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Active Time
25 minutes
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Total Time
25 minutes
This rich, spiced buttercream is perfect for chocolate or gingerbread cake. The recipe yields enough buttercream to ice a 3-layer 9-inch round cake. For cupcakes, halve the recipe.
Ingredients
Makes 6 cups
Step 1
Bring 1 cup water to just below a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Using a handheld whisk, combine eggs, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Place bowl on top of saucepan (it should not touch water) and cook egg mixture, whisking constantly, until lightened in color, thickened slightly, and an instant-read thermometer registers 160°F. Remove from heat and beat with stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium speed until completely cooled and tripled in volume, about 10 minutes. Add butter, 1–2 Tbsp. at a time, beating well after each addition until fully incorporated. Add vanilla and molasses and beat on medium-low speed until just combined.
Do Ahead
Step 2
Buttercream can be made and refrigerated up to 5 days in advance or frozen up to 1 month. To use refrigerated buttercream, let sit at room temperature until soft, at least 2 hours. Beat with stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth. If texture is not smooth, beat in a little water, 1 tsp. at a time. To defrost, transfer buttercream from freezer to refrigerator to thaw overnight. Then follow the instructions for using refrigerated buttercream.
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Reviews (3)
Back to TopHave made Italian and Swiss meringue butter creams several times without a hitch. This one had several problems. I did not have a thermometer so let the eggs cook for 5 minutes till the sugar dissolved and the mixture was hot to the touch. The eggs did triple in volume in the stand mixer. After adding all the butter the frosting had a slightly curdled look causing issues when spreading it. And the buttercream softened very easily (its winter right now in upstate NY) and was difficult to handle. Had to keep refrigerating it and re-whipping it. Taste was very good so will try the flavors with swiss/italian buttercreams.
Anonymous
Upstate NY
11/20/2018
Tried this 2x. Really wanted to make it work. Total failure both times. As soon as the egg mixture cools it falls to its original size and you wind up with syrup rather than a fluffy frosting. Perhaps I'm not getting it cooked properly - either under or over cooked (first time maybe over and 2nd time maybe under) but same result both times.
chereon
seattleSeattleSeattleSeattle, WA
2/5/2017
I started to make this for a spice cake but bailed 3/4 of the way through, because all I could taste was butter. I was making 2/3 of the recipe (smaller cake), which translated into four sticks of butter, but after two it was already starting to taste like sweet butter. It was also pretty soft so I chickened out and stopped at three sticks (still pretty excessive) ended up adding a half cup of (gasp!) powdered sugar and substituting maple extract for the molasses. My husband thought it tasted pretty good and I bet the cake will be fine but definitely seemed like overkill on the butter.
mfoarde
St. Paul, MN
11/5/2016
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