Blueberry Frosting

This simple, 6-ingredient blueberry frosting is naturally colored and flavored and can be prepared with either fresh or frozen berries. It’s vibrant, flavorful, and comes together easily! Recipe includes a how-to video!

Why You’ll Love This Blueberry Frosting

• Bright, fresh, true blueberry flavor! We’ll skip the vanilla extract today so the berries can really shine.
• Can be made with fresh or frozen blueberries, though I do actually do recommend frozen if fresh aren’t in season.
• No food coloring! That bright, vibrant color is all natural. And both the flavor and color deepen as it sits. It’s so pretty!
• Pairs well with so many cakes and cupcakes. Swap out the lemon frosting on my lemon blueberry cake for this one, or try it on my lemon cake, white cupcakes, or vanilla cake. I’ve also been tempted to smear some over my Lofthouse cookies.

The newest addition to my frosting library, this blueberry frosting is fresh, vibrant, and (naturally) intensely colorful. It’s perfect for spring, summer, or anytime you get your hands on tasty fresh berries (though it works well with frozen berries, too).

Not only does it look absolutely beautiful, but it also pipes like a dream and tastes amazing. I love spreading it on cakes (like my white cake), but it also looks so pretty swirled on top of cupcakes (like my angel food cupcakes).

What You Need

You need just six basic ingredients before you get started. Let’s review:

• Blueberries. The quality and taste of your blueberries makes all the difference in the resulting frosting, so keep that in mind – if your blueberries are bland, your frosting could be too! If it’s blueberry season, I recommend using fresh berries, but if it’s not, use frozen.
• Lemon juice. Just a splash brightens the flavor of this frosting and complements the blueberry flavor so well. You won’t be able to distinctly detect a lemony flavor in the final product.
• Sugar. We’ll cook the blueberries with a tablespoon of granulated sugar, and then we’ll switch to powdered sugar for the frosting itself. Make sure you don’t over-measure your powdered sugar; I recommend doing this just like you would measure flour.
• Butter. Set out your butter ahead of time so it has time to soften. I use unsalted butter and add salt separately. If you use salted butter, you can skip the additional salt.

SAM’S TIP: Do not add vanilla extract! I intentionally left this out so the bright blueberry flavor could shine.

This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Blueberry Frosting

1. Cook the blueberries, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and salt over medium-low heat until softened and juicy. Let the mixture come to a simmer and cook until thickened. Your spatula should leave a trail through the jam if you drag it across the bottom.

2. Pour through a fine mesh strainer, squeezing as much sauce out as you can. You should be left with about ¼ cup of blueberry sauce after cooking (if you have much more than that, your berries may not have reduced enough and you will need to cook them longer or your frosting could break). Let this cool completely before adding it to the buttercream base we’ll be making in the next step…

3. Beat the butter until smooth and lightened in color, then gradually add the powdered sugar.

4. Stir in the blueberry sauce. Work gradually with just one tablespoon of the cooled sauce at a time and mix until completely combined before adding the next. Use as desired, and enjoy!

SAM’S TIP: Like when making my raspberry buttercream, you can accidentally curdle/break your frosting by adding too much blueberry sauce at once. It’s very important to add it slowly! If your frosting does curdle, you can try adding more sugar or placing it in the fridge for a bit before trying to mix again, but unfortunately it’s not a guaranteed fix.

Frequently Asked Questions

I can’t wait to hear how you use this frosting! 🫐

Enjoy!

Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜

Blueberry Frosting

This simple, 6-ingredient blueberry frosting is naturally colored and flavored and can be prepared with either fresh or frozen berries. It's vibrant, flavorful, and comes together easily!

Recipe includes a how-to video!

4.75 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Course: Frosting

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 283kcal

Author: Sam Merritt

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup (140 g) fresh or frozen blueberries
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
• ▢ 3 ½ cups (438 g) powdered sugar

Recommended Equipment

• ▢
  Small saucepan
• ▢
  Strainer
• ▢
  Electric mixer

Instructions

• Combine blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt in a small or medium-sized saucepan and stir well.
  1 cup (140 g) fresh or frozen blueberries, 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, ⅛ teaspoon salt
• Place on stovetop over medium-low heat and stir frequently until the berries are softened and release their juices. Smash the berries with your spatula (or with a potato masher) as they soften.
• Bring mixture to a gentle simmer or slow bubble (don’t bring to a full rolling boil, reduce the stovetop heat if needed) and cook until the mixture is thickened and the spoon leaves trails in the sauce.
• Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a heatproof container. Squeeze as much of the sauce through the strainer as possible and discard the remnants. You should have approximately ¼ cup (65g) of sauce (if you have less that’s fine, but if you have more it may not be reduced enough).
• Allow to cool completely before proceeding with the recipe.
• Place butter in a large mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until light and smooth.
  1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
• Gradually add powdered sugar to the butter, stirring until completely combined.
  3 ½ cups (438 g) powdered sugar
• Add the cooled blueberry sauce by stirring in 1 Tablespoon at a time until completely combined. You should only have about 4 Tablespoons (66g) of sauce or less, if you have more than this your sauce may be thinner so check the consistency at 4 Tablespoons before proceeding. Adding too much sauce could cause the frosting to break.

Notes

Storing

Store unused frosting in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To use, bring to room temperature, stir again, then apply to your cakes or cupcakes as desired. Once prepared it will keep for up to 5 days. Cakes/cupcakes frosted with this frosting should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Amount

This recipe makes approximately 2 ½ cups (675g) of frosting. I find this will generously cover 12-18 cupcakes, modestly cover 24 cupcakes, or cover one 9×13 cake, or one 2-layer 8” or 9” cake.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 283kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 0.3g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 27mg | Potassium: 16mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 479IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 0.1mg

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.

Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!

Related Recipes