I never had much luck with the standard American buttercream recipe — the fat/sweet ratio was wrong or it had textural issues.
Discovering Italian merangue buttercream was a huge breakthrough. It seems more complex at first but I've found it to be more forgiving and the results are so much better.
2 sticks soft’d butter. Beat on medium-high for 5-7 minutes. Add in 4 ish cups of powdered sugar. Beat on medium maybe another 5 minutes? Add milk 1tbsp at a time until at the consistency you want. Then add flavoring. I like 2tbsp vanilla. Too thick? milk. Too runny? Sugar. more art than science.
Oh the frosting turned out great! (I used almond extract). The experience of frosting a cake even with a turntabke & offset spreaders & a cake scraper is a learning curve.
I dislike crumb coating, so I skip it and use a piping bag to distribute thick frosting so that I can skoosh it around without really dragging it over the cake. Much easier done than said (I've made wedding cakes this way!)....'nyway taste is the important part.
The major level-up I had was realizing it's a good idea to give the crumb coat a good hour to set, if that helps! But usually I just go "...handmade WITH LOVE, GODDAMMIT"
When I was working in a bakery the major trick I learned was freezing a standard cake before you frost it helps immensely, and for the most part is unnoticeable, but I can imagine that doesn't work for everyone
Comments
Discovering Italian merangue buttercream was a huge breakthrough. It seems more complex at first but I've found it to be more forgiving and the results are so much better.
I have read, and did so tonight, the importance of sifting the powdered sugar.
And yes: WITH LOVE
Perfection is impossible and fleeting so why bother*
*proceeds to bother constantly
I love almond buttercream!!