Flower Piping Buttercream Recipe
Flower Piping Buttercream Recipe
For flower piping you need a stiff CONSISTENCY buttercream that will hold its shape. My recipe is an American buttercream and it consists of two ingredients using a 2:1 ratio. Adding liquids to your buttercream will affect the consistency and you will find your petals won’t hold their shape, plus it will melt much quicker. I’ve used this recipe for many years and following my method of mixing you will be able to produce beautiful buttercream flowers.
Ingredients
🦋 A stand mixer with a paddle attachment
🦋 500g of pure butter (salted or unsalted)
🦋 1kg icing sugar
Method
Your butter needs to be firm but not straight from the fridge. I tend to remove mine from the fridge about an hour before I need to make my buttercream. In summer this time is shorter. Your butter should be firm but you should be able to leave a small indent in it with your finger.
Add the butter to your mixer with the paddle attachment (do not use the whisk attachment as this will pump air into the buttercream) and mix on high for approximately 30 seconds. You just want to break the butter up at this point. Lots of people feel tempted to whip their butter at this stage to ensure it becomes more pale in colour. This is a big no no for flower piping. You’ll end up with a buttercream that’s full of air bubbles and it will produced flowers that have a spongy appearance.
Add in 500g of icing sugar, sift the sugar to remove any lumps and clumps. Mix slowly to begin with to ensure you don’t create a huge cloud of icing sugar. Gently increase the speed to medium/high, the moment the icing sugar is incorporated with the butter stop mixing. This part of the process takes me no longer than two minutes.
Add the remaining 500g of icing sugar and follow the same method as the last step. Don’t be tempted to keep mixing. As soon as the butter and icing sugar are incorporated you must stop mixing. The key here is to not add lots of air into your buttercream.
Total mixing time is roughly 4-5 minutes. You will be left with a very firm stiff buttercream icing that is perfect for piping flowers.
FAQ
How do I lighten my buttercream if I can’t whip my butter first?
I remove as much of the yellow tones as possible before I add in the icing sugar. I do this by adding in a few drops of purple and blue Colour mill food colour to the butter at the very first stage. This won’t make a bright white icing but it will remove a lot of the yellow undertones. How many drops you need will depend on how yellow your butter is to begin with. Start off with one or two and increase slowly. Remember you can add more but you can’t take it away. See the video at the bottom of this page for reference. You can also add whitener to your finished icing, but be mindful adding too much can alter the appearance and consistency of your icing.
How long will this icing last?
This icing will not go off until the butter does. So the shelf life is usually long.
How do I store this buttercream?
Keep the buttercream in the fridge. I don’t own a microwave, so I remove the buttercream from the fridge about an hour or two before I need to use it. This depends on the current season. An hour before use in summer is fine, but in winter I’ll need two hours really. You can also use a microwave on short blasts to loosen it up.
Is this recipe any good for a hot climate?
This is where things become tricky. It’s essentially butter, which we all know melts when it’s hot. It’s much harder to pipe flowers in summer than it is in autumn or spring. The heat does effect it. Those of us in the UK tend to use icing packs with a tea towel on top, to place our piping bags on. We also end up putting the icing in and out of the fridge when we are working with it. If you live in a very hot and humid climate, you may need to remove some of the butter and replace with shortening/Trex. This will be trial and error though. It’s something you’ll need to play around with to find a ratio that works for you and your climate.
Can I flavour the icing?
Definitely but you need to be careful about liquid flavourings. I personally use Dr Oetker vanilla extract and the consistency is syrup like. So it doesn’t change my buttercream. Adding liquids to this buttercream can change how well it pipes. So please be mindful of this. 2 teaspoons of extract should be fine but it depends on personal taste. Another good way of changing the flavour is to use flavoured icing sugars.
Why can’t I use my whisk attachment on my mixer?
Simply put you’ll create too much air and the buttercream consistency will be off. Only ever use the paddle attachment.
What food colours can I use on this buttercream?
I recommend either gel or paste colours. You can use oil based colours but adding too much will change the consistency. If using oil based go for pastel shades as it will use less food colouring. I personally use Sugarflair, ProGel and Fractal colours. All available to purchase here.
I’m finding this hard to pipe with in winter, can you help?
Winter piping is just as much of a nightmare as summer. The buttercream is so firm it can be difficult to use. You can use your microwave on short bursts until the buttercream is easier to pipe with. I personally use a tiny amount of boiling water, yes I know I said adding liquids isn’t good but it’s the only solution I have as I don’t own a microwave. So I will take a small amount of buttercream in its own bowl and I’ll add a 1/2- 1 teaspoon of boiling water to it. It softens it up just enough so I can pipe with it.
My piping bags keep bursting when using this icing, why is this happening?
This is a very firm buttercream and cheap bags won’t cut it. You must use strong good quality piping bags which do cost a bit more, but it’s worth it. I only ever use simply making biodegradable bags but we also sell their normal piping bags too. Both are very strong. You can also invest in some strong reusable piping bags. Another issue may be because you are overloading the piping bag. I only ever add about two heaped table spoons of icing to my bag at one time. The final issue may be the buttercream is too cold. See my previous response for advice on how to solve this issue.
I like to use cream or milk in my icing, can I add it to this recipe?
I wouldn’t advise it. Adding liquids will make the buttercream much softer which won’t produce the results you are looking for. Stick to the recipe. If it’s not to your taste perhaps try a Korean style meringue based recipe.