Strawberry Buttercream

Notes on today's buttercream:

1. It makes me silly happy when other people like "real" buttercream. Not that American Buttercream isn't real, but it isn't. Ha.
   
   
2. I made a half recipe of Kaye's buttercream, an Italian meringue buttercream. A half recipe is about 6 egg whites, a little over a cup of sugar, and 3/4 pound of butter, in case you wondered. A half recipe makes about 4 cups of frosting, which is still a lot of frosting.
   
   
3. I took approximately one cup of that and added strawberry puree at the suggested ratio, resulting in a mildly strawberry flavored frosting. I was afraid to add more puree, because buttercream is an emulsion, and if the proportions get too far off, it will break. I decided it would taste more strawberry-ish if I tinted it pink. It might be too pink. Deal with it.
   
   
4. That leaves about 3 cups of plain buttercream left for me to freeze and play with later. Yay.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream, The Whimsical Bakehouse