Ube Condensed Buttercream Frosting

Frosting. Piping.

These are 2 of my biggest concerns when baking and decorating a cake. As a hobby baker, the usual frosting I use is the American Buttercream because for me it’s easier (or at least I thought so). I guess I love doing the American buttercream because it reminds me of childhood goodies and sweets. It is only when I explored the world of baking that I realized there are lot of types of frosting!

Here are the basic frostings I know, some of which I have tried already:

• the whipped cream frosting—love this frosting but needs stabilizing to avoid runny, melting frosting;

• Cream cheese frosting – hmm, one of my personal favorites!

• the Swiss and Italian Meringue Buttercream, Ganache frosting. I have tried the SMBC once, and I must admit, I love it because although it involves melting sugar in a pot, the end result is a light, not-too-sweet of a buttercream.

• And of course my go-to frosting recently—the Condensed Buttercream (CBC)! Yes, you read it right! Condensed Buttercream!

Again, I love joining baking groups on social media sites because I learn and discover new things. One of which is the condensed buttercream recipe. I was adamant at first to try because I know this will give a “very sweet” kind of frosting. I mean c’mon… anything with condensed milk for sure will be sweet right?! But what is condensed buttercream aka CBC frosting really? As the name implies, it's a frosting out of condensed milk and butter. I honestly do not know where this frosting originated. It is worth mentioning though that I got this recipe from a Philippine-based baking group.

I was able to try this frosting when I ran out of icing sugar in my pantry. The recipe is short and on point—1 can of condensed milk, 1 cup of butter. Some people will add ¼- ½ cup of icing sugar for stability. My first try was a disaster. I did not like the texture, it was too grainy. 2nd time I tried, same thing. I was thinking I overbeat the frosting. I asked the members of the baking site where I found the recipe and was told that there is really no “overbeating” the CBC, you just have to keep going and to make sure the condensed milk is chilled before use.

I tweaked the CBC recipe a bit. Instead of adding icing sugar for stability, I added 1/8 cup of vegetable shortening. Like the American buttercream, flavor and coloring options are also endless. I personally prefer gel food color though for my frosting.

I recently made an Ube Birthday Cake for a friend and of course, I used the CBC for my cake. I made a short, simple, edited-on-my-phone video for this Ube condensed frosting so please excuse my non-pro edits on the video haha.

I decided to create and upload this because I could not find any video tutorial on Youtube or even on FB about ube cbc. I hope you give it a try. Here is the recipe, video link and some pictures of the cake with CBC frosting:

Ingredients:

1 can(325 mL) condensed milk (chilled at least 4 hours)

1 cup unsalted butter (cubed, room temp not melted)

1/8 cup vegetable shortening

2 tsp Ube extract (up to 3 tsp)

Procedure: 2 ways

1. Pour in condensed milk and mix on low speed.

2. Gradually add cubed butter one at a time, continue mixing on low speed until well incorporated. You can add shortening during this part. This will take about 5-7 mins too.

3. Switch on high speed and continue beating until desired smoothness is achieved. Mixture will be grainy, soupy even but don’t worry! Just continue beating on high speed and it will eventually smoothen out. When frosting is smooth, you can add the ube flavoring. I used the McCormick Ube extract.

Or

1. In a medium bowl, cream butter on low speed using your stand mixer (whisk or paddle attachment) or hand-held mixer. You can add 1/8 veg shortening if you would like. This will take about 5-7 minutes.

2. Pour condensed milk slowly. Mix until incorporated. Switch to high speed setting.

3. Mixture will be grainy. Just continue to mix on high speed until desired consistency and texture is reached. Please see video for reference. When frosting is smooth, you can add the ube flavoring. I used the McCormick Ube extract.

Tips:

1. There is no overbeating the frosting. Just continue mixing until you have reached desired smoothness.

2. You can skip the shortening and add icing sugar instead if sweetness is not enough for you.

3. I have made CBC in advance and tried freezing it. Worked well! Just thaw in the fridge 12-24 hrs before use. I even used microwave (just eyeball it) to soften the frosting and mix it again in a stand mixer, still okay.

Hope this helps! Happy frosting!

My take on UBE CAKE with CBC Frosting :)