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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
Print
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
Hi, I live in the UK can you tell me what shortening is?
Is there anything I can use to replace it if it’s not available here?
Thank you
Shortening is basically a butter replacement that holds up better in warmer weather. If you don’t have it available, you can just use all butter.
Hello I want to make a cake for my sister’s baby shower that is professional and smooth. I want to make icing, but I don’t have a stand alone mixter. Is there another way to mix this and still get smooth icing?
Do you have a hand mixer? That would work just as well as a stand mixer.
Hi,
I love your blog and tips!! Just curious to know the trick(s) for adding fresh fruit to give a hint of flavour so that the icing doesn’t lose it’s consistency – i.e.: strawberry or raspberry? I loved seeing the fruit icing in your pictures. Also, I have never tried vanilla bean instead of extract. Do you recommend this, if so, how would I replace the extract?
Thanks so much!
Adding fruit can be tricky because it’ll thin out the frosting. I’d recommend pureeing the fruit, then straining it to remove the seeds. If you find you can get a strong enough flavor just adding the puree, do that. Otherwise, maybe cook the puree a bit to reduce it and make the flavor more concentrated, then add it. With the vanilla bean, I typically do a 1-1 replacement, but you could add a little more extract if you like.
I recently made a strawberry frosting for cupcakes and cake for my daughter’s first birthday – it turned out fantastic. I took Lindsay’s recipe and instead of adding water, milk or vanilla I added pureed frozen strawberries (about 8 tbsp I think). I didn’t strain them or anything, just pureed in my bullet. I did end up adding water at the end to make it the right consistency for my liking. But it tasted great and people raved about it!
I have to say the half/half frosting recipe has changed the way I make frosting for life!
Hello! I am very new to baking and find that the taste of powdered sugar in frosting is chalky. I have not attempted this recipe yet, but is there another sweetener I can use? I suspect you need powdered sugar for stiffness.
Hmm, I’m not sure. The powdered sugar is definitely for stiffness and volume. I’m sure there are recipes that use less powdered sugar but I think most, if not all, will use at least some powdered sugar. Regular sugar would be quite grainy.
Amazing recipe! Thank you so much! I made a cake with it today and I couldn’t believe how smooth it was! And the flavor was amazing! Next thing I will be trying is your trick to making a smooth cake (which is what actually brought me to your blog in the first place). I’ve done a lot of self teaching/experimenting with cake decorating. I was wondering how you make your crumb coating (I believe thats what you called it)?
I’m not much into blogging however this may be one blog I come back to often. I’ve enjoyed reading some of your blogs and am encouraged to hear of your faith in the Lord! We have so much hope in Him! Thank you again for the recipe!
Stefanie
Thanks Stefanie! I’m glad you enjoyed it! The crumb coating is really just a light layer of frosting that’s added to the cake to seal in crumbs. I use the same frosting, just add a thin layer before adding the full layer.
Hi Lindsay, i tried your recipe.. its so delicious and the texture is steady considering i live in a hot climates country Malaysia. But i find it a bit too sweet to my liking and reduce the sugar the 2nd time i made it. . its still steady and thank you again .. !!!
I used your recipe and made my first buttercream frosting yesterday. This frosting tastes like my favorite wedding cake frosting! I frosted a lamb cake for my 2 year old’s birthday and it came out delicious and lovely (especially considering I bought my first decorating tips for this project). I am going to use this recipe every time I need buttercream. Thank you very much!
Awesome! I’m so glad you were happy with it!
Going to try this receipe. I have always used all shortening because I want a white icing and butter makes it off white. Is the half and half usually white and do you have to refrigerate after frosting?
It’s not going to be as pure of a white with salted butter since it’s a bit yellow in color normally. You could try unsalted butter though. Unsalted is usually more white. Personally I prefer the tradeoff with half and half. Better flavor and texture. I do not refrigerate the half and half buttercream.
First time using shortening. I will not use another recipe. Piped on cupcakes. Thank you
Looking to try this icing….what brand of shortening do you prefer? I’m wondering if a store brand would be fine or do I need to look for high-ratio shortening? Thank you <3
I don’t use high-ratio, I just use regular vegetable shortening from Crisco.
