Korean Buttercream For Sugar Flowers

Buttercream flowers are a cake decorating staple, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to make.

On the contrary, making beautiful buttercream flowers that hold their shape and have a glossy sheen as well as a dense interior requires the perfect recipe and a lot of care. 

When it comes to making buttercream flowers, a lot of people opt for the tried and tested meringue buttercream recipe.

While this works well, we actually recommend using a Korean buttercream recipe, based around the method for Italian meringue, to achieve that glossy texture. 

If you would like to learn how to make the best Korean buttercream for sugar flowers, read on!

We’ll be sharing our favorite recipe based around the recipe from G.G. Cakraft, to help you make the most delicious and stunning buttercream sugar flowers ever!

The Work Of G.G. Cakraft 

Before we show you the recipe we’ve been using to make sugar flowers from buttercream, we’d like to take a moment to talk about the work of G.G. Cakraft. 

The owner of G.G. Cakraft, one of the most successful cake decorating websites out there right now, created the method of making buttercream that we’re going to be sharing with you in our recipe card today.

We love it because our flowers always turn out looking smooth and glossy while maintaining their firmness for hours on end. 

If you would like to hear G.G. talk about her glossy buttercream recipe and the copyright situation around the recipe currently, you can find the video here.

A lot of her work is also available to view on Pinterest, as you can see here: 

Now that you’ve seen some of the amazing things you can create using this recipe, let’s take a look!

The Best Korean Buttercream Recipe For Sugar Flowers

This recipe takes an hour and 20 minutes to make in total. Most of this is chilling time, allowing 30 minutes for prep time and just 5 minutes for cooking.

So, this is not a big time commitment, especially when you consider how beautiful and professional the results are. 

Each serving contains 204 calories, but if you want to know more about the nutritional content of this buttercream, you can check out the nutritional profile below. 

The ingredient quantities listed below will make enough buttercream for 20 buttercream flowers, but if you want to make more or less, you can adjust the quantities by dividing or multiplying accordingly. 

Following this recipe, you’ll be able to make glossy but firm sugar flowers.

They taste very similar to the standard meringue buttercream flowers you’ve probably tried before, since the recipe is based around egg whites.

However, in our opinion, this is the best method to use if you want the perfect consistency as well as the most refined appearance. 

Nutritional Information

Here is the full nutritional information for a single serving of Korean buttercream: 

Energy (Kcal): 204 

Carbohydrates: 10 g (3%)

Sugar: 10 g (11%) 

Fat: 18 g (28%) 

Protein: 1 g (2%)

Potassium: 18 mg (1%) 

Sodium: 15 mg (1%)

Calcium: 6 mg (1%) 

Vitamin A: 562 IU (11%)

Cholesterol: 48 mg (16%) 

Bear in mind that the percentages here are based on the average adult’s daily recommended caloric intake of 2000 calories.

However, some people need to eat more or less than this for various reasons, so be sure to calculate the percentages in accordance with your diet. 

You Will Need 

The equipment you will need to make Korean buttercream according to the recipe below includes: 

• Mixing bowl 
• Saucepan 
• Double boiler 
• Stand mixer 
• Thermometer 

We will be showing you how you can make the recipe a little simpler without using a thermometer later, so if you don’t have a thermometer you can use, don’t worry!

Ingredients 

You will need the following ingredients to make buttercream sugar flowers using the Korean buttercream recipe: 

• Water (1.76 oz / 50 g) 
• Fresh egg whites (0.62 cup / 150 g)
• Sugar (1 cup / 200 g) 
• 80% fat unsalted butter (1.98 cup / 450 g)

You will need to add the sugar at two separate points in the recipe, so we recommend dividing the total sugar into two portions of 0.25 cups and 0,75 cups respectively. That’s equal to 150 grams and 50 grams. 

Method 

Here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: the perfect Korean buttercream recipe! Follow these instructions to make the best-tasting and best-looking buttercream flowers you’ve ever tried! 

Step 1

Cut up your butter into small cubes and put them in the freezer until they reach the desired temperature, which is 50 degrees Fahrenheit, or 10 degrees Celsius. 

Step 2

Crack your eggs and separate the whites before adding the whites into your mixing bowl. Start to whip until you see a foam begin to form on the top of the egg mixture.

When this happens, you can add the smaller portion of sugar (50 grams) gradually while continuing to whip. 

