Vanilla Buttercream may seem beyond simple but I get a surprising number of questions from home bakers everywhere. So let’s set the record straight with perhaps the most ubiquitous and variable frosting there is! Let me know how you enjoy this recipe; historically, I have found it to be a crowd pleaser.
Pro Tips for the best Buttercream
- Sift your powdered sugar to avoid clogging piping tips.
- Scrape the bowl down; to help ensure even consistency throughout.
- You can use almost anything to flavor buttercream, fruit juice, coffee, orange blossom or rose water, melted chocolate, or Oreos!
- If your buttercream has beed sitting for a while or was chilled and brought back to room temperature it’s always a good idea to give it a quick whip to restore it’s consistency.
- If you’re looking for a very spreadable and very smooth icing, you can add the full amount of cream in (and maybe even a bit more).
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best butter for buttercream?
- For a whiter buttercream it’s really important to use a pale butter. Almost every recipe will call for using unsalted butter but then have you add salt back in. This is done because various brands of butter have different amounts of salt in their product.
- Using unsalted butter helps to ensure a consistent result. You can however use salted butter, omit additional salt and have a delicious frosting.
- The most important thing to do when whipping up a batch of buttercream is that it’s room temperature!
How can you make cold butter room temperature?
If you need to warm some cold butter up just slice it into some smaller pieces and microwave them on a plate at 50% power for 10 second bursts. Flip them after each burst and they’re be nice and room temperature in no time!
Is buttercream or whipped frosting better?
The main difference between buttercream and whipped frosting is butter. Whipped frosting does not contain butter and is a lighter and fluffier icing. Buttercream contains a good amount of butter and has more of a rich flavor; so you be the judge! 🙂
Will this buttercream frosting recipe melt at room temperature?
When buttercream is left out at room temperature, it will form sort of a crust on the outer layer while the inside will stay fairly smooth. If it is very warm or humid, the buttercream can loose structure. This will affect decorations you’ve pipes and may even destabilize layer cakes, causing them to sag or collapse.
How long can you leave out buttercream frosting?
You can leave out buttercream frosting for overnight if covered. If the buttercream contains cream cheese, then it should always be refrigerated for it to remain safe to eat. Buttercream that contains dairy will spoil more quickly so should be refrigerated after a few hours.
How do I thin out buttercream frosting?
If you want to thin out buttercream frosting, you’ll want to add in some extra cream or milk. I recommend mixing in a tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
About the flavors
You can always substitute a fruit puree, reduction or liqueur if you wanted to spice things up, by the way. If you are doing some detailed work — like piping roses, for example — you’ll be using MUCH LESS cream.
Some people prefer the all-white buttercream that uses vanilla extract. Some people love seeing little vanilla seeds scattered throughout. If you do want to use a vanilla bean, simply split along the middle — scrape out the seeds with a knife — and allow to defuse in the cream that you’re using (or you could even add some bourbon).
For people who live in very warm climates, substituting in some vegetable shortening for the butter will help keep your confections stable. As a final note, I would always remember to sift your powdered sugar as you will never know when a clump will come back to haunt you.
How To Make Buttercream Frosting
1. Cream the softened butter and salt in a stand mixer for about a minute using a paddle attachment.
2. Add your powdered sugar to the butter in batches. Make sure to sift your powdered sugar, especially if you’re going to be using any piping tips. Those clumps will cause clogs that make decorating nearly impossible!
3. After the first batch of powdered sugar is added it’s time to scrape the bowl down, then sift in more powdered sugar and repeat.
4. Add a tablespoon of cream or milk and mix in. You can add more later if desired.
5. Once incorporated, with the mixer running on low go ahead and add the vanilla extract or whichever flavoring you’re using. Add more cream or milk as desired to thin the buttercream out. When your buttercream is finished, you should have a nice even and fluffy consistency.
IF YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE TRY THESE OUT!
