This ultra decadent low carb sugar free French buttercream frosting is super silky and rich. Use it on your best sugar-free cakes and sugar-free cupcakes.
French buttercream is a gorgeously smooth magical confection. It's heavenly on cakes and cupcakes. This version is sugar-free and perfect for all of your sugar-free cakes and sugar-free cupcakes. If you or family members are following a low carb or keto diet for health reasons, this is the sugar-free frosting for you.
But, what is French Buttercream? Quite simply, French buttercream is an emulsion of egg yolks, melted hot sugar, and butter. It's very similar to Italian buttercream in method, except that Italian buttercream uses egg whites instead of egg yolks.
Swiss meringue buttercream, the gold standard for cake decorators everywhere, is an emulsion of egg whites, sugar, and butter. It does not call for hot melted sugar in its production. Although Swiss meringue buttercream may be preferred by cake decorators for its stability, it is not as rich and glorious as a good French buttercream.
It took a little experimentation to make this sugar free French buttercream frosting a success, but since I like baking and experimenting it was an enjoyable process!
Let's talk about the ingredients for a minute: I used a combination of xylitol and Sukrin Icing Sugar (or Swerve Confectioners) for the sugar free sweeteners. The xylitol melts nicely and resists re-crystallizing when it cools. It was the right substitution for the melted sugar since erythritol has the tendency to seize upon being melted and cooled.
Because xylitol can sometimes cause an insulin spike in sensitive individuals, I used the smallest amount possible to get the effect I needed. To make-up the difference in sweetness (xylitol is 60% the sweetness of sugar) I augmented with the Sukrin (or Swerve), an erythritol based sweetener. (Either sweetener works well in this recipe.)
NOTE: When I tried melting the erythritol based sweetener and pouring it into the whipped egg yolks, I ended up with crunchy crystals in my sugar free frosting! French buttercream is supposed to be silky not crunchy! Using both sweeteners gave me the best performance from both and made a wonderful frosting!
French buttercream tastes like sweetened whipped butter. If it is too buttery for you, whip ½ cup of heavy whipping cream until very stiff. Fold it into the frosting ⅓ at a time. You will notice the frosting almost making a little water. That's because the whipped cream is cold (and it's more liquid than fat). Let it warm up before trying to use it.
This sugar free frosting recipe was adapted from this French buttercream recipe on Serious Eats.
WARNING FOR DOG OWNERS! Do not let your dog eat anything that contains xylitol as an ingredient. It is fatal to dogs.
This low carb sugar free French Buttercream Frosting recipe is 1 net carb per serving or 17 net carbs for the whole batch.
Low Carb Sugar Free French Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature and soft
- 5 large egg yolks
- ½ cup xylitol
- ⅓ cup low carb powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoon water
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon xanthan gum (helps make it more smooth)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- stevia glycerite or liquid stevia to taste
Instructions
- Put the xylitol and water in a small pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put the 5 egg yolks, Sukrin Icing Sugar (or Swerve) and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until the xylitol is ready.
- Turn the mixer down to low and pour the xylitol in a very thin stream into the egg yolks while counting to 10. Stop pouring the xylitol and count to 10, letting the hot xylitol incorporate into the egg yolks. Turn the mixer to medium and count to 10. Turn the mixer back to low and begin streaming the xylitol into the egg yolks again. Continue the procedure until all of the xylitol has been added. Turn the mixer to medium-high (speed 8) and let it run until the outside of the bowl is COMPLETELY ROOM TEMPERATURE (8-12 minutes).
- Change to the paddle attachment. With the speed on low (speed 2) begin adding the butter, tablespoon by tbsp, waiting until each piece is fully incorporated before adding the next. If it appears that a few small lumps of butter haven't incorporated, turn the speed up to medium for a few seconds and then continue adding the butter on low speed as before. The frosting may "break" after the half of the butter has been added, continue adding more butter and it will come back together.
- Turn the mixer to medium speed and add the vanilla a few drops at a time. Slowly sprinkle the xanthan gum over the frosting and mix for a few moments more. Taste and add a little stevia glycerite (my favorite) or liquid stevia if you want it sweeter. Use immediately or refrigerate.
