On another note, whenever I make Italian buttercream I always ask myself, “why aren’t I always making this because this is delicious?” Let’s face it: you can’t beat the refined silky texture!
Pro Tips on Making the cake layers
If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans. Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off. If you see little clumps of butter after you mix the wet ingredients don’t panic, it all works out by the time you mix in the dry ingredients. You can even use melted butter and warm the milk and sour cream up a bit if you like. You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference. To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set on the shop page or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
Pro Tips for Making Italian Meringue Buttercream
Wipe the bowl and whisk down with vinegar to make sure there’s no hidden fat or oil lingering around to inhibit your meringue from fluffing up. Don’t panic when you start adding the butter in. The meringue will become liquidy and then stiffen back up AFTER all the butter is added in. If your buttercream is “soupy,” just pop it into the fridge for a couple of minutes, then beat it. It should thicken up. I find consistency problems arise mostly from the meringue being too warm when the butter is added. Chilling it will help improve the consistency. If you’re not using your buttercream IMMEDIATELY — and it will be sitting for a few minutes — then just keep in mind that you will have to give it a short whip to “bring it back to life” as it loses its consistency quickly. I have an entire blog post with how to video on how to make this delicious buttercream. Check it out if you have ANY questions.
Cake Decorating Hints
Italian meringue buttercream is pretty soft so you might need to chill the cake after that third layer goes on and you give it a QUICK crumb coat. Just long enough for it to set a bit. Smooth the side with a bench scraper. Using a turntable REALLY helps make this happen quickly. In the photo below you can see an offset spatula pulling in while the cake turns. This gives a nice crisp corner. Apply dollops of the different colored buttercream onto your smoothed cake and give it one or two swipes to smooth. DON’T for too far with the smoothing at this point or your colors will become muddy. If you find cake decorating to be a bit intimidating then check out my How to Decorate a Cake post, it has lots of helpful tips and a full how to video.
IF YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE TRY THESE OUT!
The BEST vanilla cupcakes Ultimate Chocolate Cake Lemon Cake Funfetti Cake If you’ve tried this watercolor cake recipe then don’t forget to leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
