We’ve all known about brown sugar for a while, but have you ever considered applying it to a buttercream before? This is like adding a spice cake to your buttercream repertoire! This is a ratio sort of recipe. I’ve multiplied this by 2 or three depending on need. For a batch of 36 cake pops, this amount goes will with a 9-inch cake! For Pineapple Up-side-down macarons, you'll only need about half this much. . . Here’s HOW:
Ingredients:
1/2C (1 stick) of butter (salted is what I prefer), room temp
¼ C of dark or light brown sugar, packed, sifted
1 t vanilla extract
* ½ t ground cinnamon
2 C confectioner’s sugar, sifted
* 1-2 T milk
*optional
Other stuff:
Handheld mixer with beaters or stand mixer with paddle attachment
Sifter
Instructions:
Bring your butter to room temperature; it needs to be soft enough to hold an indent when pressed. Break up the butter with the beaters/paddle just a bit so that it’s no longer a stick and then in the bowl. Sift the brown sugar discarding any that may have clumped up. Blend in the brown sugar for 3-4 minutes so that some of the sugar crystals have the opportunity to dissolve in the liquid from the butter. It will remain a little “grainy,” but the flavor, is AMAZING!
Here's a piped version of this buttercream in a French Macaron
After you’ve blended the butter and brown sugar, it’s time to add the vanilla and cinnamon. If you have an allergy to cinnamon, you can totally leave it out. I like to mix these in for a minute or so and then wipe down my beater and my bowl. Now, in the bowl, sift in the confectioner’s sugar. Beat slowly at first until incorporated and then turn the speed up until fully combined and the butter cream is fluffy and smooth (about 2 minutes). Depending on how you’re to apply this buttercream (or eat it out of the bowl), you won’t need any milk! When I use it in macarons or cake pops, I don’t use any milk, because I like it to be a bit more stiff; however, once using it to fill a naked cake, I needed it to be a more “spreadable” consistency, so 1 T milk/stick of butter is what I ended up adding. . .
That’s all you need for a simple brown sugar American Buttercream!