When I am feeling adventurous in the kitchen, I will veer off from a recipe to see what happens when I try something different. This caramel buttercream was the reward I got from having the guts to experiment. I am so proud of myself for not being afraid to fail because this creation I came up with is absolutely heavenly! After I made it, I couldn’t stop eating it. My whole head was deep into my 6 quart Kitchen-Aid mixer bowl to lick every last bit of my concoction. I had caramel buttercream in my hair and on my nose but I didn’t care!
It was a good thing that the only witness to this delirious joy was my sweet Jirachi, who quietly looked up at me with her big, round eyes. She never judges me for being a pig and was waiting for me to share some of that goodness with her. I joke all the time that if there is ever a Mommy and Doggie Eating Contest, Jirachi and I would for sure take home the prize. We both can eat like nobody’s business.
Here is the recipe I came up with by starting with Gesine Bullock-Prado’s salted caramel pastry cream and then doing my own thing. It makes a huge batch that is enough to fill and frost a two layer cake.
1. First, Make the Salted Caramel Pastry Cream.
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
splash of freshly squeezed lemon juice or distilled white vinegar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
-Combine the sugar, water and lemon juice in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir gently over low heat until the sugar has completely melted. Stop stirring, once the sugar has completely melted and continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until color of sugar syrup is medium amber. Remove from heat and immediately add the heavy cream and milk. You now have caramel! Put the caramel back on the heat and stir until the hardened caramel has completely melted.
-In a small bowl, whisk together the yolks, cornstarch, salt and vanilla. Slowly drizzle about 1/2 cup of the hot caramel mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly until incorporated to temper. Slowly add the tempered yolks back to the remaining caramel, again whisking constantly, and then return to medium-low heat and whisk until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise. Immediately remove from heat and spread over a parchment-lined sheet pan in an even layer, then lay a plastic wrap directly onto the pastry cream and chill until completely cool (at least 2 hours).
You could just stop at this recipe and have the most scrumptious caramel cream to fill a homemade eclair with. However, I needed a buttercream to frost a vanilla birthday cake for my friend Tenea’s 40th birthday and I didn’t like any of the caramel buttercream recipes in my vast collection of cookbooks. As much as I love Gesine, I didn’t even like her recipe for caramel buttercream. I decided to see what would happen if I took a few extra steps on my own below.
2. While the pastry cream is cooling in the fridge, take out a pound of butter from the fridge and place it in a cool dry spot on your kitchen counter until it softens to room temperature. I use European butter because it tastes better and contains less water than American butter. When the butter has softened, place it in a large mixing bowl with the whisk attachment. Turn the mixer to medium high and whisk the butter until creamy. Take the pastry cream out of the fridge and add the pastry cream into the mixer, 1 tablespoon at a time until incorporated into the butter. For every 1 cup of butter, you will need to add 2 cups of pastry cream. As 1 pound of butter is equivalent to 2 cups of butter, you will need to add a total of 4 cups of pastry cream into the mixing bowl. What I do is measure out the four cups of pastry cream first before I add it to the butter one tablespoon at a time. I count to ten between each addition and watch it whip to the consistency I want as I drop in each tablespoon of pastry cream.
The texture was perfect and easy to spread on my cake. It wasn’t too sweet either, which is my preference for frosting. I couldn’t be happier with this experiment!