Step 3

Eventually, with enough whipping, you should see peaks start to form in the mixing bowl. These peaks should be stiff, but they should look shiny.

When you reach this point, you’re ready to move on to the next step of the recipe. 

Step 4

Add the larger portion of sugar (150 grams) into the water and transfer to a saucepan. Turn the heat up to medium until the water reaches boiling point.

It’s important not to stir at this point, but if you think that the sugar is collecting at the bottom of the pan or sticking to the edges, you can gently shake the plan to mix the water and sugar more evenly. 

Step 5 

This is the point where you’ll need your thermometer. When the sugar and water has reached a syrup-like consistency, place the thermometer into the mixture and wait for it to reach 244 degrees Fahrenheit, or 188 degrees Celsius. 

Step 6 

Once the syrup has reached the perfect temperature, you can slowly pour it into the egg that you whipped earlier.

Having added the sugar, you can then whip the egg whites some more. You don’t need to whip for much longer – a few minutes should be enough. 

Step 7

You have now completed the first step of making your meringue buttercream mixture. It’s now time to put the bowl containing the meringue mix into the freezer.

You should keep the bowl in the freezer until the mixture reaches a maximum of 86 degrees Fahrenheit, or 30 degrees Celsius. 

Step 8 

Now that your meringue mix is cool enough, you can add the butter, which should have chilled to the right temperature by this point. Add the cubes one at a time and start to whip the mixture together. 

Step 9 

Eventually, as you whip the butter into the meringue mix, you should see the buttercream breaking down and then blending together again.

By the end of the process, there should be no water left in the bowl, and this is when you know you can add the food coloring and start making your flowers!

How To Simplify The Recipe (No Thermometer)

Now, if you don’t have a thermometer, making the above recipe can be really tricky.

Not using the thermometer for the recipe we’ve outlined so far can lead to disappointing results because so much of it relies on the ingredients reaching the right temperatures at different stages. 

For example, you need the butter to be cool enough before you can add it to the meringue, and the syrup for the meringue needs to get hot enough before you can add it to the egg whites. 

However, for those of our readers who don’t have a cooking thermometer (or any thermometer, for that matter), you can still make delicious buttercream flowers using a different method. 

We like to use the Swiss meringue-making method rather than the Italian meringue method for those days when we want an easier time in the kitchen.

You can find the full recipe for the Swiss meringue buttercream method here, but here’s a brief overview: 

The Alternative Method 

This recipe uses all the same ingredients as the above recipe, including butter, sugar, and egg whites. Vanilla flavoring, or any other flavoring of your choice, can also be incorporated into the mix. 

The method starts the same, with whipping the egg whites along with the sugar. However, for this recipe, you’ll put the butter cubes in the refrigerator first, rather than putting them straight in the freezer.

You’ll then put the egg white and sugar mixture over your double boiler and continue to whisk until you can’t physically feel the sugar anymore.

You’ll then use a stand mixture on a high speed to achieve the stiff consistency with peaks. As you can see, there’s no syrup-making process involved here, so no need for a thermometer. 

At this point, you can freeze both the butter cubes and the meringue for up to 10 minutes.

Then, as with the original recipe, you’ll add a cube of butter at a time while whipping until the water disappears from the bowl, meaning that your buttercream is ready. 

Only at this point should you add food coloring before shaping the buttercream into your flower shapes. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Is Korean Buttercream The Same As Italian Buttercream? 

The only difference between Korean and Italian buttercream is that the butter is added when cold in the Korean recipe, whereas Italian buttercream is usually not made with cold butter.

What Are The Different Types Of Buttercream?

You can have Italian, Korean, Swiss, French, American, or German buttercream, as well as flour buttercream. We think Korean buttercream is the best for sugar flowers, though.

Does Buttercream Taste Better Than Fondant?

You can also make sugar flowers out of fondant, but most people think buttercream tastes better because it’s less sickly with a richer taste and texture.

Final Thoughts 

Korean buttercream is perfect for making buttercream flowers because it looks glossy on the outside but feels firm and has a dense texture as well as a rich and creamy flavor. 

You will need a thermometer for this Korean buttercream recipe, but you can also use a Swiss meringue recipe to make a similar buttercream without a thermometer.

https://youtu.be/Qw0PX9e8NBg