I'm guiding you through how to make perfect French buttercream at home with step-by-step instructions and troubleshooting tips. Use this rich & silky smooth buttercream frosting to complete any desserts you like, such as macarons, cupcakes, and cakes!
📌 What Is French Buttercream?
French buttercream (A.K.A. pâte à bombe buttercream) is made by combining butter and pâte à bombe. Pâte à bombe is fluffy egg yolk forms, made by combining whipped egg yolks and hot sugar syrup. It is often used to make French desserts, such as mousse.
Pros of French buttercream
- The biggest pro is that it is so rich! It almost tastes like the creamiest vanilla ice cream or pastry cream in an airy form.
- It is also a great buttercream to use up leftover egg yolks. I tend to use this frosting whenever I make macarons as their filling!
- It is not overly sweet, just like Swiss buttercream or Italian buttercream.
- It has a silky smooth consistency thanks to the pate a bombe!
Cons of French buttercream
- The color is a little bit yellowish - This can be a con if you're looking for a white color for your cake. To resolve the issue, you can try a few things:
- Whip the buttercream a lot to make it more pale.
- Add a little bit of purple coloring to make it more white.
- Use other types of buttercream such as Swiss buttercream and Italian buttercream.
- This recipe makes pretty stiff French buttercream but compared to my Swiss buttercream or Italian buttercream recipe, it is still slightly softer. If you are looking for buttercream to pipe very detailed flowers or something with super fine details, you may want to try Swiss buttercream which is one of the most stable and stiff frosting.
How is French buttercream different from other types of buttercream?
Here is the list of some of the popular buttercreams and how they are made:
- Swiss meringue buttercream: Swiss meringue + Butter
- Italian meringue buttercream: Italian meringue + Butter
- American buttercream: Sugar + Butter
- German buttercream: Pastry cream + Butter
- Russian buttercream: Condensed milk + Butter
- English buttercream: Anglaise sauce + Butter
You can add extracts or other ingredients, but they are the main components!
📌 Ingredients To Make French Buttercream
The main ingredients are egg yolks, water, sugar, and butter.
- Egg yolks: I recommend using pasteurized eggs to eliminate any risk of salmonella. Most of the eggs at grocery stores in the States are pasteurized. It should be labeled in the package. Save the egg whites to make other desserts, such as macarons, mousse, and meringue cookies!
- Water: We heat water and sugar to make hot sugar syrup.
- Granulated sugar: Use regular white sugar, such as granulated sugar or caster sugar.
- Unsalted butter: Leave it at room temperature beforehand to soften it.
- Salt: (optional)
📌 Tools For French Buttercream
- Stand mixer with a whisk attachment: Use a hand mixer if you don't have a stand mixer. Ensure it is powerful enough to whip at high speed.
- Small saucepan: Avoid using a medium to large saucepan for one batch of the recipe since the water evaporates a lot more quickly.
- Pastry brush
- Digital thermometer: Use it to check the temperature of the hot syrup.
- Silicone spatula
📌 Step-By-Step Instructions To Make French Buttercream
Make pâte à bombe.
- Add egg yolks to a bowl of a stand mixer and whip them at very high speed until they get very fluffy and pale.
- Meanwhile, add water and sugar to a small saucepan. Ensure that all the sugar is wet to prevent it from getting crystallized while heating the syrup. Wash off any sugar attached to the side with water using a pastry brush.
- Start heating it at medium heat. Do not shake the pot a lot or mix the syrup while heating it to prevent the sugar from getting crystallized. Just leave it there until the temperature gets closer to 244ºF. Wash off the side with water once or twice while heating.
- Remove from the heat once it reaches 244ºF | 118ºC. Pay close attention to the syrup toward the end because the temperature goes up pretty quickly. I like to turn it down to low heat toward the end so that I'm not going to miss the temperature. Swirl the pot and make the temperature even to get the accurate temperature.
- Slowly add the hot syrup from the side of the bowl as you continue whipping the egg yolks at high speed. Flip the pot upside down at the end to add all the syrup left in the pot.
