How to Make the Best Buttercream Icing that's perfectly creamy, sweet, and can be made ahead of time. Plus tons of flavor customizations listed and a step-by-step video! Download my free Buttercream guide here!
Yield:
3 cups
Prep Time:5minutes
Cook:10minutes
There’s nothing worse than the sickeningly sweet and artificial-tasting frosting that comes prepacked or that’s loaded onto grocery store birthday cakes.
I seriously despise that stuff and would rather eat nothing (which is saying something for this sweet toothed girl). That’s why making buttercream from scratch is the only way to go. It may seem complicated but it’s actually ridiculously easy and this post is all you’ll need to not just learn how make the best buttercream, but how to make it ahead of time and how to customize it with over a dozen flavor options.
Check out the step-by-step video below so you can actually see what every step looks like, which if you’re a visual learner like myself you’ll find super helpful. The flavor ideas and full printable recipe are just below, plus some more links to other posts you’ll love.
Flavor Ideas:
You may need to adjust the powdered sugar ratio depending on your flavor preferences and adjust the cream ratio depending on your texture preferences.
Chocolate
Add 1/2 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
Strawberry
Add 1/3 cup seedless strawberry preserves and a few drops of red food coloring
Raspberry
Add 1/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves and a few drops of red food coloring
Mocha
Add 1/2 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Use 3/4 light brown sugar in place of all powdered sugar, add 1 1/4 cups flour, and garnish with mini chocolate chips
Chocolate Malt
Add 1/2 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 cup malted milk powder, and use 1/4 cup milk, plus more if needed
Peanut Butter
Add 1 cup creamy peanut butter and reduce the powdered sugar to 2 1/2 cups
Irish Cream Buttercream
Use Bailey’s Irish Cream instead of cream
Kahlua
Add in 1/2 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/2 cup Kahlua in place of the cream
Mint
Add 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract and a few drops of green food coloring
Nutella
Add in 2/3 cup Nutella and reduce powdered sugar to 2 cups
Lemon (or any other citrus)
Add in 2 tablespoons lemon zest and 3 tablespoons lemon juice and increase powdered sugar to 3 1/2 cups
Coconut
Add in 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
Cinnamon
Add 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Pumpkin
Add in 1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, remove cream
Salted Caramel
Add in 1/3 cup caramel topping and increase salt to 1 teaspoon, remove cream
4.95 from 19 votes
How to make
the Best Buttercream
Yield:3cups
Prep Time:5minutes
Cook Time:10minutes
Total Time:15minutes
How to Make the Best Buttercream Icing that's perfectly creamy, sweet, and can be made ahead of time. Plus tons of flavor customizations listed and a step-by-step video! Download my free Buttercream guide here!
Ingredients
3cups(375 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
8ounces(227 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4teaspoonfine salt
2teaspoonspure vanilla extract
1 to 2tablespoonsheavy or whipping cream
Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase the speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the salt, vanilla, and cream and beat on medium for 1 minute, adding more cream if needed.
STORAGE:
Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let come to room temperature and re-whip in the stand mixer until light and fluffy again. Add a tablespoon or 2 of powdered sugar if it needs to thicken.
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
This might be a silly question: what is a good way to do a test run with gel coloring? I am trying to match my buttercream (which this recipe is so delicious) to party invite but I don’t want to waste a bunch of buttercream. Thanks!
Your videos are great! Thank you sooooo much for making them. I made regular and chocolate buttercream and used your swirl technique from another of your videos. They turned out amazing! The butter cream was the best I’ve used and the Chocolate was beyond great. Other chocolate recipes use melted chocolate chips which I didn’t like…..then I found yours and used ghiradelli cocoa….amazing! Thanks again!
Hi Tessa would you have a recipe for marshmallow buttercream.?I wonder if I could simply add marshmallowfluff to your already awesome buttercream recipe? Thanks.
Great recipe but wish you would stop using cups as a measure and use properly weighed ingredients as most chefs do, shame this American measures are not accurate.
Made your buttercream frosting recipe to frost my daughters homemade “funfetti” birthday cake!
It was delicious! I replaced the vanilla with almond extract and everyone loved it! They all wanted seconds!
I love to bake and make my family feel special, thank you Tessa for making it so easy to do!!
Really good recipe! Can’t wait to try it. I was interested on doing the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough but it requires 1 1/4 cup of flour… Am I supposed to serve uncooked flour? I don’t get it. Any tips about that?
I still cannot believe in the 21st century that we are arguing about butter measurements in recipes. 1/4 pound or one stick = 4 oz = 1/2 cup = 4 fluid oz. – You are correct, fluid ounces does not ALWAYS equate with weight ounces…. however, with butter, IT DOES! 16 oz = one pound and it is also 2 cups of butter = 16 fl.oz.
