Despite my love of baking, I just can’t bring myself to pull out every machine I have in my possession. It always feels like a chore to wrangle a stand or hand mixer, and since I am not television perfect, I always end up exploding some amount of powdered sugar all over my countertop. And at that point, the chore of cleaning outweighs the deliciousness of the buttercream itself. So when I want to avoid the mess and fuss of a stand mixer, I’ve found other ways to make frosting without the hassle!
Beyond Room Temperature
When it comes to buttercream, it does take a little bit of elbow grease however, it doesn’t have to be exhausting. Though your grandmother would probably start a story with “back in my day, we just used a wooden spoon and simple strength,” I think a hack or two can’t mess up the method.
Here, the microwave is your friend, softening the butter until it is almost beginning to melt definitely gives you a fighting chance at a smooth and edible buttercream. Once warmed up, loosen the butter up with a spoon or spatula, then add a bit of powdered sugar, and finally mix the ingredients (powdered sugar, salt, vanilla) until it incorporates with the butter. You may not be sifting your ingredients with an electric mixture, but when making a frosting with a whisk and spoon, you’ll want to reconsider. Just like with butter, you want to minimize your chances of creating lumps, so sifting removes any excess bumpy bits.
Use A Different Fat
If you don’t want to use butter as your base, you’re in luck because there are plenty of alternatives aside from butter that gives the same creamy base, albeit a little less sturdy. An old-fashioned option like a sour cream or a milk-flour frosting are just as thick as your traditional buttercream. Better yet, both of these frostings have a delicious, less sweet flavor that works beautifully with citrus or fruit-flavored cakes.
Firm It Up With Chocolate
Need more structure? No problem! To your alternative frosting, opt for adding some melted chocolate. Using melted chocolate in your frosting base does one of two very important things, it softens and smooths out any cold bits or butter, and it provides structure. You can do this with any variety of chocolate (milk, dark, white), as long as it has cocoa fat in the blend, it’ll make for a smooth and soft frosting. Just don’t go all fancy with some crazy dark chocolate because those very dark chocolates never have enough cocoa fat in them, and they’ll make your frosting gritty.
With these tips, you won’t have to hassle yourself with a kitchen appliance, and you’ll be surprised how good a tiny bit of old-fashioned elbow grease tastes!