This has happened to everyone at some point. Your cake is almost finished, the layers have completely fallen out, only the buttercream is missing. You have the mixer running, but then disaster strikes - your buttercream breaks before your eyes. Before you react badly and throw the whole thing away, there are a few things you can do. Here's how to save curdled buttercream!
Why did your buttercream curdle?
While buttercream is often touted as one of the easiest icings to make from scratch, in reality it's surprisingly challenging and difficult to master. Buttercream is basically an emulsion made up of a mixture of fats and liquids. As with all emulsions, the liquids and fats can fail to combine if the conditions are not right. The main cause of a broken buttercream is an incorrect temperature, which causes the butter to either stiffen or melt before it is properly incorporated. So how can you save curdled buttercream that has broken due to incorrect temperatures?
How to save Sue curdled buttercream when it becomes stiff
If your buttercream has become incredibly dense and has a nice, greasy texture, it has curdled. Why did this happen? Simply because the butter you used was too cold. Maybe you forgot to take them out of the fridge beforehand or the room temperature was too cold.
- Remember that buttercream needs to be kept at a fairly constant temperature of 22 to 24 degrees Celsius to maintain the emulsion as it forms.
To do this, place the bowl with your buttercream over a water bath. This will gradually increase the temperature of your mixture, causing it to warm and the butter to fluff up. Once the mixture begins to loosen and the frosting is slightly melted around the edges, return it to the mixer. Start slowly using the whisk attachment as there is now more melted fat in the mixture. Gradually increase the speed and continue beating until the mixture begins to form and set, about four to five minutes.
What else should you do to save curdled buttercream??
- You can hold them in a metal bowl directly over the flame of a gas stove for a few seconds.
- You can take a small portion of the buttercream and melt it in the microwave. Heat in the microwave for 5-10 seconds, stirring occasionally, until melted.
Whatever you choose, the idea is to melt just part of the buttercream and then mix it back with the remaining cold part. It may take a few minutes for everything to combine, but the temperature should even out and bring everything together.
- If your butter was very cold, you may need to repeat this process a few times to raise the temperature enough.
How to save the mixture if it is too liquid
This is one of the most common forms of broken buttercream mix - instead of the creamy, glossy mixture you were expecting, you end up with a thin, soupy consistency. This is because your mixture was too warm, so the butter melted and leached out its butterfat and liquid. This makes the entire mixture far too liquid to form a stable emulsion.
This usually happens at high temperatures. For example, when making buttercream in a hot summer, but a mixer that is too hot can also be the cause. Sometimes the constant stirring causes the mixture to heat up much more than you expected.
To quickly fix this disaster, simply take the entire bowl and place it in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes, or until the edges of the buttercream mixture begin to harden again.
Most of the mixture will still be quite too runny - don't despair! After you mix the buttercream on low for about four to five minutes and then gradually on higher, the temperatures will equalize and it will be as if it was never soupy. If it's not too runny, just a little loose and jelly-like, put it back in the fridge, but only for about 10-15 minutes and stir again.
- Don't forget that the most important thing is the right temperature. As long as you bring the buttercream back to the right temperature of 75 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, it will be beautiful in the end.
More tips on what to look for to get the perfect buttercream,you can find here!