Where is the Crisco in your recipe? My Wilton recipe is half Crisco and half butter.
Hello, Tessa. I have a big problem with buttercream recipes and have some questions. So, I’ve been doing the buttercream for more than a year, and it’s always impossible to eat. So much powdered sugar was so sweet that anybody could eat it and had to through the buttercream away. It also tastes like a real butter (which I don’t really like and eat) Other recipes, for instance, Cupcake Jemma add much more powdered sugar. However, there are lots of positive feedbacks in the internet and I think, that all these issues exist only in my kitchen(((( Look, 375 gr of powdered sugar is a bit more than 250 ml cup, isn’t it? There’s no vanilla extract in my country but I’ve bought powdered sugar mixed with natural vanilla. Maybe powdered sugar is less sweet in the USA than in my country. Please, help me solve my problem ’cause I wanna decorate cupcakes with roses.
P.S. Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi! I just wanted to say THANKS TESSA! I may be only 12, but I just made this superb buttercream on a vanilla cake and it was awesome!!!! I made the lemon flavoured buttercream frosting , and I just got to say WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!l!!! My dad wouldn’t stop licking it! I was sure I would have to triple the batch! I’m going to bring it to my great uncle’s 4th of July celebration! I’ m so excited! I know all the people will love it ! Lemon + Old black people + my black family = SUCCESS! 😉 4th of July 2017!!!! Thanks again, bye!
This looks a great idea. I’ve got a recipe at home that forever melts on me, no matter how much sugar I put in. I also prefer to use a vegetable fat substitute for butter as I find that a bit sickly. Has anyone tried this recipe not using butter??? How did it come out?
Thanks
Hello Tessa! I want to thank you for this recipe. I have tried many frosting ones before and never liked the taste…it being too sweet. Also, the consistency wasn’t thick enough for all the decorations I wanted to do. Your Buttercream Recipe is incredible! I use it everyone I need frosting now. I had bought Russian Decorating Tips and it is the ONLY frosting that will work with them. It has made me love decorating even more! Thank you so much, Tessa!
Hi Tessa, I was wondering if you could assist and tell me if this buttercream recipe is stiff enough to use with Russian Piping tips?
I would appreciate a reply as your time allows.
Thank you, Yvonne
Hi Yvonne, I haven’t tried using a Russian piping tip but you can easily thicken this recipe by omitting all or part of the cream or adding in more powdered sugar if needed 🙂
Hey,
if I would make my cupcakes a day before I would hand them out, and I did this as well with te Buttercream, could I decorate them in the morning (7am) to hand them out around 10 am?
Thank you !
Axelle
Love your buttercream recepies. Used strawberry one for m daughters 1st birthday cake and was a huge hit. Today made the chocolate buttercream for my father in-laws 75th birthday cake. Tastes awesome. Thanks
Hi Tessa! I just want to say that I LOVE all your recipes, I have tried many of them.. and your buttercream recipe is my go-to for decorating, everyone always compliments me on how good it is. I have a question though, how would I make the buttercream into a thicker consistency? I want to try some Russian piping flower tips and from what I have read it says these are best used with a thick consistency buttercream
Hello Teresa, I would like to know what is the thing that you put is jelly? I will be trying to make it, looks really good. Please tell me what else is after the color. Thanks
Tessa-I love this recipe, made it the other day and received so many compliments on how good it tasted. I just have one question-it was too soft to make roses, they just fell..Should I leave out the heavy cream next time to make it stiffer?
I would like to know how much cream cheese would you add to make it a cream cheese buttercream frosting and keep the cream. I had a recipe but it has gotten lost. Thank you.
I’ve been searching for sometime as to how to make a fantastic, not too sweet buttercream, which I can flavour easily – and I found it finally on your site! Thank you!! Me and my 5 year old daughter made the raspberry flavour buttercream and it was soooooo good.. her and her father were fighting over the cup cakes with it on!
Thank you very much Chef, for taking the time to share your professional knowledge with me. I find your website extremely helpful. I am making my own wedding cake for my reception and I have struggled with finding the perfect recipe. I look forward to trying yours. I hope you will continue to bestow your knowledge upon us. Again, Thank you, Chef.
Tessa – I’m so glad I found this recipe. Can’t wait to try out the different variations!
I was wondering: I made a mocha layer cake with a chocolate ganache filling. I want to make a pink buttercream and would love for it to have a bit of flavor, but I’m not sure how strawberry or raspberry will pair with the other flavors of the cake? Should I just leave the buttercream plain?
