Buttercream Frosting

A simple recipe for American Buttercream Frosting! This recipe is arguably the easiest of the buttercreams. It’s simple with just a few ingredients, 5 minutes of prep, and no eggs required. Great for decorating and can be used under fondant! While I think you’ll have no trouble making it, I’ve included a how-to video below the recipe for those of you who like visual guides!

While there are a lot of different varieties of buttercream frosting out there, American buttercream frosting is probably the one that you are most familiar with. It’s a sweet and simple icing that was the first of its kind that I ever learned to make.

American buttercream is a bit different than my Swiss meringue buttercream recipe that I recently shared in that it:

• Crusts, meaning the exterior becomes firm and almost crisp. This can make it great for decorating. You can add even more sugar to the frosting to make a very stiff icing that’s great for piping into decorative shapes like flowers or roses.
• Is much sweeter but less buttery than Swiss meringue buttercream.
• Does not use eggs
• Is much simpler to make

There are other varieties as well, but American buttercream is the simplest I’ve ever encountered. It’s also quite sweet, and I’ll admit it’s never been my favorite (my favorite will always be my less-sweet but equally pipe-able cream cheese frosting) but it’s a great frosting for beginner bakers and is essentially impossible to mess up! It’s also the frosting melt and I use to drape over my petit fours.

What You Need:

You only need a few ingredients to make classic buttercream frosting.

• Butter. We use unsalted and then add a pinch of salt to best control the flavor. Make sure it’s softened almost to room temperature before you begin.
• Powdered Sugar. Granulated sugar will not work in this recipe. Weigh or measure the sugar the same way you would measure flour (don’t pack it into the measuring cup).
• Vanilla extract. You can also play around with adding other flavors/extracts!
• Salt. Salt deepens the flavor and cuts the otherwise overwhelming sweetness of the icing. Start with ⅛ teaspoon, but taste-test and add more if needed.
• Heavy cream. You may substitute milk instead. The cream helps this buttercream frosting become silky smooth and pipe-able (it will be quite dry before you add the liquid). Whip it into your frosting with your mixer on medium-high speed.
• Optional: Food coloring. If you want to color your frosting, stir in your food coloring at the end. I prefer to use gel food coloring (this is the gel coloring set that I have).

This recipe can be doubled, or even tripled if you have a bowl that’s large enough!

Buttercream frosting is probably the easiest frosting to make so I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with it, but please leave me a comment if you have any questions!

Storing:

If you don’t intend to use your buttercream frosting immediately, cover it tightly with plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container. It will keep for 2 days at room temperature or up to 7 days in the refrigerator. It may also be frozen for up to 3 months. Before using, thaw in the refrigerator (if frozen) and bring to room temperature. You may need to re-whip the frosting with your mixer before using.

As with most frostings, this one does not hold up particularly well to high temperatures.

More Frosting Recipes You Might Like:

• Swiss Meringue Buttercream
• Royal Icing
• Peanut Butter Frosting

Enjoy! Are there any other frosting recipes you’d like me to share?

This buttercream frosting is great on:

• Vanilla Cake
• White Cake
• Funfetti Cake
• Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Cupcakes

Are you more of a visual learner? Check out my YouTube channel where I show you exactly how I make this frosting step-by-step in my own kitchen.

Buttercream Frosting

This American buttercream frosting recipe makes enough to frost one 9x13” sheet cake or one 8” or 9” round 2-layer cake or to generously ice 12 cupcakes (as seen in photos above) or modestly ice 24 cupcakes. This recipe may be doubled or even tripled if you have a mixing bowl that is large enough. This icing is great for decorating and may be used under fondant.

5 from 41 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 (see summary for details)

Calories: 302kcal

Author: Sam Merritt

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
• ▢ 4 cups (500 g) powdered sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon salt add more to taste, as needed
• ▢ 2-4 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk plus more as needed (see "Tips" section in post for substitutes)

Recommended Equipment

• ▢
  Stand mixer (or use an electric hand mixer)
• ▢
  Ateco 848 tip (optional, but what I used to pipe the icing on these cupcakes)

Instructions

• Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a large bowl and an electric mixer) and beat on low-speed until creamy and smooth.
  1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
• Add 1 cups (125g) of powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt and turn mixer to low speed¹ and stir until combined. Slowly add remaining powdered sugar until completely combined. Mixture will likely look very dry.
  4 cups (500 g) powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ⅛ teaspoon salt
• Add heavy cream or milk, one tablespoon at a time. Start with mixer on low-speed and gradually increase speed to medium-high, beating on this speed for several seconds to whip the liquid into the batter and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition. Add additional cream until desired consistency is reached. If you accidentally add too much liquid and make your buttercream too soft, you can usually salvage the icing by adding more powdered sugar
  2-4 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk
• If using food coloring, stir it in here at the end. Gel food coloring is my preference for vibrantly colored icing.
• I recommend piping icing over your cupcakes or frosting your cake immediately. See notes below or in the post on how to store buttercream and use at a later date.

Notes

¹If you’re using a stand mixer, a nice way to combine the sugar and butter without dusting your kitchen with powdered sugar is to cover the mixer with a clean dish towel (see video).

Storing:

If not using immediately, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. Before using allow to come to room temperature, you may need to mix it again to reach proper consistency.

Freezing:

May be frozen in an airtight container for 2-3 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator for 1-2 days then bring to room temperature and re-whip with mixer before using. 

Once you have iced your cake or cupcakes, this icing will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days (unless you are in a very hot/humid environment) or will keep in the refrigerator for a week.

As with most frostings, this recipe is primarily butter and sugar and will not hold up well to high temperatures (ex: being served on a cake outside in the summertime). It can be used under fondant.

Chocolate Version:

See my chocolate buttercream.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/12th of the recipe | Calories: 302kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 28mg | Potassium: 5mg | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 509IU | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 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!