Last week, our oldest son turned 7. He had his birthday party with his friends at an indoor playground. Three hours of fun, ice cream and pancakes. With an “Indian” theme, where they got to color shirts (and keep them afterwards), got an Indian headdress with feathers and stripes on their cheeks. Total exhaustion afterwards :).
For school, I had made mini donuts. Sam was so chuffed. He said that no-one had ever brought donuts for a birthday. Most kids bring cupcakes, cake or waffles. Sometimes fruit skewers. But Sam wanted something different. He actually wanted Oscar the Grouch cupcakes, as his little brother had Cookie Monster cupcakes when he turned 5. But with the school’s policy of healthier treats and preferably NO buttercream and the like, I told him that we had to do something more plain. He was a bit disappointed, but when we came up with ‘never before brought to school’ donuts, he was happy. He didn’t dismiss the Oscar the Grouch cakes though. Nope. He decided that since he couldn’t have the cupcakes for school, I could make him a birthday cake for his party at home, with the family. Yeah sure, why not.
Oh gosh… a whole cake? 3D of course, not a 2D fondant ‘picture’ of Oscar. It had to have ‘hair’, just like the Cookie Monster cupcakes Noah got. Oh and he does live in a dumpster. All right. I can do that. No problem. And once I said yes, I had to make one.
Personally, I was quite happy with the result. But as you can see, I’m not the world’s best cake decorator…
Most important thing: Sam was over the moon! And that meant ‘mission accomplished’ ;-).
As one of our nephews has gluten sensitivity, I definitely wanted to make all cakes gluten free again, so he could have a piece of everything too. And that included the birthday cake. For the cake itself, I have found the best gluten free white cake recipe ever! It’s not my own, all credits go to Mary of ‘Barefeet In The Kitchen’. If you’re interested in the recipe, you can get it here.
And then the butter cream. I’m not too big a fan of plain vanilla butter cream. It’s OK, but I’m more a chocolate kinda girl. But for coloring the butter cream, the base has to be white. And what’s the best next thing to chocolate buttercream? WHITE chocolate buttercream of course! And have I got a tasty recipe for that.
For Oscar the Grouch, I made a double batch, but for a single batch, which should be enough to frost an 8″ or 9″ two layer cake, you need 200 g white chocolate (I used a bar of chocolate, but you can use chocolate chips), 250 g unsalted butter (softened to room temperature), ca. 300 g powdered/confectioner’s sugar, 60 ml cream and 2 tsp of vanilla extract.
Melt the chocolate slowly over low heat in a double broiler. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave. Let cool just a little bit.
Put the butter in a large bowl and sift the sugar on top. Then cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla extract and cream and beat a minute or two. Instead of vanilla extract, you could use powdered vanilla sugar.
If I don’t color the buttercream, I like to see the little specks of vanilla in the cream.
Keep beating the buttercream at low speed (I use my Kitchenaid) and slowly add in the white chocolate. Once fully incorporated, set the speed to high and beat 3 to 4 minutes, until fluffy.
Gorgeous texture, velvety smooth, and the taste… out of this world! I always have a hard keeping my finger, uh spoon, out of the bowl. It’s so good.
And if you can stop yourself from eating this buttercream with a spoon, use it for topping cupcakes or frosting a cake :).
Enjoy!

White Chocolate Buttercream
Ingredients
- 200 g white chocolate
- 250 g unsalted butter, softened
- 300 g powdered sugar
- 60 ml cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
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Melt the chocolate slowly over low heat in a double broiler. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave. Start with 30 seconds, then in 10 second increments.
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Put butter in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
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Sift the sugar on top of the butter.
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Cream together butter and sugar. Then add vanilla and cream and beat until smooth, ca. 2 minutes.
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With the mixer on low speed, add chocolate. Once fully incorporated, set the speed to high and whip the buttercream until light and fluffy, ca. 3-4 minutes.
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Use to top cupcakes of frost a cake.
Nathalie
July 1, 2020Welke room? Slagroom ?? Of kookroom??
Nicole
July 1, 2020Gewone slagroom. Je zou ook koksroom kunnen gebruiken als je geen slagroom in huis hebt. Verschil is dat koksroom een lager vetgehalte heeft en er bindmiddel aan toe is gevoegd (met name om in warme, zuurdere bereidingen te vookomen dat de room schift).
Nathalie
July 1, 2020Ahh dankje … ik ga het proberen 😍 ik kan het gewoon in de koelkast bewaren voor 2 daagjjes??
Nicole
July 1, 2020Moet zeker kunnen. Let wel dat het echt hard wordt, dus op tijd uit de koelkast halen en op kamertemperatuur laten komen, anders kun je er echt niet mee werken. Klop het dan eventueel nog een keer op, zodat de botercréme mooi luchtig is.
Hanneke Smits
November 23, 2020Voor hoeveel cupcakes kan je deze topping gebruiken?
Nicole
November 23, 2020Hoi Hanneke, dat ligt er een beetje aan hoeveel botercréme je per cupcake wil gebruiken (redelijk vlak afsmeren of meer de hoogte in gaan). Maar in principe is één portie genoeg voor 1 cake of 12 cupcakes.
Christa
June 13, 2021Super recept! Wordt morgen weer gebruikt voor mijn dochter haar verjaardag! Dankjewel!!
Nicole
June 13, 2021Oh, wat leuk! En uiteraard alvast gefeliciteerd!!
Melissa de vries
October 12, 2021Kan je dit ook voor op chocolade letters gebruiken?
Nicole
October 12, 2021Hoi Melissa, helaas is deze niet geschikt voor chocoladeletters. In de koelkast stijft de botercrème wel flink op, alleen wordt hij weer heel zacht als je hem eruit haalt.
Naima
November 29, 2021Hey Nicole, kan ik ook een naked taart mee afsmeren? Is dat stevig genoeg?
Dankje .
Nicole
November 30, 2021Hoi Naima, dat kan zeker, doe ik ook. Zorg dat je goed koelt tussendoor, de crème stijft dan goed op.
Naïma
January 1, 2022Nog een vraagje Nicole, ik zie bij de meeste dat je u boter 10 a 15 min moet opkloppen op een hoge snelheid ? Is dit ook bij dit recept?
Dankje voor je antwoord.
Nicole
January 2, 2022Hoi Naïma, hoe langer je boter en suiker klopt, des te beter de suiker oplost, dus het mag zeker. Persoonlijk vind ik dat bij deze crème niet per sé nodig omdat het toevoegen van de gesmolten chocolade daar ook bij helpt. Je kunt ook tussendoor proeven en doorkloppen als de structuur nog niet naar je wens is.
Coby
February 20, 2022Kan je de botercreme met chocolade ook gebruiken om taart mee af te smeren
Nicole
February 20, 2022Hoi Coby, daar gebruik ik hem wel altijd voor.