Whether you’re creating an intricate cake design, filling and frosting a cake of a specific size, or decorating a multitude of cupcakes, it can be overwhelming to estimate just how much buttercream frosting you’ll need for the task. Each of my buttercream recipes yield about 2.5 Cups of frosting, but exactly how far will you get with that amount? The answer depends on so many factors – the size of your cake or amount of cupcakes, the style of frosting finish you’re going for, whether you’re planning on using buttercream as filling between cake layers, and whether you’ll be piping decorations with it (to name just a few).
To make things a little easier, I whipped up some handy charts below to give you a good estimate of how much frosting to make for your bakes.
Will This Chart Work with Any Kind of Frosting?
I wrote this chart with American Buttercream in mind (which is my go-to frosting). If you’re going by volume (not by weight), this chart will work with any kind of frosting – swiss meringue buttercream, italian meringue buttercream, whipped cream frosting, etc. Most frosting recipes will state how much they yield in Cups (aka by volume), so you can base your estimations and scaling off of the chart below regardless of your preferred frosting.
Tips for Scaling Frosting Recipes
Let’s say you need 5 Cups of frosting based on the chart below, and you notice that one batch of the buttercream recipe you’re using yields only 2.5 Cups. How should you proceed?
Working backwards, you’d divide 5 Cups by 2.5 Cups to get your answer: 5/2.5 = 2. In other words, you’ll need 2 batches of your buttercream recipe to have enough for your project. That means you’ll multiply each ingredient in your buttercream recipe by 2 to scale the recipe properly.
If you don’t want to do all that math by hand, I recommend using a recipe scale calculator like this one where you can simply copy/paste your ingredients list and choose the scale amount (in this case, scale by one and one half) to get the correct amount of each ingredient.
I will say that it’s always better to have a little more buttercream than you expected than to not have enough. To prevent that scenario, I recommend rounding up when estimating.
*A Note on Gram Measurements: I didn’t put gram measurements on this chart because different kinds of frosting vary by weight per cup. If you’re using American Buttercream (like most of my recipes), then you can go with the gram measurement of 1 Cup = 215g and scale the recipe from there.
| Round Cakes | ||||
| Size of Cake | Number of Layers | Filling + Crumb Coat | Frosting | Total |
| 4-In | 2 | ½ Cup | ½ Cup | 1 Cup |
| 4-In | 3 | 1 Cup | 1 Cup | 2 Cups |
| 6-In | 2 | 1 ½ Cups | 1 ½ Cups | 3 Cups |
| 6-In | 3 | 2 ½ Cups | 2 ½ Cups | 5 Cups |
| 7-In | 2 | 1 ¾ Cups | 1 ¾ Cups | 3 ½ Cups |
| 7-In | 3 | 2 ¾ Cups | 2 ¾ Cups | 5 ½ Cups |
| 8-In | 2 | 2 Cups | 2 ½ Cups | 4 ½ Cups |
| 8-In | 3 | 3 Cups | 3 Cups | 6 Cups |
| 9-In | 2 | 2 ½ Cups | 2 ½ Cups | 5 Cups |
| 9-In | 3 | 3 ½ Cups | 3 Cups | 6 ½ Cups |
| 10-In | 2 | 3 Cups | 2 ½ Cups | 5 ½ Cups |
| 10-In | 3 | 4 Cups | 3 Cups | 7 Cups |
| 12-In | 2 | 4 ½ Cups | 3 ½ Cups | 8 Cups |
| 12-In | 3 | 5 Cups | 4 ½ Cups | 9 ½ Cups |
| 14-In | 2 | 5 ½ Cups | 6 Cups | 11 ½ Cups |
| 14-In | 3 | 7 Cups | 6 ½ Cups | 13 ½ Cups |
| Other Cake Sizes | ||||
| Square Cakes | Add 1 Cup to the grand total above (or ½ Cup to the filling/crumb coating amount and ½ Cup to the frosting amount) | |||
| 9×13-In | 2.5 Cups | |||
| Buttercream Borders (for 6 or 8 inch cakes) | |
| Type | Total Amount |
| Star Border | 1 Cup |
| Swirl Border | 1 ½ Cups |
| Braided Border | 1 ½ Cups |
| Rope Border | 2 Cups |
| Cupcakes (Per Dozen) | |
| Style of Frosting | Total |
| Iced with a spatula | 1 ½ Cups |
| Piped into a tall swirl | 2 ½ Cups |
| Piped as a rosette | 2 Cups |
I hope that you find this chart and info helpful for your cake planning! Let me know in the comments if you do and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me what you make! I always love to see what you create.
