Peppermint Buttercream

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This peppermint buttercream will add festive holiday flavor to cakes, cupcakes, sugar cookies, brownies, macarons, and more! It has the perfect amount of peppermint flavor without going overboard, and is so easy to make with a handful of simple ingredients. It’s also the ideal frosting consistency for using as a filling, decorating cakes, and piping onto cupcakes. In this blog post, I’ll show you how to make peppermint buttercream and share all of my favorite cake flavors to pair it with.  

The Perfect Peppermint-Flavored Buttercream

The one and only key to getting the perfect peppermint flavor in buttercream (or any baked good) is to use a small amount. Peppermint extract is really strong, and using too much can quickly make your frosting taste like toothpaste. I’ve tested this recipe many times to ensure that it includes the ideal amount of peppermint extract to make it tasty and festive. 

You can use any pure peppermint extract in this frosting recipe, just so long as it’s peppermint and not just mint extract. Contrary to mint extract which has more of a spearmint flavor, peppermint extract will give you those beautiful candy cane flavor notes. 

Peppermint Buttercream Ingredients & Substitutions

This peppermint buttercream uses my favorite vanilla buttercream as a base, which is an American buttercream recipe that has been slightly tweaked to make it less sweet than your average. Here are the key ingredients that make it delicious: 

• Unsalted butter. This is the base of the buttercream and gives the frosting a rich buttery undertone and velvety smooth texture. If you only have salted butter on hand, you can use that instead and omit the salt at the end of the recipe. And if you want a vegan version of this peppermint buttercream, you can follow this recipe which uses vegan butter sticks, reduce the vanilla amount to 1 teaspoon, and add ½ teaspoon of peppermint extract. 
• Powdered Sugar. This adds stability to the frosting while sweetening. I like to use less powdered sugar than the average American buttercream so that the frosting doesn’t end up cloyingly sweet, but if you’d like it even less sweet you can reduce the powdered sugar amount by up to ½ cup. Just keep in mind that the consistency of the buttercream will be thinner. 
• Peppermint Extract + Vanilla Extract. A small amount (just ½ teaspoon) of peppermint extract is key to creating the perfect peppermint flavor without overdoing it. Adding a little  vanilla extract helps round out the flavor beautifully. 
• Whole Milk. This thins out the buttercream while binding all the ingredients together. I like to use a liquid with lots of fat for this part because it makes the final frosting more velvety smooth, so whole milk or heavy whipping cream are my go-to’s. If you’d rather use a dairy-free option you can substitute this with any milk alternative, but keep in mind that the flavor of the liquid will affect the overall frosting flavor.
• Salt. A pinch of salt helps to balance the sweetness beautifully. 

What Cake Flavors to Pair with Peppermint Buttercream

I already use this peppermint buttercream in my peppermint hot cocoa cake recipe, which is absolutely delicious, but here are some other cake flavors that will pair amazingly well: 

• One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
• Bakery-Style White Cake
• Christmas Funfetti Cake
• Christmas Sugar Cookie Dough Cake
• Chocolate Cupcakes
• Vanilla Cupcakes

For the layer cakes in the list above, keep in mind that this peppermint buttercream recipe makes enough to either fill + crumb coat or frost a triple layer cake. If you want to fill, crumb coat, and decorate the cake you’ll need to double the recipe. 

Let me know what you pair with your peppermint buttercream in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me if you post a photo! I love to see what you create with my recipes.