White Chocolate Buttercream

White Chocolate Buttercream 

I'm not a fan of buttercreams, I prefer the silky smooth Ermine Frosting but when making the spectacular Mirror Glazes you need a firmer buttercream and this one is brilliant, it has white chocolate and thickened cream, it sets firmly and is a great base for the Mirror Glaze. You can also use this as a frosting for cakes and cupcakes. Ermine Frosting and Mirror Glaze recipes can also be found through the search function on this blog. This buttercream is perfect to pipe flowers with Russian piping tips, but you will need to halve the amount of cream.
Update: Recently I've been using chilled butter and mixing Sp10:1-2 mins, the mixture will form a ball at first then become smooth and creamy. I've found using chilled butter gives a much better consistency for piping.

Note: Australian cup and spoon measurements used. 1 cup = 250mls. 1 tablespoon = 20mls.
1 teaspoon = 5mls
Note: You can substitute dark chocolate instead of white to make chocolate buttercream.

200 gms white chocolate. Melted in microwave and cooled to room temperature 

230 gms unsalted butter chilled

240 gms icing sugar mixture 

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

20 mls thickened cream or omit cream if using this buttercream with a Russian piping tip.

Insert Kneading Blade. Stopper in 

Add butter, icing sugar mixture and vanilla extract. Sp10:1 min 30 sec scraping bowl with spatula after 15 sec. (This may take longer depending on how soft your butter is). Mixture should be soft and creamy and paled in colour. 

Add cooled white chocolate. Remove Stopper. Sp10:15sec scraping bowl with spatula after 10sec. 

Add cream Sp10:5sec. Remove blade and stir through with spatula. 

Add gel colours if desired and mix through with spatula.
Frosting might need refrigeration before piping. 

Pipe or spread Buttercream on to cake or cupcakes and refrigerate until firm.