My Kitchen Table

Directions Website

My Kitchen Table Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from My Kitchen Table, Kitchen/Cooking, Mullingar.

From failed bakes to confident cakes šŸ°
Helping beginners bake & decorate with confidence
Fun, hands-on cake workshops
šŸ“ Mullingar

https://www.mykitchentable.ie/book-online

07/10/2026

BUTTERCREAM 101 šŸ§ˆ ā€œHow long should I beat my buttercream?ā€

This is one of the questions I get asked ALL the time.
2 minutes? 5 minutes? 10 minutes?

But hereā€™s the thingā€¦
I donā€™t think buttercream should be made by watching a timer.
You should be watching the buttercream.

And it actually starts before you even turn on the mixer.

šŸŒ”ļø BUTTER TEMPERATURE
Your butter should be softened, but not warm or greasy.
You should be able to press it and leave an indentation without your finger sinking straight through it.

Too cold?
It wonā€™t mix smoothly and you can end up with a stiff buttercream thatā€™s difficult to pipe or spread.

Too warm?
Your buttercream can become overly soft, greasy and unable to hold its shape.

Then comes HOW you mix it.
šŸ§ˆ Too little mixing
Your buttercream can remain heavy, dense or uneven, and the ingredients may not be properly incorporated.

šŸ«§ Too much HIGH-SPEED mixing
You can incorporate lots of air into your buttercream.
That might make it look beautifully light and fluffy in the bowl ā€” but all those tiny air pockets can become a nightmare when youā€™re trying to get smooth sides on a cake or clean piping.

So rather than thinking:
ā€œI need to beat this for 10 minutesā€¦ā€
Think:
ā€œWhat am I trying to achieve?ā€

For American buttercream, I like to get the butter properly softened and smooth, incorporate my ingredients well, and then especially when I want beautifully smooth buttercream , finish by mixing on LOW speed with the paddle attachment.

That slower mixing helps work out some of those larger air pockets rather than whipping more air in.

And this is why two people can follow the exact same buttercream recipe for the exact same number of minutes and end up with completely different buttercream.

Temperature matters.
Mixer speed matters.
Your attachment matters.
Consistency matters.

The timer doesnā€™t tell you when your buttercream is ready your buttercream does.

šŸ“Œ Save this for the next time youā€™re making buttercream.

What do you struggle with most ā€” air bubbles, buttercream thatā€™s too stiff, or buttercream thatā€™s too soft?

05/10/2026

BAKING 101 šŸ„š Why do we actually put eggs in cakes and cupcakes?

We crack them into the bowl because the recipe tells us toā€¦..but eggs are actually doing several jobs at once.

šŸ„š Structure
As your cake bakes, the proteins in the eggs set and help create the structure that holds everything together.

šŸ’§ Moisture
Eggs contain a lot of water, so they contribute liquid to the batter and help with the finished texture.

šŸ¤ Richness & tenderness
The fat in the yolk adds richness, flavour and tenderness.

šŸ”¬ Emulsification
Egg yolks contain lecithin, an emulsifier that helps the fat and water-based ingredients in your cake batter combine more successfully.

šŸ«§ Air & lift
Depending on the recipe and mixing method, eggs can also help incorporate and hold air, contributing to the cakeā€™s volume and texture.

And what about temperature? šŸŒ”ļø
If youā€™re making a traditional butter-based sponge or cupcake where youā€™ve creamed butter and sugar, room-temperature eggs are usually your friend.

Adding fridge-cold eggs to softened butter can chill and firm the butter very quickly, making your lovely smooth mixture suddenly look curdled or split.

Thatā€™s why I like to have my butter AND eggs at a similar room temperature before I start.

And add your eggs gradually rather than dumping them all in at once , it gives the mixture a better chance of maintaining its emulsion.

If your mixture does look slightly curdled, donā€™t panic and donā€™t keep beating it endlessly. Once the flour is incorporated, it will often come back together and still bake perfectly well.

The important thing to remember is that baking ingredients arenā€™t there just because the recipe says so.

Every ingredient has a job.
And the more you understand those jobs, the easier it becomes to understand your baking ā€” and troubleshoot it when something goes wrong.

Address

Mullingar

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when My Kitchen Table posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category