- Touch the bowl and check - Continue whipping it at high speed while it's hot or very warm. Turn it down to medium-low speed once it cools down to gently warm. Finally, stop whipping it when it cools down to room temperature. The finished pate a bombe should look smooth and shiny!
Tips💡
- Ensure to use a clean pot and tools. Any residue could lead to problems, such as sugar crystalization.
- For pate a bombe, the sugar syrup is heated to 240ºF oftentimes but today, I like to heat it to 244ºF | 118ºC. By increasing the temperature a little bit, the pate a bombe gets a little bit thicker. I prefer stiffer French buttercream to frost and pipe with more detailed designs!
- Once the syrup reaches the temperature, immediately add that to the whipped egg yolks because the syrup gets a lot thicker as it cools down.
- Whipping the yolks at high speed while adding the hot syrup is very important for the whisk to pick up the syrup evenly. Also, letting the hot syrup slide down from the side is key - Do not drop the hot syrup on top of a whisk because it can scatter everywhere. O rdo not add it too quickly because it can sink to the bottom of the bowl. See the image or video tutorial to check the movement.
Add butter and whip.
- Add softened butter and salt and whip as the last step. I like to whip a lot here usually for about 5 - 10 minutes at medium speed until it gets very fluffy for a lighter, more airy texture.
- Scrape off the bottom and the sides of the bowl to pick up any butter that might left out. And mix.
Tips💡
- It is very important to use soft butter left at room temperature to create smooth and fluffy buttercream. Do not use partially melted or firmer butter.
- Ensure that the pate a bombe is not warm at all when adding butter to prevent the butter from melting partially, which leads to loose buttercream.
- You can also whip the butter in a separate bowl and combine it with the pate a bombe after that. The pro of this method is that you can start whipping the butter while you are whipping the pate a bombe which saves some time. The con of this method is that you're just going to end up with a little bit more tools to wash. You can pick whichever you like!
📌 How To Color French Buttercream
To color the buttercream, I recommend using gel or paste colorings instead of liquid colorings to avoid it from getting too loose. The colors get more vivid with them as well.
📌 How To Flavor French Buttercream
You can add your favorite flavors to this basic French buttercream to enjoy the many variations! Check below for some of the ideas:
- Vanilla extract: Add vanilla extract or vanilla beans to make vanilla French buttercream. You can also add other types of flavor extracts.
- Melted chocolate or cocoa powder: Add them to make chocolate buttercream!
- Lemon curd: The addition makes rich & smooth lemon frosting.
- Caramel sauce: Add it to make caramel buttercream. I also like sprinkling some sea salt on top of it!
- Jam: Strawberry jam, raspberry jam... mix in any of your favorite jams to add the fruity note!
- Coffee powder: Add instant coffee powder or expresso powder to make the coffee flavor.
📌 How To Store French Buttercream
Put it in an airtight container or I like to wrap it sometimes so that I can cut the edge, insert it in a piping bag, and start piping right away after thawing it.
You can store it in the fridge for about a week or in the freezer for a few months.
Any buttercream gets hardened when it's chilled - Make sure to leave it at room temperature for some hours before use to soften it again!
📌 FAQ
How much frosting does one batch of the recipe make?
one batch of the recipe is enough to frost one 8-inch round cake with simple decoration. I frosted a classic chocolate cake with it this time!
Can I make Italian meringue without a candy thermometer?
I highly recommend using a candy thermometer to get the most accurate temperature. You can also check the temperature by hand, but the tricky part is the temperature often rises a bit too much or the syrup cools down while checking it. Try to move quickly when you need to try the method:
How to check if the hot sugar syrup reached 244ºF (118ºC) without a thermometer
- Prepare icy water in a bowl.
- Drop a small amount of the hot syrup into ice water using a spoon.
- Wait for a second until it cools down.
- Squish with your fingers. It should be firm but still elastic enough to form a ball, like clay.
Do I need to re-whip the French Buttercream?
You should not need to re-whip after thawing it if you follow the instructions and the tips I mentioned in the post. It should stay stiff and fluffy!
Can I leave French buttercream out at room temperature?
I always recommend storing it in the fridge when you are not using it within a half day to keep it fresh.
