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This is by far the most smooth, cloudy, sweet-but-not-sickly-sweet, no-shortening-real-butter butter cream I know how to make. The flavor is delicate and pairs best with cakes and fillings that want to stand out on their own.

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup egg whites
• 1 lb. unsalted butter (4 sticks), at room temperature
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Using a double boiler, whisk the egg whites and sugar together over medium heat until they’re steaming and hot to the touch.

 

You’ll want to stir constantly so the eggs do not curdle, but don’t whisk too vigorously or you’ll start to stiffen the egg white. Just keep it nice and frothy…

 

A little tip via run-on sentence: keep a wet dishcloth nearby so that when you stick your finger in the egg/sugar mix and it’s slightly under scalding and it sticks to your finger and you can’t get to the sink cause you’re still stirring your egg whites and you don’t want to teach the kids new swear words, you can just quickly wipe it off. (Yes. I speak from experience.)

 

Quickly transfer the HOT egg whites to a mixer and crank it up to high.

 

Keep whisking until the egg whites have reached stiff peaks.

Turn your mixer back on to medium and incorporate the butter in chunks (make sure the butter is soft).

Then add your flavoring and whisk on high for one minute until the butter smooths out.

Store what’s left (I know you “sampled.” I’m not judging.) in the fridge until tomorrow.

 

…We’re going to put it all together.

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