The perfect creamy, not-too-sweet White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, perfect for covering a cake or piping on cupcakes! Recipe includes a how-to video, and some of my favorite cakes and cupcakes to pair it with!
I’ll be honest, the first time I made white chocolate frosting I expected it to be much, much too sweet. White chocolate is already so sweet on its own and I rarely care for it when there’s real chocolate in the picture (unless it’s tempered with browned butter, sea salt, and nuts like in my white chocolate macadamia nut cookies).
When I set out to make a white chocolate buttercream, I was determined that it would have a distinct white chocolate flavor, without being tooth-achingly sweet. I’ve reduced the sugar, whipped in some cream (for a light and fluffy texture) and voila, here’s a white chocolate frosting that you can actually eat by the spoonful. It may even be less sweet than my classic buttercream frosting!
To give you an idea of how not-overly-sweet it is, this is often my filling of choice when I’m testing my macaron recipe (one of these days I’ll get that perfected and published, I promise!). It’s creamy, smooth, with a silky mouthfeel. It’s softer than my buttercream or cream cheese frosting, closer in consistency to ermine frosting, but as you can see in the photo you can still pipe it onto cupcakes.
Ingredients
- White Chocolate. You can use white chocolate bars (shown in the photo above) or white chocolate chips so long as they are quality/premium chips (I have had bad luck with generic chips and recommend Ghirardelli).
- Butter. I like to use unsalted butter and then add a pinch of salt at the end so that you have complete control over the flavor of the icing.
- Powdered Sugar. I use considerably less powdered sugar in this recipe than I do in some of my others. The chocolate helps to give it a firm texture once it’s cooled completely and whipping a bit of cream in at the end helps give it a fluffy consistency as well.
- Vanilla Extract
- Salt. As mentioned above.
- Whipping Cream. I highly recommend whipping a splash of cream into your frosting at the end. It makes it fluffier, silkier, and light.
As always, this is just an overview of the ingredients that I used. Please scroll down to the printable recipe below for amounts.
Can I Color White Chocolate Buttercream?
Yes! You can add food coloring to this recipe. Stir gel (preferred) or liquid or even powder food coloring after you have finished the recipe. Add as much as is needed to get the desired color. I love using gel food coloring anytime I’m coloring buttercream as a little goes a long way and the colors are so vibrant.
Tips
- Always melt chocolate slowly! If heated too quickly, it’s prone to seizing and will take on a grainy appearance. Heat in short bursts and stir very well in between.
- It’s important that you let your chocolate cool after melting. Set it aside and let it cool (stirring occasionally) until no longer warm to the touch (but not so cool that it’s re-solidified!). If it’s warm, it will melt your butter and leave you with a greasy mess instead of luscious creamy frostiing.
- Use butter that’s close to room temperature, but neither melty/greasy or too chilled. If the butter is cold, it will actually cause some of the chocolate to harden, leaving you with small chocolate clumps.
- I recommend whipping some cream into the frosting, but if you whip it very much you can end up with a frosting that’s almost too airy and full of air bubbles, making it difficult to spread smoothly over your cake. If that happens, just use a spatula to gently fold through the frosting, pressing it against the sides of the bowl and essentially deflating the excess air for a smooth buttercream.
This frosting is great on just about any cake recipe, but I especially love it on my marble cake, white cake, and a super fun cake recipe that I have coming for you later this week. It’s also good (though less traditional) on red velvet cupcakes!
Storing
I generally recommend using this frosting pretty quickly after making it. As it sits, the harden tends to solidify a bit, giving the frosting an almost fudge-like consistency. However, it can be made in advance and stored. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap directly against the surface of the frosting. It will keep at room temperature for a day or in the refrigerator for up to a week. You will likely need to briefly re-whip the frosting before using.
White Chocolate Buttercream Goes Great With:
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Be sure to check out my video in the recipe where I’ll show you exactly how I make these in my own kitchen!
White Chocolate Buttercream
Ingredients
- 6 oz white chocolate¹ chopped into small pieces (170g)
- 1 cup unsalted butter² softened to room temperature (but not so soft that it’s melty/greasy) (226g)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (250g)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Place white chocolate in a small, heat-proof bowl and heat for 30 seconds. Stir very well, then return to microwave and heat in 15-second increments, stirring very well in between, until chocolate is completely smooth and melted.
- Set chocolate aside to cool for at least 15 minutes and no longer warm to the touch (otherwise it will melt the butter and you’ll have a greasy mess).
- While chocolate is cooling, place softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or you may use a large bowl and an electric hand mixer) and beat until creamy and well-whipped.
