A long time ago an Austrian baker told me that he was taught to use a pudding base for his buttercream. This is somewhat the same process as is recommended by the Dr. Oetker people. Both the pudding (any flavour) and the creamed butter must be @ room temp to prevent curdling. It seems a lot less involved than the hot sugar syrup and meringue method but perhaps the trade-off is in the texture and pipability. I always loved the delicacy of the buttercream he made as opposed to the sugary one-note stuff of other commercial bakeries.

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