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Home » Easy French Buttercream

Easy French Buttercream

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Published: 11/04/2020Updated: 11/04/2020
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This easy French buttercream is ultra-light, creamy and not overly sweet! It’s truly a dream!! I’m sharing my time-tested method without complicated sugar syrup or double boiler!

If you know anything about me, you know, I have a little obsession with macarons. So naturally, I have a thing about fillings. And this French buttercream is a perfect filling for macarons.

Today, I’m going to teach you super simple method to make French buttercream. No candy thermometer required!

What is French buttercream?

French buttercream is a light and creamy buttercream with cooked egg yolks. Typically, French buttercream is made by cooking sugar syrup until softball stage and stirred into the egg yolks. Then you stir in butter until buttercream is ultra-light and creamy.

However, we’re not messing with hot sugar syrup or anything. My French buttercream method is way more simplified, but it yields amazing result nonetheless!

What’s the difference between Italian, Swiss and French buttercream?

  • Italian buttercream is a meringue-based buttercream, where hot sugar syrup is poured into whipped egg whites.
  • Swiss buttercream is also a meringue-based buttercream, but unlike Italian buttercream, egg whites are cooked with sugar over a double-boiler and then it’s whipped into a meringue.
  • French buttercream, on other hand, is egg-yolk based buttercream. It has richer, more custard-like taste. And due to yolks, it tends to have pale yellow shade. In my case though, it’s bright yellow color, because I’m using farm eggs from my mother-in-law.

How to make French buttercream:

This recipe makes a very small batch of buttercream, but it’s enough to fill one batch of macarons. If you’re planning on filling cakes, or cupcakes, you can easily double, triple, or even quadruple this recipe!

With this small batch, I use my immersion blender with a whisk attachment.

Tip

When whisking the yolks and sugar, use a bowl with high sides, so it doesn’t spray out everywhere.

  1. Using an electric hand mixer, whisk yolks lightly and then add sugar. Whisk the mixture until it’s thick and pale and sugar is mostly dissolved. Stir in the milk.
  2. Transfer the egg yolk mixture into a small saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring frequently. Continue to cook until it’s thick like a pudding, about 5 minutes. Pour the mixture into a clean bowl and bring it to room temperature.
  3. Stir in butter in three batches, mixing well after each addition. I use a silicone spatula for this step.
  4. Add vanilla extract and continue to mix until smooth. For filling macarons, I prefer this consistency of the buttercream. But you can also whip it for even more light and airy buttercream.
Whipped French Buttercream

Troubleshooting French buttercream

Why my buttercream is soupy?

Most likely, your buttercream is too warm. You either didn’t cool the egg yolk mixture well before adding butter. Or you butter was too soft.

To fix this issue, simply place the buttercream into a fridge for 15-30 minutes and stir it again. It should thicken up as butter hardens in cool temperature.

Why my buttercream is lumpy and hard to stir?

Butter is not soft enough.

To fix this issue, let the mixture sit at room temperature and soften. And then stir it again. If you’re in a hurry, you may carefully warm it up over a double boiler. But be very careful as to not melt the butter too much. In that case, see the issue above.

French buttercream recipe variations

You can customize this basic recipe and add any kind of flavoring and coloring you want.

  • Just like regular American buttercream, you can add melted chocolate, caramel sauce, peanut butter.
  • Or you can add different extracts, liquors and emulsions.
  • Feel free to use food coloring to make different colored buttercream too!

Easy French Buttercream

This easy French buttercream is ultra-light, creamy and not overly sweet! It's truly a dream!! I'm sharing my time-tested method without complicated sugar syrup or double boiler!
serves: 25
Total : 15 minutes
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Ingredients

  • 2 large egg yolks
  • ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
  • 3 ½ tablespoons milk
  • 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter softened
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Note: I test all my recipes with both measurements for the most precise and accurate result!