If you’ve tried this buttercream frosting recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
- 1 tbsp vanilla 15mL
- 1 lb confectioner's sugar 454g
- 1 cup unsalted butter 225g, room temperature
- 3 tbsp heavy whipping cream 45mL
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Whip the butter and salt for about a minute using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. You can use a hand mixer instead if needed.
- Sift in the confectioner’s sugar in several batches beating on low after each addition. Scrape the bowl down and repeat the process.
- Add a tablespoon of the cream while mixing on low then add the vanilla. Beat until you have an even, fluffy consistency. You can add more cream or milk if desired for a thinner consistency.
Video
Notes
- Sift your powdered sugar to avoid clogging piping tips.
- Scrape the bowl down; to help ensure even consistency throughout.
- You can use almost anything to flavor buttercream, fruit juice, coffee, orange blossom or rose water, melted chocolate, or Oreos!
- If your buttercream has beed sitting for a while or was chilled and brought back to room temperature it's always a good idea to give it a quick whip to restore it's consistency.
- If you're looking for a very spreadable and very smooth icing, you can add the full amount of cream in (and maybe even a bit more).
Nutrition
YUM 🙂
LOVE!!
Hi, I’ve always found the best piping icing to be the most jaw wrenching sweet kind of icing 🙁 I prefer a less sweet, more buttery or whipped cream like frosting… the 1 lb powdered sugar to 1 cup of butter ratio scares me… do you have any suggestions? Whipped Cream cheese frosting is my best bet so far but I get a lot of air pockets with it
Brittney,
If you re like me and love a buttery buttercream, you can make a batch of my Italian buttercream! You’ll be in heaven!
John
I don’t like most frosting on cakes due to being too sweet that’s one of the reasons I don’t eat much cake (which I would love to). I see how much sugar goes in to this buttercream. And i see many of your cakes used buttercream. Is there any alternative to frost those cakes?
Try out my Italian meringue buttercream recipe! It’s less sweet and much creamier than the American Buttercream! I have a feeling you’ll love it!
John
I have tried a few times on this buttercream but it always turned out to be grainy. HELP!
LC,
I don’t know why it would be grainy! Are you using confectioners sugar or granulated sugar??
John
Hi John! firts I have to say: I love ur videos! so pretty, everything looks so perfect! but I have the same problem. My buttercream always is to grainy. I used icing / confectioners (we called “azucar glaze” or “azucar impalpable” in Argentina) sugar and unsalted butter a room temp. equal parts!!! I have tried with a 20% less of sugar icing/confectioners results good but grainy… (\\__\\)
Hernan,
Are you sifting the confectioners sugar before mixing? I’ve never had this issue with buttercream!
John
Hi I live in Arizona and am having a hard time making a buttercream that will stand up to warmer temps. I use Russian piping tips so my flowers lack structure. Advice?
Thank you
Mia,
I’ve heard that if you substitute some of the buttercream for shortening, it will help! Shortening definitely changes the taste though! I’ve only tried it once!
John
Hi. Thanks for answering. I currently am using half butter half butter flavor shortening. Would the only other options be to increase powdered sugar or decrease cream?
I always find my buttercream slightly grainy? what am I doing wrong? Should I beat it longer?
Rodella,
Could your confectioner’s sugar be old? I’ve never come across this problem in my own baking!
John
Hi John! You mentioned using much less cream if we’re piping flowers. Would you say 1 TBS instead of the 3TBS?
Thank you!
Adriene,
Just play around with it! I like a really thick buttercream when I’m piping flowers!
John
Hi John
I am doing a project that requires BLACK Buttercream to decorate cupcake. I have tried American Buttercream with part dark cocoa and Black cocoa that I ordered from Amazon it was King Arthur’s brand. To that I added several drops. of Americolor Super Black Gel. It ended up gunmetal in color and tasted terrible. The next was American Buttercream using melted dark chocolate and the gel. Tasted better but still gunmetal. I let it sit over night to darken but still not turning out black. So I added more gel but it turned a darker gunmetal not black and the cocoa buttercream tasted even worse. Do you have any suggestions as these cupcakes are going to an event. I’m starting to stress.