Thanks:)
This is seriously, hands down, THE BEST Buttercream Frosting EVERRRRRRRR!!!!!!! This has now become my favorite buttercream and also the most requested frosting by everyone! Thank you!!!
First time making this… I’m SO used to the super sweet Wilton recipe, so it’s a big change for me. I would make theirs, then add an extra 1/2 stick of butter to try and make it creamy. This is sooo creamy, which with Crisco, I have a hard time achieving. I made some for work and they are my test group, we will see what they have to say. I did add a tad more sugar to mine. The fiancée approves. Thumbs up…. can’t wait to experiement with flavors!
Just a couple of comments…
One, powdered sugar is ground very fine and is mixed with cornstarch, so is not as sweet as regular sugar, and if you sift it, getting rid of the lumps, it will be more aerated. I’ve never really seen a recipe that wasn’t 3 cups or more!
Two: If you frost cupcakes in the morning and cover them, they will not crust over, so you can sprinkle or decorate any way you want. I make small piping bags in different colors so the kids can squeeze out designs on top, then different sprinkles in party theme colors, mini chips, and mini m&m’s go on top. Kids love to squeeze frosting!
Three: For cream cheese icing, substitute 8 oz. cream cheese and one stick of butter (room temperature on both) and add 3-1/2 cups confectioners sugar and 1-2 tsps. vanilla. Leave out the cream.
THE BEST!!!! Usually I use 2:1 ratio (powdered sugar and butter) and u would taste the grittiness which wasn’t nice. This however is so creamy, fluffy, delicious and can’t fault it. Best ever!
Quick question!… Can the regular buttercream be made ahead and then stored in the fridge and then the variations be added when ready to use? I know you said it can be stored for up to a week in the fridge but was curious if I could add the variations after storage and remix!
Can’t wait to try these different variations out. I have recently began baking and decorating cakes and cupcakes and have found that after 38 years on this earth, I have a great deal of passion and talent for it that I never knew existed! This will help me out tremendously when searching for new things to try! Thank you so much for sharing! God bless!!
Hi Tessa, 2 questions, if making a cake ahead to take somewhere, how long would the Swiss meringue buttercream be ok on the cake in fridge? (Not covered) I know I can’t freeze once on cake.Also I tried flavouring some with passion fruit pulp, it just seemed runny. Any ideas on this?
I would say 1 day. Then the quality may start to lessen. As for flavorings, if it seems runny you can always add more sugar. However, then you may not enjoy the level of sweetness. You may have better luck using jam, preserves, or jelly.
It tastes and looks so good! I made it today, just because I really wanted icing… whoops! I had to make more for a couple of my cupcakes, and not just my stomach! Thanks for this so much!
I used this buttercream tonight for my son’s christening cake, and it is wonderful. I actually made two batches. The first one frosted the 13″ x 9″ cake, and the second was tinted two shades of blue for decoration. I had extra blue buttercream (both shades), and so far, I have it stored in the refrigerator. It is so easy to make and delicious. It is quite sweet, so I added an extra 1/8 teaspoon of salt to offset the sweetness. This is definitely going to be my go-to frosting recipe when it comes to decorating. I love the versatility, too, with the different flavor variations. I’m looking forward to experimenting with it in the future.
This looks amazing!! I’m planning to use this recipe on a lemon rosette cake and flavor the buttercream with key lime, what I want to know is, how much buttercream will I need to frost and pipe rosettes for a 3.5- 4 inch high cake?
Hi Christina, I’m not entirely sure! When I’m working on a decorative cake like that I usually just double the recipe. This gives me room to experiment and have fun without worrying about being stingy. You can always freeze the rest 🙂
Hi, Tessa, I love your video on making buttercream. According to your instructions, to frost an 8″ cake the recipe needs to be doubled. However, this is my question. When it comes to making “other” flavors, do I also double the amounts listed on your recipe? For example, your recipe to make peanut butter buttercream said to add (1) C of peanut butter and reduce the powdered sugar to 2 1/2 C – if I make a batch for an 8″ cake, do I increase the peanut butter to (2) cups? That sounds like a lot of peanut butter so I just want to make sure. Many thanks! Looking forward to your response.
Yep, that would be right! You might be able to get away with using less frosting, but in my experience the more frosting you have the more beautiful the cake will turn out 🙂 And feel free to play around with the amount of peanut butter. I prefer my frostings to be more intensely flavored, but you might prefer less.
Hi!!! Just came to your page since your recipe for buttercream seems to be the easiest one in the Internet – I am a total newbie, it’s gonna be my first time making it!
I saw in some pages that it can be added some food colorant in order to obtain colourful buttercream, but I don’t know how it would affect the consistency, neither I know how much colorant I should add to it or if it would require any modification of the recipe.
I would be extremely thankful if you could help me with this.