- Makes about 2 - 2 ½ cups or enough to frost 1 "naked cake", modestly frost 12 cupcakes, or very generously frost 6 cupcakes.
Notes
- This recipe freezes beautifully. Let thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then let it come to room temperature before using. Whip. Then put back into the fridge for 15-20 minutes and whip again.
- French buttercream tastes like sweetened whipped butter. If it is too buttery for you, whip ½ cup of heavy whipping cream until very stiff. Fold it into the frosting ⅓ at a time. You will notice the frosting almost making a little water. That's because the whipped cream is cold (and it's more liquid than fat). Let it warm up before use. If you refrigerate before use, let it come to room temperature, whip. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes and whip again.
Nutrition
Lisa
That frosting looks amazing!
Rebecca
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! It turned out silky smooth just as you said! Light and buttery! I used powdered allulose instead of xylitol (xylitol hates me and I have a dog). I followed the instructions exactly except I used slightly more than the 1/2 cup of allulose (xylitol) it called for but less than 3/4 cups. I didn’t want it to be too sweet, so I didn’t add any extra stevia and it’s perfect! Thank you so much!
Kim Hardesty
II'm glad the Allulose worked in the recipe, Rebecca. I'll have to try it next time. Thanks for coming back and letting me know it worked and for sharing a little of your procedure. Have a great week! -Kim
Janet B
Allulose may be an alternative for xylitol. Not harmful to animals and blends nicely (no crystals)
Kim Hardesty
Hi Janet. I haven't played with Allulose yet for two reasons... it's about 60-70% the sweetness of sugar and it's expensive. It was just too expensive for me to use it in recipes in the past and I didn't want to alienate any readers or sound elitist. However, I believe it's time to experiment with it as more people are using it. I will try it next time I make the frosting. Thank you for your suggestion. Have a nice day. -Kim
Jennifer Lynn
I can't use xylitol, I wonder if allulose syrup would work in place of the xylitol and water?
Kim Hardesty
Hi Jennifer. I have not tried this recipe with allulose syrup. I do not know if it will work. -Kim
Nancy Roberts
I was just wondering why do you use 3 different sweeteners for this recipe?
Kim Hardesty
Hi Nancy. This is directly from the post...
"It took a little experimentation to make this sugar free French buttercream frosting a success, but since I like baking and experimenting it was an enjoyable process!
Let’s talk about the ingredients for a minute: I used a combination of xylitol and Sukrin Icing Sugar (or Swerve Confectioners) for the sugar free sweeteners. The xylitol melts nicely and resists re-crystallizing when it cools. It was the right substitution for the melted sugar since erythritol has the tendency to seize upon being melted and cooled.
Because xylitol can sometimes cause an insulin spike in sensitive individuals, I used the smallest amount possible to get the effect I needed. To make-up the difference in sweetness (xylitol is 60% the sweetness of sugar) I augmented with the Sukrin (or Swerve), an erythritol based sweetener. (Either sweetener works well in this recipe.)
NOTE: When I tried melting the erythritol based sweetener and pouring it into the whipped egg yolks, I ended up with crunchy crystals in my sugar free frosting! French buttercream is supposed to be silky not crunchy! Using both sweeteners gave me the best performance from both and made a wonderful frosting!"
Additionally, I always use stevia glycerite in my baked goods as a way to cut down on the amount of erythritol as I don't like the cooling effect of erythritol and it's tendency to pull together and make crunchy crystals. Stevia glycerite is very concentrated and I only have to use 1/4 - 3/4 teaspoon in any recipe. It lasts me more than a year. Please let me know if I can answer any further questions. -Kim
Darcy
Can't wait to try this someday. Using only egg yolks makes me know it has to be wonderful. Pinning and sharing on Twitter.
Jo Anne T
I don't use anything with xylitol in it as we have 3 Labrador Retrievers at home. What can I use as a substitute? I have pure stevia and pure monk fruit.
Kim Hardesty
Hi Joanne. I tested this recipe extensively and the combination of the two produces the best result. You can use all erythritol, but the frosting will be crunchy as the erythritol recrystallizes. Make sure to powder it before you use it. -Kim
Janet B
Allulose may be an alternative for xylitol. Not harmful to animals and blends nicely (no crystals)
Thao
Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe. I used Allulose instead of xylitol, turn out great!
