Is there actually a works-every-time, delicious recipe or method for buttercream icing?

[Stopmithering]

Am I missing something?
I follow recipes to the letter but don't seem to be able to make that lovely light buttercream you get on posh cupcakes.
Is it the recipe?
Do I need a piping bag?
Help!!

Wow they look amazing.
Massive amount of icing though!

I'm not sure my Magimix is the best processor for the job either ...

That's too much icing for me as well.

Is the magimix a food processor or a mixer?

Two alternatives you can use instead of piping bags as well - a freezer bag with the corner snipped off or a bag folded out of parchment/baking paper. If you check out I think How to cook that on YouTube, she even shows you how to cut the corner of a freezer bag into different shapes to get shaped piping (stars, leaves etc).

I made some today and melted butter in pan with (chocolate powder first then) icing sugar followed by milk/vanilla. I also make it with sweeze of orange or lemon juice. Easy peasy. It was for a cake not cupcake tho so maybe I am thinking of something else.

squeeze

Now make swiss meringue buttercream :) very light and silky and not so sickly sweet. Worth the effort. Lots of tutorials available on youtube.

Swiss meringue buttercream looks lovely.

I've got to make a chocolate Frozen themed cake for DD birthday soon and wonder if that would be suitable as normal buttercream can be a bit sickly.

I use an electric hand beater/ whisk. I incorporate the ingredients ( recipe from back of Silver Spoon icing sugar-scaled up as necessary) firstly by hand to stop the icing sugar spraying everywhere. Tben give it really good whisk. It is always light and fluffy and goes mousse-like after a while when on the cake. We love mocha buttercream.

Buttercream can be a bit sickly.

Who are you people?!

I put a Hummingbird-quantity of icing on my cupcakes - in a thickly-piped swirl or Hummingbird-style - but I think that's what separates an American cupcake from a British fairy cake. And my mum's American so I was raised to have a particularly high tolerance to sugar.

If you want your cupcakes to look more professional then sometimes it's the finishing that's all important. Some of the pound shops sell icing bags with nozzles, i've seen in Poundland that they're selling a big Jane Asher range or use a palette knife to swirl on the butter-cream. Good swirling is the key

If I make cupcakes for grown-ups I also use silver foil muffin cases and steer clear of hundreds and thousands because as a decoration I find they look amateurish. I also use things like chocolate curls, silver balls, dragees or make some fondant butterflies or flowers to go on the top.

The Wilton 1M nozzle is all you need for really professional looking cupcake swirls.

Bunbaker does the choc fudge icing thicken as it cools? I've got a bowl of runny stuff here...

Yes it does. You can out it in the fridge to help it along. Don't leave it too long because it will get too stiff to spread. You can pipe with it as well.

When I make chocolate icing that is always my go to recipe.

This is the best coke topping ever! Just made the Hummingbird
Brooklyn Blackout cake but I don't like their chocolate custard.
Made double your batch of fudge icing and it's amazing!

I'm supposed to be on a diet, what have you done!

Oh thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think it is easier to make than buttercream.

I cheated slightly and tipped it into my Kenwood to beat in the icing sugar. This had the added bonus of cooling it down quicker so didn't have to wait as long.

Don't think I'll be able to go back to normal buttercream now!

You can make an orange icing in a similar way by melting butter and 3tbs freshly squeezed range juice. Add the grated zest of the orange as well with the icing sugar.

I may never leave the house again!

I take it I could do chocolate orange by using the juice and cocoa powder?

I suppose you could. I think it might taste nicer if you just did the chocolate icing and added grated orange zest to it.

I always start off by mixing the icing sugar in with a wooden spoon a little at a time and then turning the mixer on. That way I don't have to clean icing sugar off every surface around it.
It doesn't take too long. I don't think I mix for more than a few seconds on before turning the mixer on but saves a lot of cleaning afterwards.

I do that as well TheDiet

Definitely half fat to icing sugar. So 250g butter and 500g icing sugar. Splash of vanilla extract and a tiny bit of cold water and whip whip whip. Preferably in a freestanding mixer :) yum!!

My df used to swear by adding an egg yolk to a batch of butter cream. Apparently it's a standby from the Bibby Line troopships from the 1920s.