Best wishes from Spain!!!
Hi Lucia! The food coloring will completely depend on the type you use: liquid, gel, or paste. The more liquid the food coloring is, the less cream you should add to your buttercream. I like high quality gel food colorings because a little goes a long way, and they won’t interfere too much with the texture of the frosting. Start with a few drops then add more until you get your desired color. If you end up adding so much coloring that it thins the frosting, simply add a few more tablespoons of powdered sugar until it’s the right consistency 🙂
What the best brand of confectioners sugar and butter? Because no matter what kind I use, I still think it tastes bad! It could be the recipes I’ve been using but I was just wondering if maybe the brands I’m using were the issue!
Wow, this is awesome frosting!! I just made THREE batches! One was raspberry buttercream and the other two were Baileys Irish Cream Raspberry buttercream. So delish!! And to answer the person who was worried about the sweetness – I made the regular buttercream with the sugar and butter and it was sweet, but by adding the baileys to it – believe it or not it was less sweet, and with just the raspberry all fruit jam it was also less sweet. So good and easy to use!! Thanks for these ideas!
I typically just keep the cake in the fridge until the party / picnic / event or whatever begins. That way the it starts cold and will warm to room temperature when it’s ready to be served. Anything that may keep it from melting will likely be an artificial preservative that will negatively impact the flavor and/or texture.
This looks delicious and I am going to give it a try! I have a quick question about the chocolate chip cookie dough flavoring. It states to use 3/4 brown sugar in place of all powdered sugar. Does this mean I use 3/4 cup powdered sugar with 2 1/4 cups brown sugar? I just want to make sure I have the measurements correct and that you didn’t mean to use only 3/4 cup of brown sugar…thanks!
No, you replace ALL of the powdered sugar called for with only 3/4 cup brown sugar. I’m not sure how else to state that. Brown sugar weighs much much more than powdered sugar, so by volume it may seem like a lot less but that’s the correct amount. Make sense?
Hi Tessa,
First of all, awesome video !
I’ve got a question, can I use this recipe for piping flowers like roses and ranunculus ? I live in Malaysia and find that italian or swiss buttercream melts real quick even with 30% shortening added into the recipe.
Thank you.
Hi Tessa, your butter cream recipe sounds awesome ! I can’t wait to try it .I have two questions 1) In the UK here we have whipping cream and pouring cream which one do I use? 2) can I use this buttercream to cream coat a cake that I intend to cover with fondant which would need to stay out in room temperature until it’s ready to eat in two days ? Worried the cream in the butter cream would go off ! Help !
Hi! I’m not sure what pouring cream is, but whipping cream should work. This buttercream works under fondant and should last for that amount of time as long as it’s a cool room temp. The sugar in the recipe actually helps to act a preservative and prevents bacteria from growing.
I’ve made your basic buttercream and it came out absolutely perfect. Just the right amount of sweet for my strawberry filled cupcakes. I can’t wait to try the other flavor combinations. Just one question…..what suggestions would you have for a peach flavored buttercream? Thank you for your great recipes, ideas and tips. Love em!!
Thanks so much, Kathy! Happy to hear that. I haven’t tried peach flavored buttercream before, but I think peach jam or preserves should work nicely (like the strawberry or raspberry flavor variation listed above).
I made this tonight and it was incredible. I’ve been trying different vanilla buttercream recipes for a while now trying to find this exact combination. The taste and texture were spot on and no fancy ingredients! My search is over. Thank you for posting this.
(Also, half of this recipe was the perfect amount of frosting to frost the top of a 9×13.)
Wow! This recipe was great! I had made a buttercream frosting for some cupcakes i baked the other day and the recipe that came with the cupcakes was simply way to thin… It dripped all over my cupcakes and made it very messy to eat. Later I had found this recipe, made it, and loved it! It was the perfect consistency and when I it onto my cupcakes, it held it’s shape! This recipe is simply delicious and I will definitely make it again. Five Stars all the way!
I live in Arizona which is hot almost always and I bake cakes as a hobbies however I made a cake using buttercream frosting and it melted. It went some completely smooth and creamy to a soft melting mess. How can I help this without using shortening? Your frosting look beautiful but can it with stand high temperatures of heat?
I live in AZ too! Buttercream will basically melt at the melting point of butter, which is around 90°F. So any cakes exposed to that heat for longer than a few minutes will start to melt. One way to combat that is to fully refrigerate the cake before you plan to serve it. Then, it will warm up with the high outside temps to be ready for serving and will take longer to melt. Does that make sense?
How far in advance can the cake be iced with this if there is cream? I’m looking to decorate my cake 1 or possibly 2 days in advance (fondant would be fine but I’m considering using buttercream).
