Pink Buttercream Recipes

PINK BUTTERCREAM

Steps:

• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a handheld mixer with an eggbeater or whisk attachment), beat butter on high speed until as pale as ivory and very fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl twice while beating.
• Turn the mixer to low and gradually add sugar. When combined, scrape bowl again, then slowly drizzle in milk, vanilla, and food coloring; mix until combined. Scrape bowl again.
• Turn the mixer to high and beat the buttercream until extremely fluffy, 8 to 10 minutes. "It should look almost like whipped cream, and should lose the waxy sheen that butter has."
• Make ahead: Up to 3 hours at room temperature. Although you can make buttercream a few days ahead and chill, it will take a while to return it to room temperature (about 3 hours) and re-whip to the proper cloudlike texture--much longer than just making it fresh.

PINK BUTTERCREAM

Steps:

• Whisk sugar, egg whites, and salt in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pan of simmering water until sugar dissolves and syrup registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer.
• Transfer bowl to mixer, and whisk sugar syrup on medium speed for 5 minutes. Raise speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes.
• Reduce speed to medium. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in food coloring.

RASPBERRY CUPCAKES WITH PINK BUTTERCREAM AND LACY CHOCOLATE HEARTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with baking cups.
• Whisk together flours, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add sugar in a slow, steady stream, and beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl, and beat until smooth.
• Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Fold in pureed and chopped raspberries and a small drop of food coloring.
• Divide batter among baking cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks for 15 minutes. Remove cupcakes, and let cool completely. Decorate with pink buttercream and lacy chocolate hearts.

ALL-NATURAL PINK FROSTING!

Steps:

• Beat confectioners' sugar, butter, strawberry puree, and vanilla extract together in the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand-held mixer, gradually increasing speed to reach high, until smooth.

BUTTERCREAM ICING

Steps:

• Beat 600g sifted icing sugar and 300g butter together with your chosen flavouring and colouring if using, add 2-3 tablespoons of boiling water to loosen and beat until smooth.
• Fill a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe onto cupcakes or smear in the middle and over the top of a 20cm cake using a palette knife.

THE PINK CAKE

Steps:

• Center an oven rack and preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Put the unsweetened chocolate and the cocoa into a small bowl. Pour the boiling water over the chocolate and allow it to steep for 1 minute. Whisk the mixture together. Whisk in the sour cream and vanilla. Set aside.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, then whisk the mixture by hand to ensure that the ingredients are well mixed.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars together on medium-high speed until light, about 3 minutes. As you make the batter, stop the mixer frequently and scrape the paddle and the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. On low speed, drizzle the oil into the mixture until blended. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat until the batter is fluffy, about 3 more minutes. Blend in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time, adding the next one as soon as the previous one has disappeared into the batter. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the chocolate mixture in two parts, beginning and ending with the flour. After each addition, mix until just barely blended and stop and scrape the bowl. Stop the mixer before the last of the flour has been incorporated and complete the blending by hand with a rubber spatula to ensure you do not overbeat the batter.
• Divide the thick batter equally among the prepared pans (there will be approximately 1 pound 2 ounces per pan). Smooth the tops and tap the pans on the counter to settle the batter and eliminate any large air bubbles. Bake in the middle of the oven until the centers spring back when lightly touched, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Flip the cakes out of the pans, leaving on the parchment paper until you assemble the cake. Let them continue to cool on the rack, top sides up, until they reach room temperature.
• To assemble the cake, lay one of the cakes top side up on a cake plate. Using a metal spatula, frost the top with 3/4 cup of buttercream, spreading it out to the edge of the cake (the filling will be about 1/4 inch thick). Stack the second cake top side up on top of the frosted cake and spread another 3/4 cup of buttercream on top of it. Stack the last layer of cake top side up on top. Look for any frosting that may have oozed out beween the layers and spread it along the sides of the cake. Apply a thin layer of frosting all over the cake to create a "crumb coat." Place the cake in the refrigerator until the frosting is firm, about 10 minutes. Take it out and frost the cake with the remaining buttercream, using your spatula to make decorative swirls.
• Store the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

PINK LEMONADE CUPCAKES WITH PINK BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
• Whisk white sugar, oil, water, eggs, and 3 tablespoons pink lemonade powder together in a bowl; stir in buttermilk until smooth. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in a separate bowl; beat into sugar mixture just until batter is combined. Add just enough food coloring to turn batter pink. Spoon batter into muffin cups.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Beat confectioners' sugar, butter, half-and-half, and 2 tablespoons pink lemonade powder together in a bowl using an electric mixer until frosting is smooth and creamy. Add enough food coloring to make a pink frosting; spread onto cupcakes.