10 Easy Ways to Flavour Buttercream
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What kind of buttercream should I use?
These flavours were all created using my Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
Have you tried my Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe yet? It’s my absolute favourite buttercream for decorating cakes and cupcakes. It’s smooth, shiny, easy to work with, and not too sweet.
It’s delightful on it’s own, with a subtle vanilla flavour, but you can also make so many different flavours using the same base recipe. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been very into vanilla. There’s too many other more appealing options!
What Flavours Can I Make?
You can make as many different flavours as you can dream up, but for today, I’m going to teach you how to make these 10:
Chocolate
Mint
Strawberry
Raspberry
Blueberry
Peanut Butter
Salted Caramel
Lemon
Cookies & Cream
Espresso
Can I use a different buttercream recipe?
You can! I’ve tested all of these ratios with my Swiss meringue buttercream recipe though, so you may have to do some tweaking as all buttercreams have different levels of sweetness. Things like caramel or jam are going to make your buttercream sweeter and with an American style buttercream, for example, using the same ratio as I do in my Swiss meringue buttercream might result in an overly sweet buttercream because American buttercream is sweeter to begin with. If working with a different buttercream recipe, you should also be mindful of adding too much chocolate, peanut butter, or lemon curd because adding too much will make your buttercream loose and hard to work with.
Do I have to make a different batch of buttercream for each flavour?
Nope! The best thing about all of the options that I’m giving you here is that you can use the same base buttercream recipe for all of them.
You will need a kitchen scale to portion out your buttercream and to weigh your add-ins. If you haven’t invested in a kitchen scale yet, now is the time!
For the salted caramel and lemon flavours, you will either need to make or buy salted caramel and/or lemon curd (I highly suggest making your own!)
Ok, here’s how to make all the flavours!
Chocolate:
Melt 165g of high quality semi-sweet or dark chocolate (NOT CHOCOLATE CHIPS!) in a bowl placed over a pot of boiling water. Once melted, let the chocolate cool for 5 minutes, then add it to 1 full batch of buttercream. If you would like to make only part of your batch of buttercream chocolate, your chocolate should be 15% of whatever amount of buttercream you are using. For example, if I wanted to make 500g of buttercream into chocolate buttercream, I would go 500 x 0.15 = 75, which means I would melt 75g of chocolate using the instructions above and add it to 500g of buttercream.
Mint:
Add 2 3/4 tsp of natural peppermint flavouring or extract to 1 full batch of buttercream. If you would like to do a smaller amount of buttercream, use 1/4 tsp of mint flavour or extract per 100g.
OPTIONAL: Add a tiny amount of green food colouring to make your icing a pretty mint green!
BONUS: If you want a mint chocolate chip buttercream, take a block or bar of chocolate a grate some using the big holes on a box grater, or chop it up into reallllyyyy tiny pieces and add it to your buttercream.
Strawberry:
Add 5 1/2 teaspoons of freeze dried strawberry powder to 1 full batch of buttercream. If your powder has any chunks make sure to sift it so you get a completely smooth buttercream. If you can’t find freeze dried strawberry powder, you can use freeze dried strawberry slices or pieces and run them through a coffee or spice grinder until they are a fine powder, then proceed as directed above. If you want to do a smaller amount of buttercream, use 1/2 teaspoon of freeze dried strawberry powder per 100g of buttercream.
Raspberry:
Add 5 1/2 teaspoons of freeze dried raspberry powder to 1 full batch of buttercream. If your powder has any chunks make sure to sift it so you get a completely smooth buttercream. If you can’t find freeze dried raspberry powder, you can use freeze dried raspberry slices or pieces and run them through a coffee or spice grinder until they are a fine powder, then proceed as directed above. If you want to do a smaller amount of buttercream, use 1/2 teaspoon of freeze dried raspberry powder per 100g of buttercream.