As a trained chef and cookbook author, I share trusted baking recipes your friends & family will love alongside insights into the science of sweets. I help take the luck out of baking so you *always* have delicious results! Learn more here.
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Hi Tessa,
Is your buttercream recipe stiff enough to make roses or other flowers?
This might be a silly question: what is a good way to do a test run with gel coloring? I am trying to match my buttercream (which this recipe is so delicious) to party invite but I don’t want to waste a bunch of buttercream. Thanks!
Can I use milk in place of heavy cream.
Hello,Tessa
Your recipe is just awesome. What if I use the icing sugar instead regular sugar.
Thanks.
Your videos are great! Thank you sooooo much for making them. I made regular and chocolate buttercream and used your swirl technique from another of your videos. They turned out amazing! The butter cream was the best I’ve used and the Chocolate was beyond great. Other chocolate recipes use melted chocolate chips which I didn’t like…..then I found yours and used ghiradelli cocoa….amazing! Thanks again!
I just tried this recipe & it was PERFECTION!!! Everyone loved how delicious it was & most of all that it wasn’t disgustingly over sweet!
what brand of whipping cream or heavy you refer?
Hi Tessa would you have a recipe for marshmallow buttercream.?I wonder if I could simply add marshmallowfluff to your already awesome buttercream recipe? Thanks.
How many cupcakes is this recipe for? Do you still need cream for making plain buttercream?
Great recipe but wish you would stop using cups as a measure and use properly weighed ingredients as most chefs do, shame this American measures are not accurate.
Did you not see the gram measurements in the recipe…?
Made your buttercream frosting recipe to frost my daughters homemade “funfetti” birthday cake!
It was delicious! I replaced the vanilla with almond extract and everyone loved it! They all wanted seconds!
I love to bake and make my family feel special, thank you Tessa for making it so easy to do!!
Really good recipe! Can’t wait to try it. I was interested on doing the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough but it requires 1 1/4 cup of flour… Am I supposed to serve uncooked flour? I don’t get it. Any tips about that?
Yep! That’s what cookie dough is 😉
I just found this fabulous recipe. I was wondering what I could add to make it maple flavored?
Maple extract would be your best bet for lots of maple flavor without thinning the texture too much!
I still cannot believe in the 21st century that we are arguing about butter measurements in recipes. 1/4 pound or one stick = 4 oz = 1/2 cup = 4 fluid oz. – You are correct, fluid ounces does not ALWAYS equate with weight ounces…. however, with butter, IT DOES! 16 oz = one pound and it is also 2 cups of butter = 16 fl.oz.
Where is the Crisco in your recipe? My Wilton recipe is half Crisco and half butter.
Hello, Tessa. I have a big problem with buttercream recipes and have some questions. So, I’ve been doing the buttercream for more than a year, and it’s always impossible to eat. So much powdered sugar was so sweet that anybody could eat it and had to through the buttercream away. It also tastes like a real butter (which I don’t really like and eat) Other recipes, for instance, Cupcake Jemma add much more powdered sugar. However, there are lots of positive feedbacks in the internet and I think, that all these issues exist only in my kitchen(((( Look, 375 gr of powdered sugar is a bit more than 250 ml cup, isn’t it? There’s no vanilla extract in my country but I’ve bought powdered sugar mixed with natural vanilla. Maybe powdered sugar is less sweet in the USA than in my country. Please, help me solve my problem ’cause I wanna decorate cupcakes with roses.
P.S. Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Sofya, it may be a difference in the sugar available to you, or simply a personal preference. If you find American-style buttercream too sweet and sugary, you’ll probably love Swiss Meringue Buttercream! https://handletheheat.com/how-to-make-perfect-swiss-meringue-buttercream/
Hi! I just wanted to say THANKS TESSA! I may be only 12, but I just made this superb buttercream on a vanilla cake and it was awesome!!!! I made the lemon flavoured buttercream frosting , and I just got to say WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!l!!! My dad wouldn’t stop licking it! I was sure I would have to triple the batch! I’m going to bring it to my great uncle’s 4th of July celebration! I’ m so excited! I know all the people will love it ! Lemon + Old black people + my black family = SUCCESS! 😉 4th of July 2017!!!! Thanks again, bye!
Hi,
This looks a great idea. I’ve got a recipe at home that forever melts on me, no matter how much sugar I put in. I also prefer to use a vegetable fat substitute for butter as I find that a bit sickly. Has anyone tried this recipe not using butter??? How did it come out?