Donna E.
Hi Kim,
I'm newly diagnosed diabetic and am controlling it ONLY with diet so I've been making other low-carb recipes and have just come across your. They look great and I can't wait to make them but I have a question can the erythritol be replaced by Swerve and would it be an exact replacement? I went to all the stores around me and none of them have the Erythritol so I'll have to order it online but in the meen time can I use the Swerve? And what is Xantham gum? I've never heard of it of used it? Thanks for the help and information.
Kim Hardesty
Hi Donna, great questions. Yes, you can use Swerve. It burns my throat so I use erythritol and am mixing it with Bocha sweet at the moment. Low carb baked goods are gluten free and need a binder. Traditionally lots of eggs were used for this purpose but it made baked goods overly dense and eggy. Xanthan gum is a binder and thickening agent. It also makes smoothies and ice cream thick and fluffy by absorbing extra moisture. A small container will last over a year. I'm finding I use it more than I used to. When I started blogging 5 years ago, people balked at things like xanthan gum or oat fiber, but they are becoming more mainstream and really do improve texture. -Kim
debbie
xylitol is there anything else to use...my inners do not agree with that
Kim
Hi Debbie. At this time, no. I have made lots of sugar-free Swiss and French buttercream over the years and straight erythritol does not work. Erythritol dries out the egg whites too much. An all xylitol buttercream is best, but I found over years of testing that half xylitol and half erythritol does work. The problem is that erythritol resists melting while xylitol binds with water. A full erythritol frosting recrystallizes at an alarming rate and becomes very crunchy. As it is, there will be a slight grainy texture to this recipe as the powdered erythritol grains resist melting. I have not yet tried this recipe with Allulose, Tagatesse or Bocca Sweet. -Kim
Trey
This is the first recipe I've ever rated.
This is amazing! Made it exactly as directed. Did I say it's amazing?!!!
My wife, who just stated that she's pretty much the pickiest woman on earth, wants to cry! It's that good!!
Kitty Johnson
I've made swiss buttercream before so I halfway knew what to expect. After the xanthan I turned it on high for probably a minute and it came together beautifully. French buttercream is a food group, right?❤
Melinda
HI. Melinda again. I just took my frosting out of the refrig and whipped it up with the whisk attachment and it cake out beautiful and thick and no more cottage cheese texture. I think my whisk works better than the paddle adjustment. Tastes wonderful. Going to frost my cake now. I made your chocolate layer cake to go with this. YUM.
Kim
Great, Melinda! Yes, for whipping it back together after it has broken, the whisk is the way to go! I'm so happy you like the frosting. I hope you enjoy the cake. -Kim
Melinda Linss
I made this today for my cake. It taste fabulouus, but mine looks like cottage cheese. I used all the above ingredients. It was really fluffy when I started putting in the butter, but now it looks lumpy and not stiff enough to go on my cake. I have it in the refrigerator right now hoping it will harden and then I will rewhip. Does this sound right.
Yvette
So what was the amount of xylitol that you used? My birthday is coming up and I really want to try this recipe.
Kim
Hi Yvette. The measurement is 1/2 cup. Does that help? Have you made a French buttercream before? They are a little fiddly. Let me know and I can give you my text number. -Kim
Jenny
Please remember if you have dogs that Xylitol, if eaten by your dog by accident can poison your dog and most dogs do not survive if they eat it. I keep Xylitol out of my house period just in case. So I substitute with Swerve or Stevia. Most sites put a warning on their recopies with xylitol.
Kim
Hi Jenny. You are correct, thank you. I thought I had a warning about xylitol on this recipe. I do on another recipe that calls for it. I have added the warning. I tried this recipe with all Swerve and it did not turn out very well. That is why I used xylitol in the recipe. It has different properties. Carolyn of All Day I Dream About Food, recently published a similar recipe that also uses some xylitol - just works better. Thanks again for reminding me that this post needed a warning about dogs. -Kim
Meilnda Linss
I used the amount specified in the recipe. This is the BEST frosting I have ever made. So yummy. I wish I could post a pic but I don't know how.
