1,544 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

Butter cream

Name: Butter cream
Prep time: 48 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 58 min
Yield: 700 g
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 180 g butter; 150 g caster sugar; 3 tablespoons water; 6 egg yolks; 3 egg whites; 100 g caster sugar

Butter cream is made with egg yolk, sugar syrup and, of course, butter. These days it has fallen rather out of fashion, probably because it's very rich, but it still has its aficionados. Here is the classic plain version, which you can lighten and flavour as you wish.

344 K 3.7/5 (48 reviews)

60 min.

Easy

2.10 €

700 g

6 Ingredients

Last modified on: October 13^th 2010

For 700 g, you will need:

1 180 g butter
2 150 g caster sugar
3 3 tablespoons water
4 6 egg yolks
5 3 egg whites
6 100 g caster sugar
Total weight: 685 grams

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 50 min.

Cooking: 10 min.

All in all: 60 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - ⌛ 10 min.

Take 180 g butter out of the refrigerator at least 1 hour before using.

Heat 150 g caster sugar and 3 tablespoons water in a small pan over high heat, and bring up to 120°C (250°F), using an electronic thermometer if possible to check.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 3 min.

Meanwhile, tip 6 egg yolks into a bowl and beat on high speed.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 5 min.

When the sugar syrup has reached 120°C (250°F), reduce the mixer speed and pour the syrup fairly quickly (30 seconds maximum) onto the egg yolks.

Try to avoid the syrup landing on the beaters or it will splash everywhere.

Stage 4 - ⌛ 10 min.

Leave the mixer beating for a further 10 minutes or so to cool the mixture.

Stage 5 - ⌛ 10 min.

After this time add 180 g butter a little at a time while still beating on slow speed, until the butter is completely incorporated.

Stage 6

The butter cream is ready.

Stage 7 - ⌛ 5 min.

If you would like a lighter butter cream, beat 3 egg whites and add 100 g caster sugar at the end.

Stage 8 - ⌛ 10 min.

Fold the beaten egg whites into the cream to lighten the texture while keeping the original flavour.

Stage 9 - ⌛ 5 min.

You can then add the flavouring of your choice like praline, a liqueur, or chocolate chips.

Remarks

The cream should be stored in the fridge in a sealed container. Take it out 1 hour before using to allow it to soften.

Butter cream is out of favour in modern patisseries, for one thing it's full of calories, and these days the taste is for less rich foods. But also, I fear, beacause it is so easy for a poor baker (whether industrial or not) to make a bad butter cream by mixing margarine with sugar and artifical flavouring. This awful cream eventually put customers off all the good butter creams, which is a shame, as I know people who would give anything for a decent real butter cream with praline for example.

Keeping: Several days in the fridge, in a closed jar.

Source: Home made.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	30 RDI=10 %	250 RDI=20 %	190 RDI=30 %	2,800 RDI=140 %	11,740 RDI: 140 %
Per 100 g	3 RDI=1 %	40 RDI=3 %	30 RDI=4 %	410 RDI=20 %	1,710 RDI: 20 %

Possible allergens in this recipe: milk, egg

How much will it cost?

For 700 g : 2.10 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

Some other recipes using this recipe

Succès praliné (praline meringue)

The "succès" (success) is a classic of traditional French patisserie, made with two layers of almond meringue filled with praline butter cream. It's very rich and a little old-fashioned these days, but still has many faithful fans. The original recipe comes from the master chef Gaston Lenôtre, and...
390 K 34.1 4 hours 20 min.

This recipe uses (among others)