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 a complicated sugar syrup or a 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!
Table of Contents
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 whip in butter until buttercream becomes ultra-light and creamy.
However, we’re not messing with hot sugar syrup today. I’m going to show my simplified French buttercream method that 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 this recipe:
This buttercream recipe makes a very small batch, 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!
And since it’s a small batch, I use my immersion blender with a whisk attachment.
1. Prepare egg yolk mixture
Using an electric hand mixer, lightly whisk the egg yolks and then add sugar. Whisk the mixture until it’s thick and pale and sugar is mostly dissolved. Stir in the milk.
Tip
When whisking the yolks and sugar, use a bowl with high sides, so it doesn’t spray out everywhere.
2. Cook egg yolk mixture
Transfer the egg yolk mixture into a small saucepan and heat it over low heat, stirring frequently. Continue to cook until it’s thick like a pudding, about 5 minutes.
Then pour the mixture into a clean bowl and cool to room temperature.
3. Add butter
Fold 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.
4. Whip or Not Whip:
It’s entirely up to you whether to whip or not whip French buttercream. It also depends on how you’re planning to use it.
- For filling macarons, I prefer the consistency of the buttercream before whipping.
- For cakes and cupcakes, you may want more light and airy texture by whipping the buttercream.
French Buttercream Troubleshooting:
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!
Storing Directions:
Refrigerate French buttercream in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
French buttercream freezes well too. 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.
Video Demo:
Easy French Buttercream
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
Instructions
- Using an electric hand mixer or immersion blender, 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:
Nutrition Facts:
Shelli Carnes says
Better flavor than American buttercream and I love the reduced amount of sugar!! Will definitely be using again!
Shinee says
Yay, so happy you tried and loved it, Shelli! Thanks for your feedback!
Emily says
Waaaay too thin. I had to add heaps of powdered sugar to thicken it up to piping consistency and it lost all of its delicious creamy flavor.
Shinee says
Sorry to hear you had trouble with the recipe. Adding powder sugar isn’t the best route to fix runny buttercream. Please check out the troubleshooting guide above the recipe.
Kary Favish says
If you want to add chocolate or caramel sauce to this recipe, do you need to adjust any of the other ingredients?
Shinee says
Hi, Kary. I’ve never tried adding chocolate or caramel sauce to French buttercream. But I don’t see why you couldn’t, since I do that with Swiss and American buttercream. I don’t think you’d need adjust any other ingredients.
Rigina Pietrowski says
We love this recipe. My family asks for it specifically. Easy to make as well.
Shinee says
Yay, so glad to hear that, Rigina! Thank you for your feedback!!
Jean says
Hi can I frost a cake with this recipe. Thank you
Shinee says
Absolutely. It’s a little on a softer side compared to American buttercream though.
Sheila Vaughan says
Tried this recipe today. Never done French buttercream before. Turned out lovely. Really easy recipe to follow. Added pureed raspberries for colour and flavour and tastes wonderful. Will definitely do again with different flavour combinations.
Shinee says
Yay, so happy you tried and loved this recipe. The addition of raspberries sounds lovely! Thank you for your feedback, Sheila!
Denette says
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?!
Shinee says
Yay, so happy you tried and loved this recipe, Denette! Thank you for sharing your feedback.
Marilia Cipolloni says
Is my first time, the color was little darker, and I must watch the sizes. But I’m happy with my first attempt.
Mari says
How many does this recipe make?
Shinee says
About 3/4 cup of frosting.
Kim Ji Hyung says
Can I add food colouring into the filling? I’m trying this recipe tomorrow for my boyfriend’s birthday
Kate says
When I made this my butter was very lumpy and super hard to stir in. What do you think caused this?
Shinee says
Hi, Kate. Did you soften the butter at room temperature before making the frosting? The butter should be soft.
David says
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
Shinee says
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!
Denette says
I did the same. It gave it a better consistency and I didn’t whip enough to add a lot of air.
Chris says
Absolutely awesome recipe!! Very detailed and easy to follow. Most of all came out tasting amazing 👍
Shinee says
Awesome, Chris. So glad you liked the recipe. Thank you for your feedback!