Gloria Perez
Sounds good but where do find the xylitol, the swerve confectioner sugar and the ingredient to make the frosting more smoother?
Kim
Hi Gloria. If you want a less trickier frosting which is really tasty, look at the Whipped Cream Cheese frosting I have on the site. It is really nice and can be piped. I buy my sweeteners online through Amazon or at the health food store. -Kim
Jeannie
Hi, this sounds awesome but one question. How can it have only 1 carb when all of the sweetness have 3-4 carbs/Tsp?
Kim
Hi Jeanine. The sugar alcohols in erythritol are not counted because erythritol is not digested by the body. So convention is not to count erythritol at all since it is zero calories (not digested by the body at all). Sugar alcohols in xylitol are partially counted if over 15 sugar alcohol grams are consumed. The majority of this recipe is butter and eggs which is whipped up to a much larger volume, thus spreading out any of those carbohydrates. This is a tricky recipe if you have never made a real buttercream before. If you would feel more comfortable, have a look at my Whipped Cream Cheese recipe which can be piped onto a cake. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. -Kim
Kelly
I'm looking forward to making this, but I don't have a standing mixer. I only have a hand-held. Will it still work?
Kim
Kelly, it would just be too much work with a hand mixer. I'm afraid that it wouldn't turn out. These types of frostings are fiddly at best. But, I won't discourage you want to go for it! -Kim
Kelly
I'm thinking I'm going to go with the whipped cream variation--might be my safest bet, and sounds so delicious!!!
Kim
Great, Kelly. Enjoy the recipe. -Kim
Kati
Have you tried psicose yet? Allulose is a brand name. I wonder if it would replace the xylitol
Kim
No, I haven't tried it yet, Kati. I did some asking around and heard that the Tagatose (Tagatesse) was a better product. I used the xylitol because it is more like sugar than the other options. Erythritol likes to become granular and is hydrophobic while xylitol is hydrophilic and likes to absorb moisture - as does sugar. It add some structure to the frosting and pushes those butter molecules apart more than a concentrated sweetener like Allulose or Tagatesse would. However, I would think it great to add more sweetness with the Allulose or Tagatesse sweeteners. -Kim
Connie
Kim,
Can we use Splenda for this frosting>
Kim
Great question, Connie. I’m afraid that Splenda doesn’t have enough structure. The xylitol melts similarly to sugar and hardens again as it cools. You may be able to do half xylitol and half erythritol. I think I tried it but I don’t remember the result. The xylitol was the best, but it’s still not as fluffy as using real sugar. -Kim
Matt
This buttercream was so smooth and delicious! Perfection!
Kim
I'm glad you liked it, thank you. Have a nice day. -Kim
Della
This looks fantastic, but I cannot tolerate xylitol, can I sub sukrin, swerve or truvia? will it still turn out?
Kim
Hi, Della. As I mentioned in the post, it doesn't turn out as well with all erythritol. Erythritol doesn't like to be melted and cooled. You are welcome to try, but mine kept getting crystals in it. I would love to hear how your experience was with the erythritol. -Kim
Kim B.
Hi Kim
I have a difficult time figuring out what a serving size is if the recipe doesn't tell me. What is the secret to figuring this out. This recipe is an example. It has 12 servings and makes 2.5 cups. The serving size isn't tablespoons (40tbs in 2.5c), its not teaspoons (120 tsp in 2.5c). What is the rule of thumb to figuring out one serving size when the recipe is vague.
Thank you, Kim B. (AKA: SmokingOven)
Kim
Hi, Kim. I totally understand what you are saying. I said that it makes about 12 servings because I would use it on 12 cupcakes or a cake that serves 12. I will add additional info to the recipe. Each serving is approximately 3 tablespoons - a modest amount for sure. It's enough to make a "naked cake", modestly frost 12 cupcakes or very generously frost 6 cupcakes. -Kim
Rhonda from Baddeck
This sounds delicious, but I'm confused - there's no salt listed in the ingredients, but you mention mixing it with the eggs. How much salt should be used?
Kim
Hi Rhonda. Thanks so much. I'll add it to the recipe. -Kim