Instructions

  • Using an electric hand mixer, whisk yolks and sugar until the mixture is pale and sugar is mostly dissolved. Stir in the milk. (TIP: It's best to use a bowl with high sides, so it doesn't spray out everywhere.)
  • Transfer the egg yolk mixture into a small saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring frequently. Continue to cook until it’s thick like a pudding, about 5 minutes. Pour the mixture into a clean bowl and bring it to room temperature.
  • Stir in butter in three batches, mixing well after each addition. I use a silicone spatula for this step.
  • Add vanilla extract and continue to mix until smooth. For filling macarons, I prefer this consistency of the buttercream.
  • However, if you'd like, you can also whip it until fluffy with an electric mixer. Whipped buttercream is ideal for filling cakes and cupcakes.

Tips & Notes:

Yield: 3/4 cup of filling, enough for filling 1 batch (25) of macarons.
Freezing Instructions: French buttercream freezes well. Place it in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight, then bring it to room temperature. Whip it, if needed.

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 47kcal (2%) Carbohydrates: 2g (1%) Protein: 1g (2%) Fat: 4g (6%) Saturated Fat: 3g (19%) Cholesterol: 26mg (9%) Sodium: 34mg (1%) Potassium: 4mg Sugar: 2g (2%) Vitamin A: 138IU (3%) Calcium: 5mg (1%) Iron: 1mg (6%)
* Disclaimer: All nutrition information are estimates only. Read full disclosure here.
Author: Shinee
Did you make this?Show me your creation! Tag me @shineshka and hashtag it #sweetandsavorybyshinee!
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  1. Denette says

    Posted on 5 January 2021 at 5:44 pm

    Turned out perfect! I love your recipe feature that allowed me to do a batch and a half so easily. That adjustable scale feature is great. I have previously tried a more traditional recipe with the cooked sugar syrup. The first batch I had to throw out because of hard bits of sugar. The second batch was edible and tasty but it seemed quite a bit of the sugar was spun out along the bowl and edge of bowl. I suspected the sugar to butter ratio was off a bit because of the sugar stuck to the bowl. This recipe was easy, didn’t need the stand mixer and no hot sugar spinning around in the bowl. I felt like all the ingredients were will mixed and not stuck somewhere they shouldn’t be. Thank you. The buttercream is the filling in my latest batch of macarons, attempt # 4. A single batch would have probably been adequate for the 35 pairs of macarons but I didn’t want to run out. And who doesn’t want some extra French buttercream?!

    Reply
  2. Marilia Cipolloni says

    Posted on 16 May 2020 at 11:42 pm

    5 stars
    Is my first time, the color was little darker, and I must watch the sizes. But I’m happy with my first attempt.

    Reply
  3. Mari says

    Posted on 7 May 2019 at 11:55 am

    How many does this recipe make? 

    Reply
    • Shinee says

      Posted on 8 May 2019 at 9:33 am

      About 3/4 cup of frosting.

      Reply
  4. Kim Ji Hyung says

    Posted on 26 January 2019 at 1:07 am

    Can I add food colouring into the filling? I’m trying this recipe tomorrow for my boyfriend’s birthday

    Reply
  5. Kate says

    Posted on 11 November 2018 at 2:36 pm

    When I made this my butter was very lumpy and super hard to stir in. What do you think caused this?

    Reply
    • Shinee says

      Posted on 13 November 2018 at 9:19 am

      Hi, Kate. Did you soften the butter at room temperature before making the frosting? The butter should be soft.

      Reply
    • David says

      Posted on 29 September 2020 at 9:32 am

      I found that running a hand mixer at low speed through the mixture slowly and thoroughly will smooth the mixture nicely…low speed only as higher speeds will add too much air to the mixture and cause voids when spreading…a minute or two should do it

      Reply
      • Shinee says

        Posted on 29 September 2020 at 11:48 pm

        Great tip, David. I just made couple batches of this over the weekend to reshoot the photos, and I did try using a mixer. It makes it fluffier and I loved it too! Thanks for sharing!

        Reply
      • Denette says

        Posted on 5 January 2021 at 5:46 pm

        I did the same. It gave it a better consistency and I didn’t whip enough to add a lot of air.

        Reply
  6. Chris says

    Posted on 2 October 2018 at 7:37 pm

    5 stars
    Absolutely awesome recipe!! Very detailed and easy to follow. Most of all came out tasting amazing 👍

    Reply
    • Shinee says

      Posted on 6 October 2018 at 11:54 am

      Awesome, Chris. So glad you liked the recipe. Thank you for your feedback!

      Reply

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