I do love buttercreams, and have worked my way through Swiss, Italian, French, roux-based (which is ALL of those in the "Baked: New Frontiers in American Baking" book), and German. Thus far, I prefer the German. It's use of a constarch-thickened egg custard as the base is nearly fool-proof. AND I don't mind making it when my kids are running around - which I'm not fond of doing with the hot syrup for Italian. My question - are there specific flavorings that should NOT be used in a buttercream? Will lemon or orange (fresh juice and zest) cause irreparable damange to the texture? I've used Nutella successfully, so I assume peanut butter would be OK. Just trying to save myself grief in the future... For lemon or orange, there are a some options. A citrus oil or extract is your best bet rather than using straight citrus juice. Added zest is always nice, too. For lemon, my go-to is fresh lemon curd. It does absolutely nothing to the texture other than flavor it beautifully (I am a Swiss or Italian Meringue BC user) and you do not need much. The only thing I have found a bit tricky is making chocolate BC. I gravitate towards dutch cocoa. I am careful to flavor a little at a time while sifting it in. I love the more mellow flavor cocoa gives. If you should add too much the BC can break. That is why you need to go at it slowly until you achieve the proper flavor and shade. Elisabeth

• Reply