If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I LOVE using freeze dried fruit in my buttercream recipes. The process of freeze drying removes all the liquid from the fruit and maintains the integrity of the flavor and nutrients. In other words, you can add powerful flavor without ruining the consistency of the buttercream by adding too much liquid content. That said, not everyone has easy access to freeze dried fruit and I get tons of questions about how to make buttercream using fresh or frozen fruit as an alternative. All of it sparked me on a journey to figuring out how to make beautiful fruit-flavored buttercream with fresh fruit, starting with this luscious raspberry buttercream.
While I still prefer using freeze dried berries because they pack the most flavor and yield a flawlessly smooth buttercream consistency, I DID find a way to use fresh or frozen berries and end up with great raspberry buttercream. It’s flavorful, easy to work with for filling, frosting, and decorating cakes, and it’s such a naturally pretty color! Just look at this fresh raspberry buttercream:
How to Use Fresh or Frozen Raspberries for Buttercream
In my experimenting with fresh raspberries, I found that the secret to creating the best flavor + consistency is to first purèe the berries and then reduce them into a jam-like consistency over the stove. Like many berries, fresh (and especially frozen) raspberries contain a lot of extra liquid content. You’ll notice this when you purèe the berries and release all of those juices. I chose to leave the seeds in because they’re so subtle in the final buttercream, but you can also use a metal sieve or strainer set over a bowl to separate them from the rest of the purèe if you want.
After purèeing the raspberries, transfer them to a small saucepan set over medium heat and bring them to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer. Over the course of 10-15 minutes, two magical things happen: 1) the majority of the liquid content will evaporate from the rest of the purèe and 2) the raspberry flavor will intensify. This leaves you with a jam-like consistency that you can add right into the buttercream to flavor it.
Here’s a quick video that shows the process for making this fresh raspberry buttercream from start to finish:
If you want more videos like this one, you’ll find more on my YouTube page! Be sure to hit the Subscribe button while you’re there so you never miss a new one.
Why is the Reduction of the Purèe Important?
In case you’re tempted to skip the reduction step, let me explain why it’s extra important: if you add too much liquid into your buttercream, the consistency will become too runny and will split, meaning it will look curdled. Not exactly the most appetizing look, and completely impossible to work with. By reducing the purèe, you will remove as much liquid from the raspberries as possible and end up with a much smoother, more flavorful buttercream in the end.
Best Cake Pairings for Raspberry Buttercream
I initially whipped up this raspberry buttercream for a pistachio cake recipe I’m working on (coming soon!) but you can pair it with the following cakes for a stunning flavor combination:
Whatever you end up pairing it with, I hope you love this fresh raspberry buttercream as much as I do!
Fresh Raspberry Buttercream
Ingredients
- 5 Oz (1 Cup) fresh raspberries see notes for using frozen raspberries
- 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 1/2 Cups (420g) powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Make the Reduced Raspberry Purèe
- Using a food processor, purèe the raspberries (you’ll end up with about ½ Cup after this). Add the raspberry purèe into a small saucepan set over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until it becomes jam-like and has reduced by half. You’ll end up with about ¼ Cup of reduced purèe after this step. Let it cool completely to room temperature (either in the refrigerator or on the counter) before moving on in the recipe.
Make the Raspberry Buttercream
- With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, beat the butter on medium-high until it’s creamy, about 5 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar about a cup at a time and mix on low speed, making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next. Scrape down the bowl and paddle as needed.
- Add the (room temperature!) reduced raspberry purèe and a pinch of salt. Continue mixing on low speed until fully incorporated and smooth, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed, 1-2 minutes.
Notes
- Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
- Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake
- To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe.
Did you make this fresh raspberry buttercream? I want to know what you paired it with and what you think! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you create!
Could I use my homemade raspberry jam in place of puree?
Hi Ida! Yes, you can use homemade jam. Since it will be sweeter than raspberry puree I would reduce the powdered sugar amount to 3 Cups (360g) and start with adding 2 tablespoons of the jam. You can add more jam from there if needed. Hope that helps!
This was excellent – I used it on lemon cupcakes and it was very well balanced! When I added my fresh raspberry puree to the mixer it sat on my counter for 15-20 mins. It incorporated nicely. I also don’t have a food processor so I used a blender and it worked nicely!
Thanks for this step by step recipe!
I’m always looking for ways to simplify! I followed your recipe, but used a 9-10 oz. jar of ready-to-use raspberry “all-fruit” spread instead of the reduced raspberry puree. Because the spread equaled about twice the amount of puree, I doubled all the other ingredients for a double batch of buttercream.
So happy you love this recipe and great to know that fruit spread works as a sub!
is it possible to reduce the raspberries and store for a day before turning it into the buttercream?
Absolutely, Kate! Store the reduced raspberries in an airtight container in the refrigerator and bring it back to room temp before adding it to the buttercream.
thank you so much!