- With mixer on low-speed, gradually add melted, cooled chocolate and stir well.
- Gradually add powdered sugar , scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl periodically to ensure that all ingredients are well combined.
- Sprinkle in salt and vanilla extract and stir well.
- With mixer on low-speed, gradually add heavy cream to frosting. Gradually increase speed to high and beat for 30-60 seconds or until desired consistency is reached (should be light, creamy, fluffy, and slightly increased in volume). If you beat too much air into the icing and would like a smoother frosting, use a spatula to cut through the batter and work out any air bubbles.
- Pipe or spread frosting onto prepared, cooled baked goods.
Notes
Nutrition
Sally
LOVE your recipes!! I have leftover of this white frosting, can I add melted semi-sweet chocolate to turn it into choc frosting? I thought I’d stay away from cocoa powder & melt choc instead. Thoughts?
Sam
Hi Sally! Honestly I have never thought to try this. It would definitely take some experimenting. The cocoa powder might actually work better, but you’ll be changing ratios and it may take a bit of tweaking to get it just right. If you try it I would love to know how you do it. 🙂
Alexandra Hensler
Hi! will this buttercream be nice and stable enough and hold it’s shape to frost cupcakes? I once tried a chocolate buttercream where i used melted chocolate and it wasn’t stable enough to frost cupcakes plus I live in a very hot country where the temperature is about 28-30C everyday:(
Sam
Hi Alexandra! Make sure you let your chocolate cool enough before adding sugar to it or else it won’t really hold it’s shape very well. Unfortunately in a really warm climate most frostings will struggle to hold their shape, but if you do try it make sure to let that melted chocolate cool first. 🙂
Kerey
Hi Sam. Would this work under fondant?
Sam
Hi Kerey! Honestly I haven’t tried it. It’s similar to a classic buttercream so I think it would. You may want to go a little bit lighter on the cream to make the frosting a little stiffer.
BROOKE ROBBINS
My white chocolate may have cooled too much and i have bits of hard white chocolate in what is otherwise a luxurious frosting…..any way to save it and remelt the chocolate? or should I call it day and start over?
Sam
Hi Brooke! Unfortunately your best bet is to start over. 🙁
mona henson
Can I use chocolate frosting between layers? And white chocolate on out side? Or keep it all the same?
Sam
Hi Mona! I don’t see any reason that wouldn’t work well. 🙂
Holly
Can I store in refrigerator for a day then frost cake following day?
Sam
Hi Holly! Yes you can, see my notes on how to store properly in the post.
Malika
Does it crust at least a little bit (I want to “paint it” with some colored buttercream and I don’t want by brush/pallet knife to poke through it too much). I don’t like the sweetness of American buttercream, and looking for a nice substitute. I also need the frosted cake to stay out for 30min-1hour and I don’t want the “painting” or the frosting itself to melt. Thank you
Sam
Hi Malika! This does crust in a way similar to a classic American Buttercream so if it works for a traditional buttercream it should work here. You will need to let it sit out for a little while to crust. It shouldn’t melt unless it’s really hot and humid where you are. 🙂
Imee
Hi!!! Can i use a milk instead of a heavy cream?
Sam
You can but I would start with less since it’s thinner. 🙂
Candy
This is THE BEST icing…or frosting, whatever you want to call it! It’s smooth and creamy but light and fluffy and not overly sweet. It’s amazing and I’ve now replaced my regular go-to buttercream with this white chocolate buttercream for EVERYTHING I bake. It’s completely perfect in every single way.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Candy! 🙂
Russ Mars
Should I refrigerate cake after frosting or can I leave on counter in covered cake plate overnight?
Sam
Hi Russ! This frosting does not need to be refrigerated if enjoying within several days. 🙂
Lidia
I’ve made this for ty zebra cake. It was my first butteecream. It turned out horrible 🙁 it tasted like butter, was so heavy and yellow. I used scale to measure the ingredients. What could go wrong?
Sam
Hmmm that’s very odd. I wonder if it was the brand of butter you used?
Kenzie
Can you use this frosting for towered cake?
Sam
Absolutely, enjoy! 🙂
Rhonda
Plan to make this for my raspberry filled white cupcakes and sprinkle with small bits of white chocolate for this weekend! Thank you for sharing these wonderful recipes!
Sam
I hope you love it, Rhonda! 🙂
Tracy
can you color this frosting?
Sam
Sure thing! Stir it in at the end. 🙂
Andres
How many cups of frosting does this make
Sam
I haven’t measured it, but it will make enough to cover a 2 layer 8 or 9 inch cake, probably about 4 cups. 🙂