Thank you Lindsay! I always have that on hand 🙂
What is “shortening”, never heard of this in uk. Is it a form of lard(animal fat) or margarine?
It’s a fat that is often used as a butter replacement. If you don’t have it in the UK, you can replace it with additional butter.
I ca not wait to try this. However, for some reason I cant find the actual recipe. Im on my phone so maybe that’s the problem though. your blog is amazing.
The recipe is displaying fine for me. I made some updates to the blog earlier today, so you may need to clear your browser cache. I went into the recipe and tried to make a couple updates as well, so if it still isn’t working I’d suggest clearing the browser cache.
Hi, wondering how you get the butter and shortening to blend together with out clumps?
Make sure they’re at room temperature and beat them together well. If there are still some little clumps, they’ll smooth out as you start adding the powdered sugar.
About how much frosting does this make? I have to make 2 – 6″ smash cakes for my nepews…would I need to double it?
I live in Scotland, please can you tell me what ‘shortening’ is?
in England you can buy trex white vegetable shortning
Shortening is a fat made from vegetables, and you can basically use it as a substitute for butter anywhere.
Hi! My name is Jo-anne, and I live in the Philippines. Ever since I fell in love with baking, I’ve been in the look out for the best frosting that can actually hold its shape because from where I live, summer seems to be all-year round. I’ve tried every recipe I found in books and online but they all tend to be too sweet and an all butter recipe just doesn’t work; some tends to be coarse and looks dry. It’s a good thing that I found your Red Wine Chocolate recipe on my facebook newsfeed. It lead me to this recipe. And so, all I want to say is thank you!! Now, I can try decorating cakes with this. I might even try it with Calamansi in the future! Salamat, Lindsay:)
Tried this the other day it was amazing! Love the taste I only used it for a 6 inch cake though! I will be making a larger one this weekend. Do you by chance know how many cups this recipe makes so I can plan accordingly? Love your decorating videos by the way! So so helpful!
I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed everything! I’m not sure exactly how much it makes, I’m sorry! It’s usually enough for 12 cupcakes or so, but with cakes it depends on the size. I often double it or so for an 8 inch cake with two layers of filling inside.
Hi,
Do you ever make this frosting ahead of time and put it in the fridge? If so how does it hold up, or is it best made the day you are frosting.
Thanks!
Kristin
Yes, it works great refrigerated. Just let it come back to room temperature for frosting.
I want to make this recipe for some chocolate cupcakes? Will this recipe is good enough and sweet enough for this? Since the Coco powder will be unsweetened.
Yes, just swap out some powdered sugar for cocoa powder and it will be plenty sweet.
I invite you to try my French Buttercream Frosting. I found it in a cook book in the mic 70’s, written by a gal who had a deli in NYC. It has fabulous recipes, some of which I’ve won Blue Ribbons with.
Here’s her recipe:
1 c. butter (not margarine)
1/2 c. shortening (I use Sweetex)
2 t. light corn syrup
1 t. vanilla
2 c. 10X sugar (Domino’s 10X)
1/2 c. cocoa (leave out if you don’t want a chocolate frosting)
2 eggs (her recipe called for 2 eggs, but I only use the whites)
I like to make lemon frosting with lemon extract and lemon zest; orange with orange extract and orange zest, or any flavor you want. Tint with color if desired.
I pasteurize my own eggs, but they can be purchased many places (WalMart)
What is the shelf life of your French buttercream frosting
Anyway I can add strawberry puree to make it a strawberry buttercream frosting ?
Yes, I would check out my recipe for strawberry frosting.
Hi Lindsay! Love love love your blog!
I wonder if I could substitute the milk with baileys, I want to make a baileys buttercream from your vanilla buttercream recipe. Hope you can help.
Thanks <3.
Thanks Erika!
Yes, definitely! The Baileys would work great!
Hi,
I love your blog. Everything looks so amazingly beautiful. I am going to try the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting and was wondering if you can freeze the frosting after frosting the cupcakes. Also, if I make the frosting before I need to frost the cupcakes how do I reconstitute it after it has been in the refrigerator. Hope you can help! LindaM