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This Vanilla Buttercream Frosting is creamy, sweet and easy to customize! It’s perfect for piping onto cakes, cupcakes and more.
Table of Contents
Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
So this post has actually been on my site for more than 5 years now and today I’m giving it an update. I get SO many questions about buttercream and direct people here often. I feel like the information that was here wasn’t as helpful as it needed to be, so today that changes.
Plus, in the last 5 years I’ve made SO MUCH BUTTERCREAM and my opinions have changed slightly, so I feel like those things are worth sharing. All that said, my recipe is still the same. But hopefully you’ll find everything else included with it even more helpful than before.
Let’s get started!
Buttercream Frosting Ingredients
The ingredients used in a classic vanilla buttercream often vary only a little. Here is what I use when I make buttercream frosting:
Butter
Naturally this is the most important since we are making BUTTERcream.
In the past, I’ve said that I like to use a mix of salted and unsalted butter (or salted butter and shortening – see next ingredient), but this is one thing that has changed a little lately.
Now I recommend using all unsalted butter and then adding salt to taste. You most definitely don’t want to use all salted butter – it gives the buttercream a very strong salty butter flavor and you really don’t want that. So – you’ll need room temperature unsalted butter.
Shortening
This is one ingredient that often leads to questions.
“Can I substitute it for more butter?” Yes.
“Why do you use it? It’s gross.” Well, that’s a longer answer.
Let’s talk about it a bit. One reason I often use some shortening is for consistency purposes. When a cake doesn’t need to be refrigerated because of a filling or something, I like to leave my cakes at room temperature. I just prefer their texture that way. When an all-butter buttercream is left at room temperature for a full day or overnight, I find that it kind of releases moisture that I don’t care for.
By contrast, when I use some shortening, that doesn’t happen.Another thing about shortening is that if you live in a warm climate or are making cakes that will be outdoors, shortening can be really helpful because it’s not as susceptible to heat, like butter.And then the original reason that I started using some shortening was that I always found the buttery taste of an all-butter buttercream to be too much. But of course, this is another area where my opinion has changed a bit. Butter has grown on me. Lately I find myself enjoying an all-butter buttercream. Just be sure to use unsalted butter, like I said before.
Powdered Sugar
Also something I get a lot of questions about. This recipe uses a full 4 cups of powdered sugar to 1 cup of butter/shortening. The high amount of powdered sugar make this buttercream stable and pipe-able. This recipe covers roughly 12 cupcakes for me when frosting them quite generously, which I do. So when I frost cakes, which I also do quite generously, I double and sometimes even triple this recipe. That means anywhere from 8-12 cups of powdered sugar. A lot? Yes. But if you reduce it, you totally change the consistency of the frosting, which is super important – especially when frosting cakes and cupcakes. To read more about frosting consistency, check out this post.
Vanilla Extract
Naturally, this adds flavor. But the great thing about this buttercream is that it’s so adaptable. Swap out this extract for another and you’ve got another flavor. Score!
Heavy Cream or Water
I tend to use water, but cream also works well. Again, I like to leave my cakes at room temperature when I can, so I usually just go with water. That said, the high amount of fat in buttercream should keep buttercream that uses heavy cream fine at room temperature for a day or two.
Salt
Since unsalted butter is recommended, you’ll want to add salt to taste. I think this is really a big personal preference with this recipe. The salt can help cut back on the sweetness a bit. Too much though and it gets quite salty.
How To Make Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
This buttercream is super quick and easy to make!
- First, add your butter (and shortening, if using) to your mixer and beat until smooth and creamy. Again, be sure it’s all at room temperature.
- Next, you’ll add about half of the powdered sugar. It doesn’t have to be exact.
- Then add your extract and some water or cream. Basically, we want to add some liquid to keep the buttercream from getting super thick as we continue to add the powdered sugar. I usually add one tablespoon of liquid, plus the extract at this point.
- Add the rest of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- At this point, you’ll want to add additional liquid as needed. How much you’ll add may depend a little on what you’re using your buttercream frosting for, but generally 2-4 tablespoons is plenty. Again, you can refer to my post on frosting consistency for a little more help on when to add more liquid and how much is too much.
- Finally, add a little salt. Start with a pinch and go from there.
