I finally realized my buttercream was wrong after a bakery trip in Portland

For years my buttercream was always a bit gritty and heavy, and I just thought that was how it was supposed to be. Last weekend I tried a cupcake from Blue Star Bakery and their frosting was so light and smooth it was like a cloud. It hit me that I'd been using cold butter straight from the fridge instead of letting it soften for a full hour. Has anyone else had a simple mistake that totally changed your results?

4 comments

4 Comments

vera291mo ago

My mom's cornbread was always dry as dust for 20 years. We just thought that was her recipe. Turns out she was using a metal pan instead of her cast iron skillet. The difference is insane, it's actually moist now. She found the old skillet in the basement last fall.

williams.luna3d ago

Turns out she was using a metal pan instead of her cast iron skillet." That sentence just broke my brain a little. Twenty years of dry cornbread because the right pan was sitting in the basement? I can't even. My grandma would haunt me if I pulled a move like that.

kevin_williams1mo ago

Wait, she had the right pan in the basement the whole time? That's brutal.

kimblack1mo ago

My grandma always said a cast iron pan is the secret to good cornbread, something about how it holds heat. @vera29 your story totally proves that old kitchen wisdom is still true. I read once that the even heat from cast iron stops the edges from burning before the middle sets up. It's wild how one pan change can fix a recipe after twenty years.