German Buttercream Recipe
Delicious pastry cream whipped into a frosting to make this silky smooth custard buttercream
Servings: 1 batch
Ingredients
- 480 ml (2 cups) Whole Milk, 480g / 480ml
- 100 g (½ cup) Granulated Sugar, 100g
- 5 Large (5 Large) Egg Yolks
- 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) Vanilla Extract
- 30 g (¼ cup) Cornstarch, 30g
- 452 g (4 sticks) Unsalted Butter, 452g (room temperature)
- 38 g (⅓ cup) Powdered Sugar, 38g
Instructions
Make the Pastry Cream (Custard)
- This is my classic custard recipe. Make it in advance so it has time to cool for at least 2 hours.
- In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks, sugar ,and cornstarch until pale and thick.
- Put the milk and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat and warm it until it is scalding hot - this means there is steam rising and you can see tiny bubbles appearing on the surface.
- Drizzle a small amount of warm milk into the egg yolk mixture and whisk, then add a little more, repeat until everything is together in the bowl. It's important to do this slowly and gradually so you don't scramble the eggs
- Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and keep heating, whisking constantly until it begins to boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes until it thickens. Remove from the heat
- Pass the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl to make sure there are no lumps. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to cool.
Make the Custard Buttercream
- Once the pastry cream has completely cooled, place all the butter in your stand mixer and beat with a whisk attachment on medium-high speed for 5 full minutes until pale and fluffy .
- Add the pastry cream one tablespoon at a time until it is all added. Whip for 1 minute on high speed.
- At this stage, taste-test the buttercream to see how much sweetness you would like to add. Add the icing sugar a little at a time, whipping after every addition, until the desired sweetness is reached.