Old School Buttercream Candies

[artiesel]

Has anyone ever worked with or made buttercream candies? 

 

As far as I can tell they appear to be simply fondant sugar with the addition of butter.  

 

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks

[Kerry Beal]

Buttermints? Or are you meaning chocolate bonbons with a buttercream filling?

[artiesel]

I suppose it's chocolate bon bons with a buttercream filling.  
 

NOT butter mousse or butter ganache, but something like this...

 

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/vanilla-butter-cream-recipe-1940569

 

 

[pastrygirl]

Several months ago I was visited by a guy trying to sell me an aW meter.  The most convenient substance I had at room temperature that day was some salted caramel Swiss meringue buttercream with which I was icing cupcakes, so we measured a sample of that and it came out as 0.78, which in theory could have a shelf life of a few months.  I know that when you go to See's, the "buttercreams" are not meringue buttercream icing, but this made me wonder about the possibilities.

[artiesel]

I've seen recipes like the one I linked to previously, and I found one recipe for chocolate buttercreams while watching a YouTube video.  Both recipes seem to be flavored fondant sugar

 

I even have an old French recipe for fruit puree flavored fondant which I am certain could be converted into a butter cream style filling.  

[Jim D.]

I make buttercreams quite a bit--with vanilla, with rum, and as a "crème brûlée" (with even more vanilla and some caramel crunch). I use @Kerry Beal's recipe. It is based on fondant and butter plus white chocolate to make it firm up (and add yet more vanilla). Since it's her recipe, I don't feel I can post it, but she will probably notice this and respond. Contrary to expectations, the fondant is not overwhelmingly, cloyingly sweet in this recipe. I tried Jack Daniels and also a "boutique" bourbon as flavorings once, but surprisingly to me, the booze flavor was lost--it would take so much of it to taste that the buttercream would be practically liquid. Dark rum, however, is delicious. These are quite popular--it's that old-timey thing, I guess.

 

Why don't you want a butter ganache? That would also work with what (I think) is the right texture. It's quite similar to the fondant approach.

Edited July 17, 2018 by Jim D.
Edited to add reference to butter ganache (log)

[Kerry Beal]

46 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

I make buttercreams quite a bit--with vanilla, with rum, and as a "crème brûlée" (with even more vanilla and some caramel crunch). I use @Kerry Beal's recipe. It is based on fondant and butter plus white chocolate to make it firm up (and add yet more vanilla). Since it's her recipe, I don't feel I can post it, but she will probably notice this and respond. Contrary to expectations, the fondant is not overwhelmingly, cloyingly sweet in this recipe. I tried Jack Daniels and also a "boutique" bourbon as flavorings once, but surprisingly to me, the booze flavor was lost--it would take so much of it to taste that the buttercream would be practically liquid. Dark rum, however, is delicious. These are quite popular--it's that old-timey thing, I guess.

 

Why don't you want a butter ganache? That would also work with what (I think) is the right texture. It's quite similar to the fondant approach.

 

You can forward 

[Tri2Cook]

53 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

I use @Kerry Beal's recipe. It is based on fondant and butter plus white chocolate to make it firm up (and add yet more vanilla). Since it's her recipe, I don't feel I can post it, but she will probably notice this and respond.

 

6 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

You can forward

If it's the same one I use, it's posted here in the forums. I just don't remember where because I copied it to one of my files in my "chocolate" folder on my laptop. If it's a different one, all bets are off and ignore what I just said. 

[Jim D.]

I found the bare bones of Kerry's recipe.

 

There are other threads dealing with buttercreams as well.

[Tri2Cook]

2 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

I found the bare bones of Kerry's recipe.

 

There are other threads dealing with buttercreams as well.

Ok, bare bones is what I have then. That's exactly the one I have saved.

[Kerry Beal]

7 hours ago, artiesel said:

I suppose it's chocolate bon bons with a buttercream filling.  
 

NOT butter mousse or butter ganache, but something like this...

 

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/vanilla-butter-cream-recipe-1940569

 

 

This picture shows old fashioned 'creams' - you'll get your best recipes for these from our own @Chocolot's book Candymaking. It's out of print - but you'll notice used copies for a very reasonable price.

 

 

[artiesel]

You've made these creams before, have you?

 

[Kerry Beal]

53 minutes ago, artiesel said:

You've made these creams before, have you?

 

Indeed I have - way back when I made an imitation of one of the popular Sees recipes - lost it in the great hard drive crash of 2014! 

[Kerry Beal]

Here’s the extruder they use to form the creams at a shop I was down consulting for in June.

 

 

 

[artiesel]

I need to clarify Kerry...

 

Have you made the cream recipes from that book?  

 

I've made a test batch of vanilla creams that I really liked, cut them into squares with a guitar and enrobed them in both 70% dark and 40% milk chocolates.

 

I'm still working on a chocolate cream formula that I'm happy with.  

[Kerry Beal]

Yes - I've made a number of the cream recipes from that book. 

 

What dissatisfies you about the chocolate cream recipe you are working on?

Edited July 18, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[artiesel]

It doesn't have enough chocolate flavor.  I'm going to replace the 70% chocolate with  chocolate liquor.

 

I think what I need to do is rework the formula with a higher moister content to offset the amount of butter and the chocolate liquor and maintain the soft texture.

[Kerry Beal]

I've asked @Chocolot to weigh in. It's her area of expertise.

 

[Chocolot]

Not exactly sure what you are looking for, but I will assume you want a deep chocolate flavored fondant butter cream you can roll and dip in chocolate for a bon bon.

 

 

Having a good thermometer is most important.  I might cook it about 2 degrees less if adding chocolate. It tends to be a bit drier. I also add some vanilla.

The cooler the fondant is when you start to stir, the smoother it will be. Don't go crazy and wait too long, or it will be miserable to get it to move. You can add more chocolate if you want. Also, adding a bit of coffee tends to boost the chocolate flavor. Use it as part of the cooking liquid. You can also add butter if you want. I usually used 40% cream and figured I had enough butterfat.

[artiesel]

Wow!!!  Good Stuff!!!  Thank you very much!

[Chester86]

On 7/18/2018 at 9:39 AM, Chocolot said:

Not exactly sure what you are looking for, but I will assume you want a deep chocolate flavored fondant butter cream you can roll and dip in chocolate for a bon bon.

 

 

Having a good thermometer is most important.  I might cook it about 2 degrees less if adding chocolate. It tends to be a bit drier. I also add some vanilla.

The cooler the fondant is when you start to stir, the smoother it will be. Don't go crazy and wait too long, or it will be miserable to get it to move. You can add more chocolate if you want. Also, adding a bit of coffee tends to boost the chocolate flavor. Use it as part of the cooking liquid. You can also add butter if you want. I usually used 40% cream and figured I had enough butterfat.

Nice! I just sent @Chocolot a message about this! Glad I found it.

thanks for sharing.

[artiesel]

Glad I could help!

[Lisa Shock]

I make chocolate extract and use to boost flavor in things like mousses where there's a significantly large percentage of non-chocolate-flavored ingredients. A few drops should help you.