Best Ever Decorator’s Cream Cheese Buttercream

By RoketJSquerl

It is the ideal “crusting” buttercream to create cakes with a bakery-style smooth fondant look but with the Classic Cream Cheese Buttercream taste everyone loves! Perfect for cake decorators—especially for making wedding cakes.

Ingredients

• Yield: Makes about 5 cups; enough to fill and frost a two-layer 9-inch cake or three-layer 8-inch cake plus a little extra for light piping work.
• 1/2 cup (1 stick/113 grams) butter, slightly softened, can use part salted & unsalted
• 6 tablespoons (72 grams) organic palm shortening, such as Spectrum®
• 12 ounces (1 1/2 8-ounce packages) chilled cream cheese, such as Philadelphia®
• 2 1/4 teaspoons (11.25 ml) pure vanilla extract, such as Nielsen-Massey®
• 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) pure almond extract, such as Nielsen-Massey®, optional
• 1/8 teaspoon (.625 ml) Fiori di Sicilia extract, by King Arthur Flour®, optional
• 1 (2-pound/907-gram) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• Special Equipment & Supplies
• Heavy Duty 5-Qt. Stand Mixer, such as KitchenAid®, necessary

Details

Servings 5
Preparation time 25mins
Cooking time 25mins
Adapted from wickedgoodkitchen.com

Preparation

Step 1

Using an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and shortening on medium speed until creamy. Add cream cheese and extract(s); beat until fully incorporated. Gradually increase mixer speed to high and continue beating until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of bowl as necessary with rubber spatula. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating on low to medium-low speed, until well combined. Beat on high speed until well combined and smooth while scraping down sides of bowl as necessary, about 4 minutes. Buttercream will be very stiff and thick. Before frosting cake layers, rebeat buttercream to ensure smoothness. To Frost Cakes with Crusting Buttercream: Fill and frost cake as usual then allow the cake to stand out at room temperature until a light sugar crust forms on the surface of the buttercream, about 15 to 20 minutes. To smooth the buttercream, use the “Viva Method” by using a fondant smoothing tool (such as by Wilton®) and plain, non-patterned Viva® brand paper toweling. Simply place a sheet of paper towel on top of buttercream that has formed a crust and gently rub fondant smoothing tool over the paper towel to smooth the buttercream underneath. If you do not have a fondant smoothing tool, you can use your hand. If the buttercream sticks to the paper towel, allow the cake to stand longer to form a crust. Do not let the buttercream stand for too long as it will harden to the point of being more difficult to form a smooth surface.