Thanks
Hello Tessa! I want to thank you for this recipe. I have tried many frosting ones before and never liked the taste…it being too sweet. Also, the consistency wasn’t thick enough for all the decorations I wanted to do. Your Buttercream Recipe is incredible! I use it everyone I need frosting now. I had bought Russian Decorating Tips and it is the ONLY frosting that will work with them. It has made me love decorating even more! Thank you so much, Tessa!
So happy to hear that, Melissa!
Hi Tessa, I was wondering if you could assist and tell me if this buttercream recipe is stiff enough to use with Russian Piping tips?
I would appreciate a reply as your time allows.
Thank you, Yvonne
Hi Yvonne, I haven’t tried using a Russian piping tip but you can easily thicken this recipe by omitting all or part of the cream or adding in more powdered sugar if needed 🙂
Hey,
if I would make my cupcakes a day before I would hand them out, and I did this as well with te Buttercream, could I decorate them in the morning (7am) to hand them out around 10 am?
Thank you !
Axelle
Love your buttercream recepies. Used strawberry one for m daughters 1st birthday cake and was a huge hit. Today made the chocolate buttercream for my father in-laws 75th birthday cake. Tastes awesome. Thanks
Hi Tessa! I just want to say that I LOVE all your recipes, I have tried many of them.. and your buttercream recipe is my go-to for decorating, everyone always compliments me on how good it is. I have a question though, how would I make the buttercream into a thicker consistency? I want to try some Russian piping flower tips and from what I have read it says these are best used with a thick consistency buttercream
Add more powdered sugar! If that’s not thick enough, substitute 1/4 or 1/2 of the butter with shortening.
Hello Teresa, I would like to know what is the thing that you put is jelly? I will be trying to make it, looks really good. Please tell me what else is after the color. Thanks
Tessa-I love this recipe, made it the other day and received so many compliments on how good it tasted. I just have one question-it was too soft to make roses, they just fell..Should I leave out the heavy cream next time to make it stiffer?
Glad to hear that! And, yep! Leave out the cream for a stiffer consistency. Or, you can always add more powdered sugar if you’ve already added cream 🙂
And can I use regularly beaters I do not have a paddle for my mixer
So does this buttercream work well for flowers like roses? I am making a Valentine birthday cake and really need to know
I would like to know how much cream cheese would you add to make it a cream cheese buttercream frosting and keep the cream. I had a recipe but it has gotten lost. Thank you.
Tessa, do you have any tips for making this buttercream as white as possible?
If that’s your concern over flavor, use half shortening half butter and a clear vanilla extract. Won’t taste as good, but it’ll be much whiter.
I’ve been searching for sometime as to how to make a fantastic, not too sweet buttercream, which I can flavour easily – and I found it finally on your site! Thank you!! Me and my 5 year old daughter made the raspberry flavour buttercream and it was soooooo good.. her and her father were fighting over the cup cakes with it on!
Thank you very much Chef, for taking the time to share your professional knowledge with me. I find your website extremely helpful. I am making my own wedding cake for my reception and I have struggled with finding the perfect recipe. I look forward to trying yours. I hope you will continue to bestow your knowledge upon us. Again, Thank you, Chef.
Is it possible to make these buttercreams if you don’t have a stand or hand mixer? Can it be made just by hand and strong arms lol?
Tessa – I’m so glad I found this recipe. Can’t wait to try out the different variations!
I was wondering: I made a mocha layer cake with a chocolate ganache filling. I want to make a pink buttercream and would love for it to have a bit of flavor, but I’m not sure how strawberry or raspberry will pair with the other flavors of the cake? Should I just leave the buttercream plain?
Thanks:)
I would probably leave it plain and use food coloring.
Does this icing foamy looking???
How should I adjust the recipe to get enough frosting for two 7″ cakes ?
This is seriously, hands down, THE BEST Buttercream Frosting EVERRRRRRRR!!!!!!! This has now become my favorite buttercream and also the most requested frosting by everyone! Thank you!!!
Yay, Genny!! So thrilled to hear that 🙂
First time making this… I’m SO used to the super sweet Wilton recipe, so it’s a big change for me. I would make theirs, then add an extra 1/2 stick of butter to try and make it creamy. This is sooo creamy, which with Crisco, I have a hard time achieving. I made some for work and they are my test group, we will see what they have to say. I did add a tad more sugar to mine. The fiancée approves. Thumbs up…. can’t wait to experiement with flavors!
Excellent, Kate! Let me know which flavors you try first 🙂
Just a couple of comments…
One, powdered sugar is ground very fine and is mixed with cornstarch, so is not as sweet as regular sugar, and if you sift it, getting rid of the lumps, it will be more aerated. I’ve never really seen a recipe that wasn’t 3 cups or more!
