So, I’ve spent most of my amateur baking journey (which, let’s be real, hasn’t been all that long) making cakes with Italian buttercream. Yep, the one that everyone whispers about being “complicated” and “fussy.” And honestly? They’re not wrong. Italian buttercream isn’t the fastest frosting to whip up, especially if you’re in a warm, humid climate like mine, where it can take up to 30-40 minutes of your life you’ll never get back. But here’s why I stick with it: it’s so worth it. It’s not too sweet, and it has this magical silky texture that makes you feel like a pro—even if you’re an amateur baker (like me). And honestly, once you’ve got a candy thermometer, it’s way less scary than it sounds. If you can measure the temperature of boiling sugar, you’re already halfway to buttercream glory. But as much as I love Italian buttercream, I thought, “Why not mix things up a bit?” That’s when I stumbled upon Russian buttercream, also known as sweetened condensed milk buttercream (yeah, the name’s a mouthful, but stick with me). This recipe looked like a dream—just butter and condensed milk. Simple, right? So, naturally, I figured I’d give it a try.
The Experiment: Cheap Ingredients, Big Consequences
So, off I went to the store, ready to try something new. And since I wasn’t baking for anyone in particular, I thought, “Eh, let’s save some money.” I picked up the cheaper butter and the store-brand sweetened condensed milk. What could possibly go wrong?A lot, apparently.I started mixing the buttercream, and right away, things started to go sideways. The texture was way off—nowhere near the fluffy, smooth goodness I was hoping for. I could have called it quits right there, but I’m not a quitter. So, I decided to split the batch and try to salvage it.For one half, I turned to my trusty sidekick: chocolate. I melted 100 grams of 75% cocoa chocolate in the microwave (careful not to overheat it so it wouldn’t mess with the buttercream’s temperature). And guess what? It worked! The texture improved a lot. It actually held its shape when I piped it, and I thought, “Hey, maybe I’ve saved this after all!”
The second half? Well… not so much.
I tried piping it, and let’s just say it looked… sad. Slightly broken, definitely not holding its shape. So, I decided to get creative. I slathered some on top of the cupcakes and flipped them over onto parchment paper before popping them in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Cue the waiting game.When I took them out, they still looked… tragic. The butter had separated a bit (if you look closely enough, you might spot it—probably a butter quality issue). At this point, decorating was off the table.So, I caved. I added some icing sugar. And then I added more icing sugar. By the time the buttercream could hold its shape, it was way too sweet for my liking. Total sugar rush. I knew this wasn’t how it was supposed to be because I’d seen recipes that called for just half a cup of icing sugar for the whole batch. I added way more than that, and this was only half the batch!But hey, I wasn’t going to let this go undocumented. I took a few pics to show the disaster in progress. For fun, I also added some oil-based food coloring each time I added more icing sugar, just to see the difference while piping. Spoiler alert: the darker the color, the more sugar was in there.
Does Cheaper Butter Mean More Sugar?
This got me thinking: does using cheaper butter force bakers to load up on more sugar just to get the right texture? It sure felt that way with this batch. With good-quality ingredients, you don’t need to drown your buttercream in sugar to make it work. But here, it seemed like I was just piling on sugar to cover for what the butter couldn’t handle.
Lesson Learned: Quality Matters
Here’s the takeaway: cheap ingredients will betray you. Seriously, I’m convinced the cheaper butter and condensed milk were the villains here. When you’re working with something as simple as Russian buttercream, where there are only a few ingredients, the quality of each one really makes a difference. Saving a few bucks on ingredients probably cost me more in frustration—and a very sad batch of buttercream.
To Be Continued… With Quality Ingredients!
So, will I make Russian buttercream again? Absolutely! But next time, I’m breaking out the good stuff—quality butter and condensed milk—to see if it makes a difference. I’ll be repeating this experiment and reporting back. Stay tuned for the (hopefully) much-improved version!