I have to ice 100 cupcakes with a swirl top can you advise how much I need to make the icing?
Hi Donna! That will take about 20 Cups of frosting, or nearly 7 batches of a frosting recipe that yields 3 Cups (like this one): https://sugarandsparrow.com/vanilla-buttercream-recipe/
Thank you SO MUCH! This is exactly the information I have been looking for. I have been needing it broken down like you have where I know the amount of frosting for filling and crumb-coating and then frosting the exterior of the cake.
How much icing is needed for a border on 11″ and 14″ round cakes?
Hi Kerri! It depends on what kind of border you’re doing. I would add one additional Cup of frosting to any of the border styles listed in this post to calculate enough for either of those cake sizes. If you’re wondering about borders for both of those cake sizes together, I would add that additional cup of frosting and then multiply the whole amount by 2. Hope that helps!
Hi, i’m making 44 cupcakes for my birthday. How many cups of frosting will i need? I’m going to be splitting my russian buttercream to make a white and pink rosettes
Hi Hailie! You’ll need a little over 7 Cups of frosting for piping 44 cupcakes with rosettes. Hope that helps!
Hi!! I’m making about 50-60 cupcakes with a swirl frosting for a cupcake decorating workshop for kids. Any idea how much frosting i might need for this? not sure how to do the math. Thank you!
Hi Aisha! I would make 4x this recipe to pipe swirls onto that many cupcakes: https://sugarandsparrow.com/vanilla-buttercream-recipe/
hi there,
Great information. Do you have a printable version for any of your charts?
thanks
Hi Susan! I don’t, but that’s a great idea to add. I’ll work on adding printable charts!
I need a good butter cream icing recipe enough for 2 9 inch cakes…thanks in advance
Hi Nancy! What flavor do you want? Here are all my buttercream recipes, you’ll double each one to get enough to fill and frost a 2-layer 9-inch cake: https://sugarandsparrow.com/category/recipes/frosting/
I’m making individual cupcakes for a birthday party and was wondering what size/ shape nozzle would you recommend for piping a large swirl on top?
Hi Sue! I love using Wilton Tip 4B, 1M, 2D, or 6B for swirls on cupcakes!
I’m making a 7” base Barbie dress cake (for the first time) with a 2 layer 10” cake under it. I want to completely cover both with rosettes. Dress is one color, base another color.
How many batches of your vanilla buttercream will I need?
Hi Denise! I’ve never made a Barbie cake before (sounds fun!) so I’m not entirely sure but if I had to estimate I would say that two batches of vanilla buttercream should be enough to cover both the 7″ dress portion and the 10″ cake portion. If you’re filling the cakes with the buttercream as well, you’ll need one more additional batch. Hope that helps!
Hi, I’m making. 2 layer 7’ round cake and a 2 layer sheet cake 9×13 , how much icing will I. Red for both. I will be doing checkers on both cakes. Thank you
Hi Christen! For two 7 inch round cake layers and a double layer 9×13 sheet cake, I’d make about 9 cups of buttercream, so 3x my vanilla buttercream recipe for filling, frosting, and decorating: https://sugarandsparrow.com/vanilla-buttercream-recipe/
Love your site, so much info that others lack. One question, can I use any basic cake recipe for cupcakes. I’m interested in the Black cake and buttercream ones?
Hi Charlie! Yes, you can use any of my cake recipes for cupcakes (buttercream as well!). Here’s how to make my cake recipes as cupcakes: https://sugarandsparrow.com/convert-cake-recipes-to-cupcakes/
The boarder chart is for what size cake?
Hi Tambi! It’s based on a 6 to 8 inch cake. I’ll add that to the chart!
Thank you! I’m using your guide to fill and frost a wedding cake . Does this chart account for the filling as well as the outside of the cake ? Sorry if I missed that part.
Hi Terri! Yes, the “total” column of the chart includes filling and crumb coat + final coat of frosting. Hope it helps!
How much buttercream do I use for #100 cupcakes? How do I make this much up..
Hi there! According to the chart in this post, you’ll need to make about 7x any of my buttercream recipes for 100 cupcakes. In other words, you’ll need to multiply each ingredient by 7. Hope that helps!
Whitney, Your calculated measurements are terrific! Appreciate you so much.
So happy to help, Donna!
This is such a HUGE help!!! Tysm!!
Yay, Natalie! I’m so happy to help!