Cupcake Icing

Even though I usually work with fondant, I enjoy working with Buttercream icing. (and eating it!) What are your best tips and recipes for buttercream? I have done a lot of research into different types of recipes and experimented with what is the best for piping. So I thought I would share my recipe and hints.

Buttercream Icing (frosting)

*1 cup of unsalted butter
*1/2 cup milk
*vanilla
*8 cups of icing sugar

1/ Mix butter, at room temperature, using beaters. Mix for two minutes.

2/ Add vanilla and slowly add up to 1/2 cup of milk for another two minutes or until creamy.

3/Add 4 cups of sifted icing sugar and then mix slowly at first and then on high until creamy.

4/Keep adding cup by cup until quite firm.

Tips

* To make icing as white as possible use a light coloured french butter. Also to step 2 add a squeeze of lemon juice. The acid in the lemon acts to make it whiter without flavouring the icing. Once you have more white icing than yellow, you can add colours that end up more pure.

* Place mixture in the fridge for a few minutes so it starts to set so that it is firmer to pipe.

* Use quite a large piping tip

* Pipe with a 90 degree angle to the cupcake. I pipe around the outside first and move to the middle. Don't pipe too fast otherwise the ribbons will go flat.

Happy making.....and eating!!