Thanks
I have learned that if you start out making your icing brown first and then adding black to it that it really gives you that dark black you want.
Interesting!
Hi John! How far ahead of time can you make this buttercream? Going to give the shag rug cake a go. Thanks so much!!
Hi Sam,
What kind of buttercream are you making? You can make it 3-4 days in advanced, sealed and stored in the fridge.
John!
Hi we don’t use eggs in our household and don’t like buttercream that much cuz sugar! The whipped cream which we get in India is sweetened. Could you please share on how to stabilise it for assembling the cake. Also could you please do a video of cake decoration using just whipped cream! Pretty please
Hello! Try mixing in mascarpone cheese with the whipped cream if you can get ahold of it
Hi John, I came across this recipe after going through many online. I want to give it a go, but don’t know how much buttercream I’ll need to make. Could you please tell me what your version of “1 batch” is? How many cups will you get out of it. Thanks!
I need to measure the cups out but it’s enough to do a three layer 6 inch cake.
Hi! I use this recipe and love it; however, when i go to move a cake I get cracks in my buttercream. I have even tried glueing multiple cake boards together. Do you ever have this issue? If so, how do you fix it? Thank you!
Hi Jordan! I chill my cake for transport and that really helps, no issues with cracking!
If want to decorate a 3 layer 6 inch cake will this buttercream recipe enough or I’ll have to make adjustments to the ingredients? And if I wanted to add gel color when should I add it?
It’s totally enough. I add the color in last 🙂 Hope you have fun!
Hi John,
I am a total newbie with frosting and decorating cakes and your YouTube videos have inspired me so much! I actually tried the Italian Meringue Buttercream first, but that tasted like pure butter to me. Did I do something wrong?
So I followed up with this vanilla buttercream recipe and it was phenomenal! Exactly what icing tastes like in my dreams. It didn’t spread onto my cake very easily, it left patchy places all over and pulled up parts of my cake.. Any tips? Should I maybe add more cream?
Thank you very much! Happy baking ??
I attempted to make cupcakes for the first time in a very long time and was looking for a simple frosting that I have already had ingredients for.
Your recipe is easy to follow and I do like the fact that ingredients are listed both by volume and by weight.
I didn’t have heavy cream, so I had to improvise and added some milk instead. This buttercream is very sweet and for the next batch I will try one of the meringue versions to balance the sweetness.
Perfection. Light and fluffy, creamy and buttery, and sweet without being cloying. 10/10 again, John!
Why is there so many air pockets in my buttercream?
Hello! I was wondering how to make the coffee buttercream! It sounded super interesting and delicious but I don’t know exactly if I should replace the vanilla for coffee and how should this coffee be.
Thank you!
I add a teaspoon of instant espresso to start then add more. yes to vanilla 🙂
Hi John
Big fan from Switzerland.
So, I’ve made your Italian butter creams many times and of course, they came out wonderful.
However, the problem is that it takes ages to make, and is very costly with the ingredients and I’m only looking for a quick and easy frosting that I can let my children decorate cupcakes with on the odd whim we feel like cake! I used to use just whipped cream but that never holds up or keeps.
I made this recipe as is and while it was perfect for 99.999% of the people who would try it, for me it is to sweet.
Is there a way to modify this recipes sugar but keep the consistency (?)without using artificial sugars? Of course, I’ve tried various things in the past but maybe your experience has revealed something new?
Thanks. Hollye
Ahh, you’re like me and like the less sweet meringue-based frostings! The answer is kind of no unless you sub in from shortening for the butter then you can use less sugar but shortening is horrible. I LOVE cream cheese frosting (neufchatel for you I think) but it’s not amazing for decorating. sorry!