Basil Buttercream

5 from 1 vote

Ingredients

3 cups (6 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 handful basil
6 cups confectioners sugar sifted
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

First you need to make the basil infused butter. Place the butter in a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until completely melted. Add the basil and continue cooking over low heat for appox. 8 minutes, making sure the butter does not brown or burn on the bottom of the plan. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain out the basil and place the butter in a container and refrigerate until it's back to a solid consistency. This will take about an hour. For this reason we recommend making the infused butter the day before.
In a stand mixer fitter with a paddle attachment, cream the butter starting at low and increasing the speed. The butter will lighted in color and be smooth.
With the mixer on low add the sugar one cup at a time letting it fully incorporate before adding the next. Scrape the bowl then add the vanilla, cream and salt. Slowly increase the speed to high and beat for 5 minutes, stopping once or twice to scrape the bowl.

Notes

In order to fill frost and decorate the cake we made two batches, one with the basil butter and one with standard butter. The reason for this is because when you infuse the butter it can slightly change the consistancy, making the butter a little more grainy. We needed a smooth buttercream to create the stripes so we just used the basil butter cream in the filling and for a thicker crumb coat. A way to get the basil buttercream to be a little smoother is to make a Swiss meringue buttercream over an American buttercream.