Korean Style Buttercream Frosting, Sweetened with Monk Fruit

Method

1. Separate the whites of 4 eggs into a clean pot and whip them to stiff peaks with a hand mixer.
2. Put 500ml water and 72g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend in another pot and bring it to a boil over medium heat, keeping the heat from running too high.
3. Once the syrup boils, pour it quickly into the whipped egg whites.
4. Keep beating until the mixture is perfectly smooth, about 30 minutes, then chill it for 5 to 10 minutes.
5. Add 200g chilled white shortening to the pot and beat until it is completely soft and smooth.
6. Pour the egg and syrup mixture slowly into the shortening, beating steadily, until the mixture turns clear.
7. Chill for about 10 minutes, then beat again, and the buttercream will grow clearer still.
8. Divide the buttercream into portions and tint them with food coloring as desired.
9. Set the cake base on a turntable and smooth buttercream around it with a palette knife until glossy.
10. Fit a piping bag with a suitable tip and pipe the decoration onto the cake.

Tips

• Leftover buttercream can be wrapped tightly and held at 15 to 18 degrees C for next time.
• The butter is beaten completely soft and smooth before the egg and syrup mixture goes in.
• Ten minutes in the fridge and a second beating turn the buttercream clearer.
• Pour the syrup into the beating whites in a thin stream, since tipping it in at once cooks the egg into lumps.
• Chill the white shortening only lightly, because shortening that is too cold never beats smooth and the frosting stays grainy.