5 from 42 votes

Buttercream Frosting

Name: Buttercream Frosting
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1 cup salted butter (softened (see note)); 4 cups powdered sugar; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 2-4 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk (plus more as needed (see "Tips" section in post for substitutes))

By Sam MerrittUpdated Sep 18, 2025

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118 Comments

Servings: 12 (see summary for details)

10 mins

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Perfect for beginner bakers, this simple American buttercream frosting is an easy, basic frosting recipe that works on any cake and tastes amazing. Just a few ingredients (no eggs!) and only 10 minutes to make, every baker should keep this one in their back pocket! This frosting pipes beautifully and you can even use it under fondant. Recipe includes a how-to video!

Head-on view of a cupcake frosted with buttercream frosting and sprinkles.

Classic American Buttercream

While there are a lot of different varieties of buttercream frosting out there, American buttercream is probably the one you’re most familiar with. It’s a sweet and simple icing that every baker should know how to make, and usually the first one most cake decorators learn.

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.

5 Things to Know About Buttercream

Great for decorating: Buttercream crusts, meaning the exterior becomes firm and almost crisp. 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.
Very sweet: Much sweeter than a whipped cream frosting or ermine frosting. If you prefer less-sweet frostings, try one of those or go for my Swiss meringue buttercream instead.
Colors well: I recommend gel food coloring for the most vibrant results with the least amount of food coloring.
Customizable flavor: You can give this frosting pretty much any flavor by using your favorite extract; I include a few of my favorites below!
Does NOT hold up to heat, like most frosting recipes. I have yet to find one that can withstand the heat during a mid-summer cookout!

Classic American Buttercream
5 Things to Know About Buttercream
Ingredients
How to Make Buttercream Frosting
Frequently Asked Questions
Pair Your Buttercream Frosting With:
Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Ingredients

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

Salted butter. I have recently switched from using unsalted butter to salted butter in my frostings. During my many, intensive 😅 recipe testing sessions, I’ve found that for many recipes that aren’t being baked (dishes where you can taste as you go), salted butter sometimes works better. This is the case for most frostings. Make sure it’s softened almost to room temperature before you begin. Only have unsalted? No worries, I have notes on what to do in the recipe card (add a pinch of salt!).
Powdered sugar. Also known as 10x sugar, icing sugar, or confectioner’s sugar. Weigh or measure this the same way you would measure flour (don’t pack it into the measuring cup).
Vanilla extract. Clear vanilla has a more artificial flavor but will give you an almost pure white color compared to real vanilla extract. You can also play around with adding other flavors/extracts! Almond, peppermint, and coconut are a few of my favorites (or you can add a bit of concentrated coffee for a coffee frosting). Keep in mind some extracts are more potent than others, so start with less and add more as needed (taste-test!).
Heavy cream. You may substitute milk instead. Cream helps this 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.

Remember, 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!

SAM’S TIP: If you only have unsalted butter, just use that and add ⅛ teaspoon of salt. Taste test, then add more salt as needed (I wouldn’t imagine you’d need more than 1/4 teaspoon total!). I don’t recommend leaving out the salt entirely if you are using unsalted butter — the frosting will be too sweet.

How to Make Buttercream Frosting

While I used my stand mixer for the in-process pictures in this post, it’s completely fine to use an electric hand mixer, instead. This is actually what I use when I make the frosting in my video (in the recipe card).

Close-up view of a bowl of frosting after being stirred with a paddle attachment.

Beat the softened butter until it’s smooth and creamy, then add the vanilla (and salt if you are using unsalted butter). Gradually add the powdered sugar, about a cup at a time; keep your mixer on a low speed while you do this so you don’t send powdered sugar flying all over your kitchen (or yourself!).

When you’re done, the powdered sugar should be completely incorporated, but the mixture will look pretty dry (shown in the above photo)–this is normal. We’ll fix that in the next step!

Close-up view of fluffy buttercream frosting after whipping in heavy cream.

Add a splash (about a tablespoon) of cream and slowly increase the mixer speed to medium high. Keep adding more cream, about a tablespoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency. Keep in mind the more cream you add, the softer your frosting will be.

Add any food coloring you’d like to use, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and give your frosting another good mix. Use as desired, or cover and store (instructions below) until ready to use.

SAM’S TIP: This recipe doubles or even triples easily, as long as you have a bowl that’s large enough!

Cupcakes topped with large swirls of buttercream frosting.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much frosting does this recipe make?

This recipe makes roughly 3 cups of frosting. This is enough to frost a 9×13″ sheet cake, an 8″ or 9″ two-layer cake, or 24 cupcakes (unless you frost them like I did in my photos, then you’d only have enough for 12 cupcakes).

Can I add cocoa powder to make chocolate buttercream frosting?

I actually have a separate recipe for an amazing chocolate buttercream frosting! See also my favorite chocolate frosting, which is a chocolate buttercream made with melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder.

Does buttercream frosting need to be refrigerated?

No, this frosting can sit at room temperature for up to two days; however, as with most frostings, buttercream does not hold up to high temperatures. It will absolutely melt if you keep it in a warm kitchen or outdoors on a hot summer day.

How do I color this frosting?

If you want to color your frosting, simply stir in some food coloring at the end. I prefer to use gel food coloring (this is the gel coloring set that I have), but regular liquid food coloring or even powder food coloring will work.

Cupcakes topped with piped American buttercream swirls and sprinkles.

Pair Your Buttercream Frosting With:

Funfetti Cake from Scratch

The Best White Cake Recipe

The Best Vanilla Cake Recipe

Birthday Cupcakes

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!

Enjoy!

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5 from 42 votes

Buttercream Frosting

A classic American buttercream frosting that works well for frosting cakes and cupcakes. This frosting will crust and works well for frosting, piping, buttercream dams, and will work nicely under fondant.

Prep: 10

Total: 10

Servings: (see summary for details)

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Equipment

Ingredients

▢ 1 cup (226 g) salted butter, softened (see note)
▢ 4 cups (500 g) powdered sugar
▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
▢ 2-4 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk, plus more as needed (see "Tips" section in post for substitutes)

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) salted butter
Add 1 cups (125g) of powdered sugar and vanilla extract and, with mixer on low speed, stir until combined. Gradually add remaining powdered sugar until completely combined. Mixture will likely look very dry, but all sugar should be absorbed.
4 cups (500 g) powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
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

Yield

This American buttercream frosting recipe makes nearly 3 cups of frosting. This is typically enough to frost one 9×13” 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.

Butter

When I first wrote this recipe, I used unsalted butter and added 1/8 teaspoon of salt (when adding the vanilla). I now prefer to use salted butter and find the results are even better, but if you only have unsalted butter on hand you may add 1/8-1/4 teaspoon table salt, as needed.

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

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this? Leave a comment below!

This recipe was originally published in 2020, I’ve updated the post to use salted instead of unsalted butter (see my post for more info on why this change was made) and added a new video.