Two: If you frost cupcakes in the morning and cover them, they will not crust over, so you can sprinkle or decorate any way you want. I make small piping bags in different colors so the kids can squeeze out designs on top, then different sprinkles in party theme colors, mini chips, and mini m&m’s go on top. Kids love to squeeze frosting!
Three: For cream cheese icing, substitute 8 oz. cream cheese and one stick of butter (room temperature on both) and add 3-1/2 cups confectioners sugar and 1-2 tsps. vanilla. Leave out the cream.
THE BEST!!!! Usually I use 2:1 ratio (powdered sugar and butter) and u would taste the grittiness which wasn’t nice. This however is so creamy, fluffy, delicious and can’t fault it. Best ever!
Quick question!… Can the regular buttercream be made ahead and then stored in the fridge and then the variations be added when ready to use? I know you said it can be stored for up to a week in the fridge but was curious if I could add the variations after storage and remix!
I don’t see why not! Just bring back to room temp and use an electric mixer to add your flavorings 🙂
Can’t wait to try these different variations out. I have recently began baking and decorating cakes and cupcakes and have found that after 38 years on this earth, I have a great deal of passion and talent for it that I never knew existed! This will help me out tremendously when searching for new things to try! Thank you so much for sharing! God bless!!
Hi Tessa, 2 questions, if making a cake ahead to take somewhere, how long would the Swiss meringue buttercream be ok on the cake in fridge? (Not covered) I know I can’t freeze once on cake.Also I tried flavouring some with passion fruit pulp, it just seemed runny. Any ideas on this?
I would say 1 day. Then the quality may start to lessen. As for flavorings, if it seems runny you can always add more sugar. However, then you may not enjoy the level of sweetness. You may have better luck using jam, preserves, or jelly.
It tastes and looks so good! I made it today, just because I really wanted icing… whoops! I had to make more for a couple of my cupcakes, and not just my stomach! Thanks for this so much!
Hi Tessa —
I used this buttercream tonight for my son’s christening cake, and it is wonderful. I actually made two batches. The first one frosted the 13″ x 9″ cake, and the second was tinted two shades of blue for decoration. I had extra blue buttercream (both shades), and so far, I have it stored in the refrigerator. It is so easy to make and delicious. It is quite sweet, so I added an extra 1/8 teaspoon of salt to offset the sweetness. This is definitely going to be my go-to frosting recipe when it comes to decorating. I love the versatility, too, with the different flavor variations. I’m looking forward to experimenting with it in the future.
So happy to hear that, Sherri! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Hi Tessa!!
This looks amazing!! I’m planning to use this recipe on a lemon rosette cake and flavor the buttercream with key lime, what I want to know is, how much buttercream will I need to frost and pipe rosettes for a 3.5- 4 inch high cake?
Thanks so much, keep up the great work!
Looking forward for your response 😀
Hi Christina, I’m not entirely sure! When I’m working on a decorative cake like that I usually just double the recipe. This gives me room to experiment and have fun without worrying about being stingy. You can always freeze the rest 🙂
This looks and sounds amazing! I look forward to trying it! Thanks for sharing. ☺️
Hi, Tessa, I love your video on making buttercream. According to your instructions, to frost an 8″ cake the recipe needs to be doubled. However, this is my question. When it comes to making “other” flavors, do I also double the amounts listed on your recipe? For example, your recipe to make peanut butter buttercream said to add (1) C of peanut butter and reduce the powdered sugar to 2 1/2 C – if I make a batch for an 8″ cake, do I increase the peanut butter to (2) cups? That sounds like a lot of peanut butter so I just want to make sure. Many thanks! Looking forward to your response.
Yep, that would be right! You might be able to get away with using less frosting, but in my experience the more frosting you have the more beautiful the cake will turn out 🙂 And feel free to play around with the amount of peanut butter. I prefer my frostings to be more intensely flavored, but you might prefer less.
Hi!!! Just came to your page since your recipe for buttercream seems to be the easiest one in the Internet – I am a total newbie, it’s gonna be my first time making it!
I saw in some pages that it can be added some food colorant in order to obtain colourful buttercream, but I don’t know how it would affect the consistency, neither I know how much colorant I should add to it or if it would require any modification of the recipe.
I would be extremely thankful if you could help me with this.
Best wishes from Spain!!!
Hi Lucia! The food coloring will completely depend on the type you use: liquid, gel, or paste. The more liquid the food coloring is, the less cream you should add to your buttercream. I like high quality gel food colorings because a little goes a long way, and they won’t interfere too much with the texture of the frosting. Start with a few drops then add more until you get your desired color. If you end up adding so much coloring that it thins the frosting, simply add a few more tablespoons of powdered sugar until it’s the right consistency 🙂
What the best brand of confectioners sugar and butter? Because no matter what kind I use, I still think it tastes bad! It could be the recipes I’ve been using but I was just wondering if maybe the brands I’m using were the issue!
