I wrote a couple of months back how I was searching for the perfect Icing and I tried lots of different variations but I didn’t get a” Wow “icing until I went in for tea to Beas of Bloomsbury. I haven’t got Beas recipe to share (yet) but I was told to try the traditional Italian Buttercream which I researched and tried today.
I have always thought Icing was to be made with icing sugar and I never knew eggs were used – but this combination creating a sugar syrup and mixing it with egg whites and then gradually adding in the butter makes a perfect balance. This for me is the Goldilocks of icing not too sweet , not too buttery , just right.
I bought a sugar thermometer as everywhere you read it is very specific about the temperature. And then I split the icing white (which could always be coloured or flavoured) and to make a chocolate version I melted 40g of dark French chocolate in and combined that at the end.
Step 1. Bring the water and sugar to the boil and let it cook to 121C
Step2. Whisk the egg whites till stiff
Step 3. With the mixer on low pour in the syrup into the egg whites and then mix on high until the bowl is cool and the whites are stiff.
Step 4. Combine the butter and vanilla essence
Step 5. Add colour or melted chocolate
Rich and creamy Italian Buttercream icing
So This is it …Italian Buttercream for a smooth, creamy and rich but not too sweet topping and Butter Icing to add more sweetness to the cake.
Well I thought the icing was better than mine and I asked the head cook to share her icing recipe (she has promised to do so).
