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
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
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.
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.
Peter L. Gordon says
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
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
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
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
Yes, as long as you like the flavour combination you can add it to pretty much anything.
Mary says
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
Make them both!!