How to Decorate Cakes and Cupcakes with Buttercream
If you’re looking for help decorating your cakes and cupcakes, I’ve got tutorials for both. My How to Frost a Smooth Cake tutorial is so well loved and an all time most viewed post. The video has more than a million views on YouTube. I really get into the details of how to actually frost your cake, so check it out. My tutorial for How to Frost Cupcakes is wonderful too. I show you 9 ways to frost cupcakes with 6 different piping tips. You can find links to all the tools I use in those posts, but here are some of my favorite piping tips.
- Ateco tip 844 – A go-to for piping onto cupcakes and for borders around cakes.
- Ateco tip 808 – A wonderful large round piping tip.
- Ateco tip 847 and Ateco tip 849 – Similar to the 844, but larger. I used the 847 tip on the cupcakes in these photos.
- Sprinkles – Not exactly a piping tip, but who doesn’t love them?
- Piping bags – Because you need these too.
Can I make buttercream ahead?
Absolutely! Make it and leave it on the counter overnight, or refrigerate it for up to a month.You can even freeze it for up to 3 months.
Why is my buttercream grainy?
If this happens, most likely this has to do with your powdered sugar. There’s no other ingredient that would be grainy. If you do experience this, you’ll want to try sifting your powdered sugar. I’ve never needed to do that, but if you don’t use your powdered sugar much and it’s been sitting for some time or you live in a humid environment, it may get kind of clumpy and then you’ll want to sift it.
Can I reduce the amount of powdered sugar?
Yes and no. Sure you can reduce it. Who’s to stop you? You’ll end up with a buttercream frosting (technically). But this question is really one of consistency.
I’ve been asked before if it was ok to reduce 8 cups of powdered sugar to 2 cups. If we talk about ratios here, then there’s 2 cups of butter for those 8 cups of powdered sugar. So if you reduce the powdered sugar to 2 cups without also adjusting the butter, it’ll be like eating straight butter with a touch of powdered sugar. Can you do it? Sure. Would I ever recommend it? Absolutely not. Not only would that taste bad (in my opinion), but the consistency would be totally off and it might not stay well on the cake it’s meant to go on. Not to mention that you couldn’t pipe it.
So I go back to recommending you check out my post on buttercream frosting consistency. Whether or not you can (or should) reduce it depends on how you want to use your frosting (and how you want it to taste).
And if you truly aren’t a fan of using much powdered sugar, then I might suggest checking out another kind of buttercream. This is an American Buttercream which gets it volume and stability from powdered sugar, so it’s hard to avoid. Swiss Meringue Buttercream gets its volume from egg whites that are cooked, so maybe check that out. I don’t currently have a recipe to recommend, but am working on it.
So there it is! Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. Super easy and totally delicious. I hope this updated post helps! As always, if you have questions, leave them below and I’ll do my best to help.
You might also like these frosting recipes:
Homemade Strawberry Frosting – 2 Ways
Cream Cheese Frosting
Fudgy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Stabilized Mascarpone Whipped Cream
Easy Strawberry Whipped Cream – 2 Ways
Chocolate Ganache
Watch How To Make It
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Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: about 2 1/2 cups
- Category: Dessert
- Method: No Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Vanilla Buttercream Frosting is creamy, sweet and easily adjustable! It’s a must-have recipe that’s super easy to make and pipes perfectly onto cakes and cupcakes!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (95g) shortening (or additional butter)
- 4 cups (460g) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2–3 tbsp (30-45ml) water or heavy cream
- Salt, to taste*
Instructions
- Combine the butter and shortening in a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
- Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Add the vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of water or cream and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Add more water or cream until desired consistency is reached, then add salt to taste.
Notes
For the salt, start by adding a pinch or two and add more to your taste. I wouldn’t suggest adding more than 1/8 tsp.
