I was reading Brave Tart’s macaron recipes and technique and came across this tip (from the comments) on working with frozen buttercream—haven’t tried it, but she works with this stuff, professionally, on a daily basis, so I thought it was worth putting out there in case anyone wanted to give it a shot!

Hi Tejeanne! Yes, it is best to re-whip it before spreading. The best way to do this is to divide the frozen buttercream into thirds. Melt 2/3 of the buttercream completely (microwave or water bath), and then put it on the mixer to whip on low speed with the remaining 1/3 that is still frozen. The melted buttercream will soften the frozen part, while the frozen buttercream cools and hardens the melted part, and the result is the perfectly creamy mixture you had before it was frozen.

If the mixture seems slightly curdled, it’s still too cold. Just take out about a half a cup, melt it, and add it back into the mix. This should warm it up to a good consistency. Hope that helps!

Here’s a link to the page:  http://bravetart.com/recipes/swissbuttercream

Whoa, very brave indeed- I didn’t know you could rescue melted buttercream…!

Tripped me out, too, but she does it so much and with such confidence, I thought I’d put it out there!

I’m a-scared to try it myself, though, that’s for sure!

We used to do this all the time; it works. My experience is with IMBC, though, not Swiss.  I would divide the amount of buttercream I had into thirds: one third in the mixer bowl in pieces, one third in a glass cup to microwave and the last third (also in pieces) to add as the buttercream was coming back to life.  Sometimes you’d have to take some of that last third to microwave.  Using the paddle, you start the mixer on slow, then stream in the melted buttercream slowly, holding some of it back. You really need to watch it to know if you need to melt more or if it is coming together; it’s possible that if you use too high a speed, the cold stuff will just curdle on you and you’ll never be able to bring it back. I’ve found the consistency of the buttercream to be a little bit different than when freshly made; it’s hard to describe but the buttercream is a little thicker/denser; you’ve deflated it with the melted stuff so if you melted a lot of it, you might find your consistency to be much thicker and more “buttery” then when it was fresh.

Amazing! 

Wow, Jeanne, thanks for the details on method and texture!

It’s a fine line between the cold buttercream and the melted stuff; under ideal circumstances we would take out a refrigerated tub (aka lexan, which is a sort of rubbermaid container but it holds 10 or 20 pounds of buttercream.  Not that I would try to “re constitute” that much buttercream at one time.) and leave it out overnight.  During the winter, that doesn’t help much so I would take some of it out and do as I described.  If you’re taking buttercream directly from the fridge, you’re better off leaving the pieces/clumps of cold buttercream in the bowl for an hour or make the pieces very small chunks if you can.  Just like when you’re pouring the hot syrup into the beaten whites; you’re slowing pouring the melted buttercream in and letting it soften the cold bits and then it begins to “re-emulsify” and you can add more melted and more cold bits and continue.  If it seems like it is curdling, then add more melted to it and let the mixer run.  Believe me, once this curdles, you can’t get it back so take it slow.  But it works

I do not know how I missed this in early February ... but wow!!