry Cream! These are all recipes that require more than one egg yolk - when making an egg white heavy recipe I set aside my egg yolks and utilize them in some way rather than discarding them as they are liquid gold!
Making Raspberry Buttercream
Using a stand mixed with a whisk attachment, whisk your yolks until they appear light in color, for 2-3 minutes.
During this time, combine the sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan. As the mixture starts to melt, make sure to stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved. You should see that the syrup is boiling, and the surface is covered in large bubbles. Your candy thermometer should read 238 degrees Fahrenheit.
Quickly transfer the syrup into a glass measuring cup so that the mixture stops from cooking further.
Pour a bit of syrup over the yolks with the mixer turned off and then immediately beat at high speed for 5 seconds.
Stop the mixer again and repeat, continuing this process until the remaining syrup has been incorporated. Keep the mixer on high speed until the bowl has cooled to room temperature, approximately 7-10 minutes.
Once the mixture has cooled, switch to using the paddle attachment. Slowly add your room temperature butter one tablespoon at a time while the mixer is running.
Gradually beat in the butter and then finally, add the raspberry sauce before commencing your frosting session!
Making Raspberry Sauce
Using frozen raspberries, add them to a mesh strainer positioned over a bowl in the sink. Allow raspberries to thaw completely so that they naturally drain off any excess raspberry juice that we will be using later - this process should take a few hours.
After slightly pressing the berries in the strainer to remove the final excess of juice, place the juice into a saucepan. You should have about one cup of raspberry juice in your pan - boil the juice in order to reduce your juice to about a ¼ cup and set aside.
Meanwhile, puree the thawed raspberries and strain through a mesh strainer to remove any seeds. Stir the pureed raspberries, raspberry syrup and lemon juice together to create a finished sauce!
Set aside until it's time to incorporate into the French Buttercream.
Storing Buttercream
You can freeze French buttercream for up to 3 months in an airtight container. The night before you're planning on using it, place it in the fridge to thaw. To restore the buttercream's smooth consistency, you will have to place it in a kitchen aid and whip for a few minutes before using it.
RASPBERRY BUTTERCREAM
Ingredients
Raspberry Sauce
- 24 oz. Frozen Raspberries
- 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) Lemon Juice
Raspberry Buttercream
- 6 Egg Yolks
- ¾ cup (150 g) Granulated Sugar
- ½ cup (170.5 g) Corn Syrup
- 2 cups (454 g) Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
- ½ cup (170 g) Raspberry Sauce
Instructions
Raspberry Sauce
- In a mesh strainer, allow raspberries to thaw completely - this process should take a few hours. After slightly pressing the berries in the strainer to remove the final excess juice, place the juce into a saucepan. You should have about a cup of raspberry juice in your pan - boil the juice in order to reduce your juice to about a ¼ cup and set aside. Meanwhile, puree your thawed raspberries and strain through a mesh strainer to remove any seeds. Stir the pureed raspberries, raspberry syrup and the lemon juice together to create a finished sauce!
Raspberry Buttercream
- Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk your yolks until they appear light in color - 2-3 minutes.
- During this time, combine the sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan. As mixture starts to melt, make sure to stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved. You should see that the syrup is boiling, and the surface covered in large bubbles. Your candy thermometer should read 238 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Quickly transfer the syrup into a glass measuring cup so that the mixture stops from cooking further.
- Pour a bit of syrup over the yolks with the mixer turned off and then immediately beat at high speed for 5 seconds.
- Stop the mixer again and repeat, continuing this process until the remaining syrup has been incorporated. Keep the mixer on high speed until the bowl has cooled to room temperature, approximately 7-10 minutes.
- Once the mixture has cooled, switch to using the paddle attachment. Slowly add your room temperature butter one tablespoon at a time while the mixer is running.
- Gradually beat in the butter and then finally, add the raspberry sauce before commencing your frosting session!
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