Blueberry:
Add 165g of prepared homemade (cooled) or storebought blueberry jam to 1 full batch of buttercream. If you would like to make only part of your batch into blueberry buttercream, your jam should be 15% of the weight of buttercream you plan to use (See calculation example under Chocolate)
NOTE: You could also use a freeze dried blueberry powder (in the same ratios used for strawberry and raspberry) instead of blueberry jam if you need a smooth buttercream, but I prefer the taste of the jam to the freeze dried blueberry powder.
Peanut Butter:
Add 165g of natural (no sugar added) peanut butter to 1 full batch of buttercream. If you would like to make only part of your batch into peanut butter buttercream, your peanut butter should be 15% of the weight of buttercream you plan to use (See calculation example under Chocolate)
Salted Caramel:
Add 165g of prepared homemade or storebought salted caramel to 1 full batch of buttercream. If you would like to make only part of your batch into salted caramel buttercream, your salted caramel should be 15% of the weight of buttercream you plan to use (See calculation example under Chocolate)
Lemon:
Add 220g of storebought or homemade lemon curd to 1 full batch of buttercream. If you would like to do a smaller amount of buttercream, add the lemon curd at 20%. For example, if I wanted to make 500g of lemon buttercream, I would go 500 x 0.20 = 100. That means I would add 100g of lemon curd to 500g of buttercream.
OPTIONAL: Add a small amount of yellow food colouring.
Note: This makes a really subtle lemon flavoured buttercream. If you want a punchy lemon flavour in your cake, use some of the lemon curd by itself in between your cake layers too! Just don’t forget to create a ring of buttercream around the outside to contain it.
Cookies & Cream:
Grind up 88g of Oreos in a food processor to a fine crumb. Add these to 1 full batch of buttercream. This one is best used right away because if you re-mix it the Oreos break down further and the buttercream turns a bit of an unpleasant grey colour. It still tastes good though! If you would like to make a smaller amount of Cookies & Cream buttercream, add the Oreos at 8%. For example, if I wanted to make 500g or Cookies & Cream buttercream, I would go 500 x 0.08 = 40, which means I would add 40g of Oreo crumbs to 500g of buttercream.
Espresso:
Take 5 1/2 teaspoons of espresso powder and dissolve it in a tiny bit of water (use as little water as you can) and add it to 1 full batch of buttercream. If you would like to make a smaller amount of Espresso buttercream, use 1/2 tsp of espresso powder per 100g of buttercream, following the directions stated above.
Any leftover buttercream can be stored in the fridge for a week or two, or in the freezer for several months. Bring it up to room temperature, then re-whip until shiny. Or, if it’s just a small amount of buttercream, you can warm it up in the microwave in 5 second bursts, stirring after each, until it’s smooth and shiny again.
You can find the recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream below!
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
- 320g (1 2/3 cups) Granulated Sugar
- 235g Egg Whites (1 cup) (fresh or from a carton)
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 10g (2 tsp) Vanilla Extract
- 565g (2 1/2 cups) Unsalted Butter (softened)
Instructions
- Fill a pot with water about halfway and bring to a boil. Make sure your mixer bowl will sit on top of the pot without the bottom touching the water.
- Add your sugar, egg whites, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Place bowl over the pot of boiling water and whisk frequently until mixture is hot to the touch and sugar is dissolved.
- While your sugar/egg white mixture is heating, measure vanilla into a small bowl and set aside. Cut up your butter into small pieces that are approximately 1 tablespoon in size.
- Place bowl on mixer and whip on high speed until fluffy and white and the bowl is neutral to the touch.
- With mixer running on low, add your vanilla, then turn back up to high and start adding your butter one chunk at a time.
- Buttercream will most likely separate, but keep whipping and it will come back together.
- After all of your butter is added, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl, then continue to whip until buttercream is fluffy and white and shiny, about 5-15 minutes, depending on the temperature of the room.
- Store any leftover buttercream in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks, or in the freezer for several months. Bring up to room temperature an re-whip to use again. If it is too small an amount to re-whip, warm up the buttercream in the microwave in 5 second bursts, stirring after each one, until smooth and shiny.
