Brandy butter shouldn’t be just for mince pies and Christmas pudding. My recipe to turn it into brandy buttercream makes it perfect for cakes too.

Well we’ve reached the final day of my Festive Buttercream Week. I hope you’ve liked my new flavours. In case you missed any here they are…

My final new recipe is inspired by the Christmas classic, brandy butter. It’s something I hadn’t tried for most of my life. I was unconvinced that I’d like it as I’m not really a huge fan of brandy as a drink in it’s own right. I was eventually convinced to give it a go on my mince pies and I was converted, it’s absolutely delicious.

My brandy buttercream uses the same basic ingredients of butter, icing sugar and brandy but it has a softer texture making it perfect for icing cakes (although it does go very well with a mince pie too 🙂 ).

To get the brandy flavour coming through you need to add quite a bit of brandy to your buttercream. If you’ve ever tried adding a lot of liquid to buttercream before you’ll know that if you add too much it’ll separate and go lumpy. The secret is to add it slowly, no more than a teaspoon at a time and to make sure it’s fully incorporated before you add more.

When I’m making brandy buttercream I prefer to switch to hand mixing when I add the brandy, it gives me more control over the whole thing and I’ve found that it always goes well if I do.

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Brandy Buttercream

Brandy butter shouldn't be just for mince pies and Christmas pudding. My recipe to turn it into brandy buttercream makes it perfect for cakes too.

5 from 1 vote

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Active Time: 10

Total Time: 10

Servings: 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

250 g butter - soft at room temperature
500 g icing sugar
90 ml brandy

INSTRUCTIONS

Beat your butter (250g) in an electric mixer at a low speed until soft.
Add your icing sugar (500g) and beat until fully combined. I prefer to add my icing sugar a little at a time to stop it flying all over the kitchen!
Once the butter and sugar are combined add your brandy (100ml) 1 tsp at a time. Ensure that each addition is fully combined before adding more. I prefer to mix in the brandy by hand rather than using the electric mixer.
Enjoy!

NOTES

Makes enough for 12 cupcakes or to cover and fill a 20cm layer cake.

Take a look at my mix-and-match cupcake index to find lots of different flavour cupcake sponges to serve this on, as well as lots of other buttercream recipe inspiration.

Adding the brandy may make your buttercream a little soft. If it does then pop it into the fridge to firm up a little before using.

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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.

Course: Dessert

Keyword: Buttercream, Frosting, Gluten-Free, Icing

Author: Charlotte Oates

Free From/Suitable For…

Suitable for Vegetarians
Corn-Free
Egg-Free
Gluten-Free
Nut-Free
Soy-Free

The ingredients for this recipe are easily available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.

Comments

Louise says
November 20, 2024 at 10:48 pm

I made 1/2 the quantity and it worked out really well. Super delicious and super easy. Thanks so much. I then found your brandy butter small qty recipe and that would have been perfect. Going to look at your pretty mince pies
now. Thanks again
Lisa Marriott says
December 10, 2023 at 8:35 pm
Hi there
I wanted to icing a small Christmas cake with this icing. Will
It last and for how long?
- Charlotte Oates says
  December 11, 2023 at 1:23 am
  I don’t think I’d recommend using this recipe if you intend to keep the cake for any more than say a week. Because it does contain butter, it won’t keep like a royal icing and technically it should be stored in the fridge.
Peter L. Gordon says
December 24, 2022 at 11:37 pm
Thank you, this recipe worked out perfectly. Use high quality brandy to be sure you get the quality taste you are after. Cheers from Canada, Peter.
Debs says
October 18, 2020 at 7:29 pm
Hi Charlotte. I have left over buttercream from a cake, any tips on the best way to convert this to brandy butter?
- Charlotte Oates says
  October 19, 2020 at 8:42 pm
  Generally brandy butter has a higher butter content, so by mixing in additional butter you should get what you’re after. My recipe for brandy butter should give you an idea of the ratios you’re after.
  Brandy Butter
Danielle says
November 13, 2019 at 5:01 pm
Hi Charlotte,
Can you add your festive buttercream to a classic vanilla cake? I want to make a square vanilla cake with festive butter cream and fondant icing on the top to decorate.
- Charlotte Oates says
  November 14, 2019 at 8:53 am
  Yes, as long as you like the flavour combination you can add it to pretty much anything.
Mary says
December 03, 2017 at 9:25 pm
These sound lovely except I can’t decide between Brandy Buttercream or Marzipan Buttercream. Maybe I’ll have to make double lot and use each. Super recipe, thanks!
- Charlotte Oates says
  December 04, 2017 at 11:33 am
  Make them both!!