Recipe: German Buttercream

We've gone over American buttercream, Swiss meringue buttercream, I've tried Italian meringue buttercream. But what about German buttercream? Don't I live in Germany? Well, let me tell you my experience with Germany buttercream so far.

I knew what it was long before I tasted it or tried to make it. I tasted it later in a bakery cake. It's lovely. Light and not very sweet. Very creamy. Almost a whipped cream feel to it with a buttery aftertaste.

So how is it made? It's basically a pudding or custard base mixed with butter. Hearing that, it sounds super easy. So, I made my own recipe for homemade vanilla pudding, chilled it in the fridge, and whipped it with butter. No problem. And... my buttercream separated and I couldn't get it to come back together to save my life. I thought then that I couldn't make German buttercream. Turns out, you can't just throw things together making your own recipe. So, I decided to try a recipe that was actually made to make German buttercream. Let's try that, shall we? So, this is the result.

German Buttercream:
2 cups (450mL) milk
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
3 tbsp corn starch
3 tbsp flour
dash salt
2 cups (500g) butter
(1 cup (125g) powdered sugar, optional)

Combine 3/4 of the milk, sugar, egg yolks, salt and vanilla sugar in a saucepan. Pour the remaining 1/4 of the milk in a bowl and whisk it together with the flour and corn starch until it is a mixture with no lumps.

Then add mixture to the pot with the rest of the ingredients. Whisk everything together and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently. Milk will burn on the stove without frequent stirring.

Continue to heat until mixture comes to a boil.

Allow to boil 2 or 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and pour through a strainer if there are any lumps. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the top, touching the surface of the custard and allow to come to room temperature. Your butter should also be room temperature.

When both are the same temperature (this is important!),

then cream your butter for several minutes in a large mixing bowl until it is light and fluffy.

Add custard to the butter one tablespoon at a time and get the buttercream back to consistency between each addition.

If you don't find it sweet enough for your taste, you can add a cup of powdered sugar to it and beat it in at the end. If you are using vanilla extract instead of vanilla sugar, fold it in at the end.

You can also make the custard ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Just make sure that both the custard and the butter are room temperature before you try to combine them.

This buttercream is light and fluffy, not very sweet and buttery. It's perfect for those who think American and Swiss meringue buttercream are too sweet. Dreamy and light.

Watch us make this recipe on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/1WxYAy3FFs4
Schaut zu wie wir dieses Rezept auf YouTube machen hier: https://youtu.be/PT4sAm4wmc4