What about the taste don’t you like?
Wow, this is awesome frosting!! I just made THREE batches! One was raspberry buttercream and the other two were Baileys Irish Cream Raspberry buttercream. So delish!! And to answer the person who was worried about the sweetness – I made the regular buttercream with the sugar and butter and it was sweet, but by adding the baileys to it – believe it or not it was less sweet, and with just the raspberry all fruit jam it was also less sweet. So good and easy to use!! Thanks for these ideas!
That’s awesome, Cindy! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Do you have any suggestions to help this icing withstand heat? I’ve read a few different things can be added if the cake will be outside.
I typically just keep the cake in the fridge until the party / picnic / event or whatever begins. That way the it starts cold and will warm to room temperature when it’s ready to be served. Anything that may keep it from melting will likely be an artificial preservative that will negatively impact the flavor and/or texture.
Omg I wasn’t even close lol! I’m not sure how I got that quite so wrong, but thank you for taking the time to respond. You saved my frosting!
Phew!!
This looks delicious and I am going to give it a try! I have a quick question about the chocolate chip cookie dough flavoring. It states to use 3/4 brown sugar in place of all powdered sugar. Does this mean I use 3/4 cup powdered sugar with 2 1/4 cups brown sugar? I just want to make sure I have the measurements correct and that you didn’t mean to use only 3/4 cup of brown sugar…thanks!
No, you replace ALL of the powdered sugar called for with only 3/4 cup brown sugar. I’m not sure how else to state that. Brown sugar weighs much much more than powdered sugar, so by volume it may seem like a lot less but that’s the correct amount. Make sense?
Hi Tessa,
First of all, awesome video !
I’ve got a question, can I use this recipe for piping flowers like roses and ranunculus ? I live in Malaysia and find that italian or swiss buttercream melts real quick even with 30% shortening added into the recipe.
Thank you.
Hi Tessa, your butter cream recipe sounds awesome ! I can’t wait to try it .I have two questions 1) In the UK here we have whipping cream and pouring cream which one do I use? 2) can I use this buttercream to cream coat a cake that I intend to cover with fondant which would need to stay out in room temperature until it’s ready to eat in two days ? Worried the cream in the butter cream would go off ! Help !
Hi! I’m not sure what pouring cream is, but whipping cream should work. This buttercream works under fondant and should last for that amount of time as long as it’s a cool room temp. The sugar in the recipe actually helps to act a preservative and prevents bacteria from growing.
I’ve made your basic buttercream and it came out absolutely perfect. Just the right amount of sweet for my strawberry filled cupcakes. I can’t wait to try the other flavor combinations. Just one question…..what suggestions would you have for a peach flavored buttercream? Thank you for your great recipes, ideas and tips. Love em!!
Thanks so much, Kathy! Happy to hear that. I haven’t tried peach flavored buttercream before, but I think peach jam or preserves should work nicely (like the strawberry or raspberry flavor variation listed above).
I made this tonight and it was incredible. I’ve been trying different vanilla buttercream recipes for a while now trying to find this exact combination. The taste and texture were spot on and no fancy ingredients! My search is over. Thank you for posting this.
(Also, half of this recipe was the perfect amount of frosting to frost the top of a 9×13.)
Great, Michelle! So happy to hear it!
Wow! This recipe was great! I had made a buttercream frosting for some cupcakes i baked the other day and the recipe that came with the cupcakes was simply way to thin… It dripped all over my cupcakes and made it very messy to eat. Later I had found this recipe, made it, and loved it! It was the perfect consistency and when I it onto my cupcakes, it held it’s shape! This recipe is simply delicious and I will definitely make it again. Five Stars all the way!
Wonderful, Haley!! Happy to hear it 🙂
Half of the recipe minus the whipping cream made me more than enough to fully frost 12 cupcakes! Dont waste your ingredients, and half the recipe!
I live in Arizona which is hot almost always and I bake cakes as a hobbies however I made a cake using buttercream frosting and it melted. It went some completely smooth and creamy to a soft melting mess. How can I help this without using shortening? Your frosting look beautiful but can it with stand high temperatures of heat?
I live in AZ too! Buttercream will basically melt at the melting point of butter, which is around 90°F. So any cakes exposed to that heat for longer than a few minutes will start to melt. One way to combat that is to fully refrigerate the cake before you plan to serve it. Then, it will warm up with the high outside temps to be ready for serving and will take longer to melt. Does that make sense?
How far in advance can the cake be iced with this if there is cream? I’m looking to decorate my cake 1 or possibly 2 days in advance (fondant would be fine but I’m considering using buttercream).