Main Page
Kitchen utensils
Classic Charlotte cream with cognac and vanilla

Classic Charlotte Buttercream with Cognac and Vanilla

Easy to make from everyday ingredients. Everything old is new again! Today we're making classic Charlotte buttercream — stable, versatile, and a great hold-its-shape frosting for cupcakes, pastries, and cakes, or for filling éclairs and cream horns.

Sweet Life

Recipe author

Classic Charlotte cream with cognac and vanilla

Watch the video

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Milk

150

Egg

Sugar

150

Butter

225

Cognac

Salt (a pinch)

Vanilla sugar

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 3 % 2 g

Fats 52 % 32 g

Carbohydrates 44 % 27 g

411 kcal

GI: 7 / 7 / 86

Cooking method

Step 1:

In a saucepan (a heavy-bottomed one is best), combine the egg, salt, vanilla sugar, and sugar, and mix well. Add the milk at room temperature, stir, and set the pan over the heat. Cook the custard over lower-than-medium heat, whisking vigorously the whole time, until it thickens. I always make custards like this over low heat — it takes a bit longer, but it won't scorch or go lumpy.
Step 2:

I cooked the custard for 10 minutes. It comes out fairly thin — that's normal. It will thicken a bit more as it cools.
Step 3:

Pour the custard into a container, press plastic wrap directly onto the surface, and chill it in the fridge until completely cool.
Step 4:

Once the milk-and-egg custard has cooled, move on to the butter. It should be well softened but not melted.
Step 5:

Beat the butter until fluffy and pale. It will increase slightly in volume — but don't overbeat it! It took me 10 minutes to beat the butter.
Step 6:

Stir the cooled custard — it won't be as thick as a pastry cream, and that's fine. Add it to the whipped butter just 2 tablespoons at a time. Adding it gradually keeps the buttercream from splitting if the two are at different temperatures, or from melting the butter if the custard isn't fully cooled. Beat well, and add the cognac at the end. Don't overbeat here either — just combine everything until smooth and stop.
Step 7:

This is what you're after: smooth, fluffy, glossy buttercream — pleasantly sweet and very fragrant. A splash of cognac is just right here. ;)
Step 8:

The buttercream is stable, holds its shape well, and is ready to use. You can spoon it into a piping bag and pipe right away, or stash it in the fridge until you need it — just remember it will firm up and get denser as it chills.
Step 9:

It pipes beautifully. Despite all the butter, it doesn't taste overly rich — but the butter is in there, so keep that in mind! Use it to crumb-coat and frost a cake, layer it between sponges, pipe swirls onto cupcakes, or fill pastries and cream horns.
Step 10:

And there you have it — a really simple but beautiful buttercream. I hope you'll love it too. Enjoy, and have a great day!