A simple, 5 ingredient recipe for Vanilla Frosting. Use it to top off your favorite cake or cupcake recipe. This recipe generously tops 12 cupcakes, modestly covers 24, or will cover an 8″ or 9″ layer cake or 9×13 sheet cake.
Happy Spring! Does it look like Spring where you are, yet? Because yesterday/the first day of “Spring” was also the beginning of the first big snowstorm we’ve had all year.
My car is buried beneath half a foot of snow, Zach is taking a snow day because none of the roads are plowed, and eventually one of us is going to have to break down and actually go outside to shovel out our driveway, so despite what the calendar might say it doesn’t exactly feel Spring-y around here!
Fortunately, snow days make for perfect baking days, and today I plan on baking myself a batch of from-scratch chocolate cupcakes and topping them off with today’s recipe for vanilla frosting.
And sprinkles too, of course.
Today’s recipe is simple to make and is a staple icing recipe that every home baker or cake decorator should have on hand. It’s easily pipeable and does a great job of holding its shape, is easy to customize with different extracts (though I always reach for the vanilla), and does well under fondant.
It’s also incredibly hard to mess up, if your frosting becomes too thin you simply add more sugar, and if it’s too stiff an extra splash of heavy cream or even milk will work. Let’s go over a few frequently asked questions that I get about making vanilla buttercream.
How long can I store vanilla frosting?
You can make vanilla frosting in advance and store it for up to two weeks in the refrigerator. It will firm u when cold, so let it soften at room temperature a bit before piping or spreading on to your cake.
Can I leave vanilla buttercream frosting at room temperature?
Yes! There is heavy cream in this recipe, but it is stabilized by the generous amount of sugar that we are using. You can frost your cake or cupcakes with this frosting and it will be good for 2-3 days at room temperature (it will keep longer in the refrigerator, for about 1-2 weeks).
What goes well with vanilla frosting?
I’ve tried it and loved it on my funfetti cake (check out those colorful decorations — all of them made with this same recipe!), chocolate cake, chocolate cupcakes, and vanilla cake, just to name a few!
I have a new-ish cupcake (pictured above) that I’m excited to share with you on Friday, and I’ll also be showing you how to add the neat colorful swirls to your frosting (it’s easy, you just need a small paintbrush).
Enjoy!
If vanilla buttercream isn’t quite your thing, be sure to check out my less sweet chocolate frosting or cream cheese frosting, instead!
How to Make Vanilla Frosting
Vanilla Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (375 g) powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Beat butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Sprinkle salt over butter and stir again to combine.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Gradually, about ½ cup at a time, add powdered sugar, waiting until each cup is completely mixed before adding more.3 cups (375 g) powdered sugar
- With mixer on medium-low speed, add the heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time. Once ingredients are well incorporated, gradually increase speed to high and beat for about 30 seconds.3 Tablespoons heavy cream
- Add vanilla extract and stir well.1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pipe or spread frosting over cooled cupcakes. Top with sprinkles, if desired. This frosting will be fine at room temperature for 2 days or refrigerated in an airtight container for about a week.
Nutrition
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.
Monica Martin
It’s a great recipe and it tasted good. I’m not a fan of buttercream it seems. Too heavy for me. I’ve been on the hunt for a light whipped kind of frosting. It came together perfectly and the flavor was really good. So, no issues here except preference and that’s a me issue lol.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for the honest review, Monica! You might enjoy our whipped cream frosting, swiss meringue buttercream, or ermine frosting. They are lighter and less sweet 😊
Jason
Loved it so much that I decided to eat it whole.
Sarah
I’m so confused and have no idea what happened but my frosting is soooo runny.. but it tastes great! Not too incredibly sweet. I wish it had set right, totally lost on me as to why mine is so runny. I didn’t even add as much cream as suggested :’(
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this happened, Sarah! Did you make any substitutions or additions? Was your butter too soft? Did you use all of the powdered sugar? These are all things that can cause it to be very runny. 🙁
Kamryn
Can you freeze this icing, and how long for?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes! It would probably stay good in the freezer for several months 🙂
Kamryn
How many cups of frosting does this yield?
Sam
I haven’t measured it out, but it will probably make about 4 cups. 🙂
Nova
Perfect buttercream, but I double the vanilla b/c I love it. I find the texture very smooth and soft (warm home), but you could probably pipe with it too. Use real butter if you can 🙂
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like the recipe, Nova! 😊
Abby
This is my go-to recipe for frosting. It’s perfect!
Al
Why use unsalted butter if you are adding salt anyway?
Sam
Using unsalted butter helps control the salt in the recipe. I have an article on using salted or unsalted butter if you’d like to read more. 🙂
Brianna
Salted butter has more salt than what’s being added in the recipe! Unsalted butter so that way if it’s too sweet you can add some salt to balance it out!
Bea
Love this icing
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
It’s a classic! Thanks for trying our recipe and leaving a review, Bea ❤️
Alicia
I plan to use this frosting a long with the filling from your coconut truffles in between the layers of a dark chocolate cake, the outer frosting will be a chocolate whipped ganache. I may even make the coconut truffles for the top of the cake if I have time.
Joey
I’ve scrolled through about 5 pages of comments but I don’t see what I’m looking for, and I know this is a bit of an old post but crossing my fingers you see this, desperately needing to make this for my kids’ birthday. Thanks so much for the recipe, it sounds delicious~~. By any chance would you know if this would work if I subbed with vegan butter?
Sam
Hi Joey! I’m not familiar with using vegan butter so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out. If it’s really soft it may have difficulty holding shape. If you do try it I would love to know how it turns out. 🙂
Rogina
I Love the recipes you post… this is a late reply but in your opinion to Sam’s or anyone else’s question to let’s say vegan butter, wouldn’t the use of cream of tartar or meringue powder to tighten it up. I know that living in Texas when we have the hot weather any frosting that we made would start to soften so we actually liked the meringue powder better.
Barbara A Beaver
Its awesome and the flavor is great!
Beth
Excellent frosting and so easy to make. I’ll never use vanilla canned frosting again.
Allie
Yummy! I doubled this recipe for on top of Sugar Spun Run’s Birthday Cupcakes — delicious!
I ran out of powdered sugar, so I added some honey for sweetness. Surprisingly, it worked well and added a nice flavor.
trustin
the frosting was really good
Emiline
Perfect. Used it for a birthday cake. Used milk instead of cream. Added a bit more milk to make it thinner and a bit less sweet.
Angie
First time baker. Made homemade chocolate chocolate chip muffins, with this frosting….. super easy and super good! I used a hand mixer and followed directions exactly. Difficult level, zero!
Jodie
Great recipe. I made a few adjustments and here is why:
1) The salted butter and no cream allows for the icing to stay at room temperature for a few days. Yes, I still add the salt and even go as far as to grind it to a powder first.
2)Add half of the salt, taste and see if you want to use the rest being the butter is salted.
3) In place of cream, I use corn syrup. This makes the icing even more smoother and allows for a nice sheen on the icing plus I don’t need to keep it refrigerated for a couple of days.
*Note: salted butter is fine at room temp for several days but don’t do that with unsalted. Enjoy!
Erica B
Unsalted butter is fine on the counter for a few days. I leave mine out all the time without any problem.