📌 Watch How To Make It!
To learn how to make French buttercream frosting visually and have a deeper understanding of all, watch the video tutorial!
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📌 More Frosting Recipes
If you liked this frosting recipe, also try other Japanese-style desserts!
- Italian Meringue Buttercream
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Cream Cheese Buttercream
- Lemon Buttercream (With Swiss Buttercream)
📌 Printable Recipe
💬 Please share your feedback on this post! I always love hearing how you enjoyed it with your friends and family.
Perfect French Buttercream
Equipment
- Stand mixer with a whisk attachment Use a hand mixer - Ensure it is powerful enough to whip at high speed.
- Small saucepan Avoid using a medium to large saucepan for one batch of the recipe since the water evaporates a lot more quickly.
- Pastry brush
- Digital thermometer
- Silicone spatula
Ingredients
- 4.2 oz Egg yolks about 7 large eggs or 8 small eggs
- 2.8 oz Water ⅓ US cup
- 7 oz Granulated sugar 1 US cup
- 15.8 oz Unsalted butter (soften) 4 US sticks
- ⅛ teaspoon Salt (optional)
Instructions
Make pâte à bombe.
- Add egg yolks to a bowl of a stand mixer and whip them at very high speed until they get very fluffy and pale.4.2 oz Egg yolks
- Meanwhile, add water and sugar to a small saucepan. Ensure that all the sugar is wet to prevent it from getting crystallized while heating the syrup. Wash off any sugar attached to the side with water using a pastry brush.Ensure to use a clean pot and tools. Any residue could lead to problems, such as sugar crystalization.2.8 oz Water, 7 oz Granulated sugar
- Start heating it at medium heat. Do not shake the pot a lot or mix the syrup while heating it to prevent the sugar from getting crystallized. Just leave it there until the temperature gets closer to 244ºF. Wash off the side with water once or twice while heating.
- Remove from the heat once it reaches 244ºF | 118ºC. Pay close attention to the syrup toward the end because the temperature goes up pretty quickly. I like to turn it down to low heat toward the end so that I'm not going to miss the temperature. Swirl the pot and make the temperature even to get the accurate temperature.Once the syrup reaches the temperature, immediately add that to the whipped egg yolks because the syrup gets a lot thicker as it cools down.
- Slowly add the hot syrup from the side of the bowl as you continue whipping the egg yolks at high speed. Flip the pot upside down at the end to add all the syrup left in the pot.Whipping the yolks at high speed while adding the hot syrup is very important for the whisk to pick up the syrup evenly. Also, letting the hot syrup slide down from the side is key - Do not drop the hot syrup on top of a whisk because it can scatter everywhere. Do not add it too quickly because it can sink to the bottom of the bowl. See the image or video tutorial to check the movement.
- Touch the bowl and check - Continue whipping it at high speed while it's hot or very warm. Turn it down to medium-low speed once it cools down to gently warm. Finally, stop whipping it when it cools down to room temperature. The finished pate a bombe should look smooth and shiny!
Add butter and whip.
- Add softened butter and salt and whip as the last step. I like to whip a lot here usually for about 5 - 10 minutes at medium speed until it gets very fluffy for a lighter, more airy texture. It is very important to use soft butter left at room temperature to create smooth and fluffy buttercream. Do not use partially melted or firmer butter.Ensure that the pate a bombe is not warm at all when adding butter to prevent the butter from melting partially, which leads to loose buttercream.15.8 oz Unsalted butter (soften), ⅛ teaspoon Salt (optional)
- Scrape off the bottom and the sides of the bowl to pick up any butter that might left out. And mix.
Video
Notes
How to store it:
Put it in an airtight container or I like to wrap it sometimes so that I can cut the edge, insert it in a piping bag, and start piping right away after thawing it. You can store it in the fridge for about a week or in the freezer for a few months. Any buttercream gets hardened when it's chilled - Make sure to leave it at room temperature for some hours before use to soften it again! ** For best results, measure ingredients with a scale. All recipes are designed with weighed ingredients using grams/ounces. Cup measurements are provided for your convenience. **Nutrition
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