My step-grandmother was a bakery assistant – I was never that fond of her baking but wow could she decorate a cake!  My maternal grandmother was an awesome baker but she wasn’t one for fancy icings.  I fell in love with buttercream because of a local (and I use local loosely) baker.

Fritz was an Austrian cake master – as in apprenticed for umpteen years before he was even allowed to do the minimum of tasks. His cakes were divine, my first birthday cakes came from his shop and I mourn him now that he’s gone. His passing left me with a challenge – find out the secrets of buttercream or be doomed never to have it again.

There are a variety of buttercream styles – it’s a staple in all bakeries but not all buttercream is equal. I’m not even going to talk about that stuff grocery store style bakeries call buttercream because, well, generally there isn’t any butter in the frosting. It’s basically shortening, sugar and color. The three main forms are Meringue Based, French and German.

There are two basic styles of meringue used in the Meringue Style buttercream – italian and swiss. The components in the meringue are similar but the method varies. Swiss Meringue is made by combining egg whites, vanilla, salt and sugar and then bringing the mixture up to tempture by placing it over a pan of simmering water to pasteurize the eggs and then whipping to the desired consistency. Italian is made by slowly adding a sugar syrup to whipped egg whites, salt and vanilla. The meringue is then whipped until the mixing bowl and mixture are cool to the touch. Unsalted butter and flavorings are then added.

I’ve seen french buttercream made two separate ways – one using whole eggs and the other using yolks only. In this case the eggs are whipped until they’re light and fluffy, a sugar syrup is added slowly. This mixture is whipped until the bowl is cool to the touch and unsalted butter and flavorings are then added.

German buttercream is made by combining butter, sugar and pastry cream. It’s this last style that Fritz made me fall in love with but honestly, they’re all very nice forms. One note about this style – if you’re looking for a truly white buttercream, this isn’t the one you want.