You can add different extracts to change up the flavor. You can also add 1/4-1/2 cup of cocoa and a little more liquid to get a chocolate icing. For a peanut butter icing, add 3/4 cup of peanut butter.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 1/2 cups
- Calories: 3288
- Sugar: 391.8 g
- Sodium: 742.3 mg
- Fat: 194.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 399.7 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 244 mg
I chose this recipe randomly while baking a cake today, as I knew I wanted an American vanilla butter cream. Everything in Japan is in grams, so first thank you for giving the weight measurements in grams. When I was making it I realized that I only had 400g of powdered sugar. I could go downstairs to the supermarket and buy more, but I decided to go with 400g and see what it was like. I would like to report that reducing the powdered sugar to 400g in my opinion gave it a nice consistency. It was sweet, but did not feel overly sweet, so if you are one of those who doesn’t want “all that sugar”, and you want to reduce the sugar, I can suggest 400g of sugar being a good amount.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC0RyLGLkgY&ab_channel=ChloeRuth
Please tell me what I’m doing wrong! XD
Your buttercream looks way too thick. I’d try adding more heavy whipping cream and checking out my post on frosting consistency.
Can I use all butter flavor crisco
If you don’t mind that flavor, then certainly.
Does the frosting need to be refrigerated?
It can sit at room temperature for about 24 hours but then should be refrigerated.
My question is about the powdered sugar. Do you measure out 4 cups then sift it or do you sift it then measure 4 cups?
Also, I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I used a standing mixer with a paddle attachment and my butter was definitely softened. However, my butter/shortening mixture is full of lumps.
I actually measure by weight and don’t typically need to sift it. Weight is going to be most accurate. It’s a little hard to say when measuring by cups because if the powdered sugar is really lumpy and packed, you could over measure using a cup. But if you sift it, it’ll lighten it up a good bit and you may end up not measuring enough. You could really do it either way and then just add more or less if it seems like you need it. Or you could try a food scale. I hope that helps!
How much frosting would you use to cover a 3 layer 9-inch cake (generous of course) PLUS extra frosting for different color flower decor?
Also, I see you say a pinch of salt and then add more to taste BUT do you know how much you use in the way you prefer? It would trust that more as a jumping off point for my first go at this.
I would probably at least triple this frosting, and depending on how many flower decorations you’re adding you may still want more.
As for the salt, anywhere up to an eighth of a teaspoon should be ok, but I’d start with less. You may want more if you want it to be a little more salty. The salt enhances the flavor of the buttercream but at a certain point will start to make it taste salty.
Do I use butter flavored shortening or vegetable flavored shortening?
Thanks, love your recipes!
Vegetable. So glad to hear you enjoy the recipes! Thank you!
Hello! I love that you have this option with shortening and butter so the frosting won’t melt for an outdoor party, but it’ll still have the nice buttery taste. Could you please advise on how many batches of this frosting to make for your lemon poppyseed cake recipe? I made that last week and loved it but want to try a buttercream instead of the cream cheese frosting next time. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed the lemon poppyseed cake! I’d recommend the lemon buttercream on this Lemon Cake. It’s about 2 1/2 recipes worth of this frosting, with some lemon adjustments.
Great, thank you so much for your reply!!
Easy, Delicious and versatile ! Made these as vanilla , as chocolate, and as strawberry 🍓 frosting
What kind of shortening do I use?
I use Crisco brand
Hi!
I love this recipe. Do you need to sift the powdered sugar??
I don’t typically sift my powdered sugar. But I also go through it fairly quickly and it doesn’t usually lump together. If yours is kind of clumpy, you may want to sift it.
Hello, Would this recipe provide enough icing to cover the cake you iced in your “How to frost a smooth cake with buttercream frosting”? Just trying to determine how much I would need to make and if I need to double the recipe. Thanks.
It depends a little on how much frosting you use. If you’re following that tutorial, I typically use more like 2.5 recipes worth for a fully frosted cake that way. Not everyone likes to use that much frosting though.
I love this recipe. I just tried it for the first time last week and it turned out great. I would like to make more and add color. At what point in the steps do you add coloring?
Glad you enjoyed it! I usually add coloring once it’s made.
I was wondering how to store this buttercream properly?
You could leave it on the counter for about 24 hours, or store it in the fridge for a couple of weeks or freeze it for up to three months.
I found my new butter cream recipe and it was a hit❤️❤️Thank you so much for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Hello!
I have a question. Maybe this will sound weird, but my English is not the best. What is shortening, and where I can buy it, if I live in the Europe.
You can replace it with additional butter.