French Buttercream Recipe
How to make the most luxurious of buttercream frostings, French buttercream, with step-by-step photos, troubleshooting guidelines and my favorite recipes to use it in.
This is a little sneak peak into my cookbook, Frosted! The cookbook is all about different types of frostings and one of my favorites is French buttercream. It can be a little bit intimidating if you’ve never made a meringue buttercream before but fear not, I have all the details and photos for you!
What is French buttercream
French buttercream is a buttercream that uses egg yolks as the base. They’re cooked and stabilized by a hot sugar syrup and then emulsified with butter to form the SILKIEST buttercream. The process is very similar to Italian meringue buttercream in how it’s made however it is slightly softer and silkier than both Italian and Swiss meringue buttercream. Because French buttercream is made of egg yolks instead of egg whites, it is also little more yellow in color and has a bit of a richer/more custardy flavor.
How to make French buttercream
French buttercream starts with a hot sugar syrup that gets streamed into a bowl of beating egg yolks. This creates a pâté à bombe, which is a thick, foamy, pale mixture of egg yolks and sugar. Once it has cooled and is fluffy and pale, the butter gets beaten into the pâté à bombe to form the buttercream.
The most intense part of the recipe is the hot sugar syrup. It’s basically the beginning stages for making caramel but just before it starts to change in color, it gets poured into the whipping egg yolks. I highly recommend a digital thermometer for this part, since you want to get it right to 240F but if you don’t have one you can try a method called the soft ball stage.
To test this, once the bubbles slow down and get larger, use a spoon to remove a teaspoon of the hot sugar syrup and place it into a cup of cold water. If the sugar clumps together, pick it up and if it feels soft, it’s a ‘soft ball’. The soft ball stage means the sugar syrup is between 234 – 240F (112 – 116C), which is about 85% sugar.
After you pour the hot sugar syrup into the whipping egg yolks to create the pâté à bombe, the butter gets added in slowly until the buttercream comes together.
Step-By-Step Photos
- Granulated Sugar in a saucepan
- Water poured over granulated sugar
- Water and sugar heated to 240F (116C).
- Egg yolks beaten before adding sugar syrup
- Sugar syrup beat into the egg yolks until it’s pale and fluffy.
- Butter beaten into the egg yolks and sugar until it comes together.
TIP: If you’ve added all the butter and beat it on high speed for a few minutes and it still doesn’t come together then add another 56 grams (1/4 cup) butter. See the troubleshooting section if your buttercream is runny or curdled.
How to flavor French buttercream
Like any other buttercream, the flavor IS buttery because it’s buttercream lol. Don’t be afraid to add in a good amount of flavoring though, it can hold much more than American buttercream. I generally add about
- ½ cup of melted (and cooled) chocolate chips
- ¼-⅓ cup cocoa powder
- ¼-⅓ ground up freeze dried fruit
- ¼-½ cup jam/jelly, depending on how runny the consistency is
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract, you can always add more depending on taste
- 1-3 tsp of stronger flavored extracts, depending on the taste
Troubleshooting Buttercream
Runny Buttercream
If your buttercream looks smooth but is really soft and runny, place it in the refrigerator for 20-40 minutes. Then scrape the bottom and edges of the bowl and beat it again at medium speed. If this doesn’t work, then refrigerate it longer, until the mixture is visibly thicker and feels more pasty, then beat it again.
If it doesn’t come together, then the sugar syrup might have not been hot enough to begin with. You can try refrigerating it one more time for a couple of hours and add another 56 grams (1/4 cup) butter when you go to beat it again.
Split/Curdled Buttercream
If the buttercream splits and looks curdled, like cottage cheese, it means the mixture didn’t emulsify because the temperature of the butter was either too cold or the pâté à bombe was still too warm.
Remove a few spoonfuls and place it in a heat safe bowl. Microwave the bowl until the mixture is warm and fully melted, about 30 seconds. Then turn the mixer up to medium speed and pour in the melted cream into the mixer bowl. The mixture should emulsify but if it doesn’t then just place the entire mixer bowl over a double boiler and whisk until the mixture is melted.
Once the mixture is fully melted and looks smooth and runny, then you’ll need to chill it – refer to the Runny Buttercream section.
How to store French buttercream
French buttercream can be made in advance and just rewhipped to a soft consistency. Make sure to always store it in an airtight container.
Store at room temperature for 1 day, whether it’s in a container or frosted on a cake. Store in the refrigerator for 7-10 days, in a container or frosted on a cake.Store in the freezer for up to 3 months in a container or 3-4 weeks frosted on a cake. Make sure to double seal it if it’s frozen so you don’t frostbite.
What to use french buttercream on?
French buttercream can pretty much replace any other buttercream. So if a recipe calls for American buttercream or Swiss meringue buttercream, you can use French buttercream in it’s place.
The most popular cake frosted with French buttercream is the classic opera cake. I also love to use it for macarons because then you don’t have to waste as many egg yolks and/or egg whites. I have vanilla and chocolate and it works for just about any flavor. Another great option is when cakes or cupcakes call for just egg whites, use the leftover egg yolks to make french buttercream. I did that in my biscoff cake, my unicorn cupcakes and vanilla latte cupcakes.
PRO TIP: You can freeze egg whites for later use. I like to just use them to make a batch of Swiss meringue buttercream (which can also be stored in the freezer for later use) or a double batch of my Egg White Chocolate Chip Cookies which was specifically developed to use up as many egg whites as you need.
Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below.
If you love this recipe please leave a 5 star rating or a review in the comments!
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
