French buttercream

Source: Stella Parks

Ingredients

5 1/2 oz (155 g, or 2/3 C) egg yolk from about 10 large eggs
5 1/4 oz (3/4 C or 145 g) plain or lightly toasted sugar
1 oz (about 2 Tbs, 30 g) bourbon, brandy, rum, tea, or coffee
1/4 oz (1 1/2 tsp or 7 g) vanilla extract
1/2 tsp (2 g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or 1/4 tsp fine salt (should still be 2 g)
16 oz unsalted butter (4 sticks, 455 g) softened to about 65 F

Equipment

Directions

Fill a wide pot with at least 1 1/2” water, with a thick ring of crumpled foil placed on the bottom to prevent the mixer bowl from touching the bottom of the pan. Place pot over high heat until steaming hot, then adjust temp to maintain a gentle simmer.
Combine egg yolks, sugar, bourbon or other liquid flavoring, vanilla, and salt in bowl of stand mixer. Place bowl over simmering water, stirring and scraping constantly with flexible spatula until egg yolk syrup reaches 155 F (about 5 mins). If process is moving slowly, turn the heat up a little. Once ready, transfer bowl to stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment and whip at high speed until fluffy and stiff, and beginning to ball around the whisk, around 8 minutes.
With mixer still running, add butter 1 or 2 Tbs at a time, in steady additions. By the end, buttercream should be thick, creamy, and soft but not runny, around 72 F.
Use buttercream right away, or transfer to a large zipper lock bag, press out additional air and seal. Refrigerate up to 2 weeks or frozen up to several months (or even longer, the main issue with freezing is odor absorption). Rewarm to 72 F and re-whip before using.

Notes

If warmer than 74 F, buttercream will be soft and loose. Pop it in the fridge for 15 min and rewhip to thicken and cool.
If colder than 68 F, buttercream will be firm and dense, making it difficult to spread and slow to melt on the tongue, creating a greasy mouthfeel. To warm, briefly set over a pan of water just until the edges start to melt slightly, then rewhip to soften and warm.

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