I’ve tested a ton of buttercream recipes in my day, but my go-to is a super simple American buttercream recipe that I’ve tweaked to my liking. I’ve used this recipe for frosting countless cakes and cupcakes and I’m a big believer that a good vanilla buttercream is something every baker should have in their recipe box. There’s nothing fancy about the way this recipe is made, but it will certainly taste like you whipped up something special!
My Favorite Buttercream Frosting for Cake Decorating
This vanilla buttercream recipe is technically an American buttercream, which basically means it has a butter base and is stabilized and sweetened with powdered sugar. Most American buttercream recipes use a ton of powdered sugar to give structure to the frosting, but I have tailored this recipe to use less powdered sugar and be less sweet than your average American buttercream. As a result, the vanilla flavor really shines through and it’s the perfect consistency for cake decorating, topping cupcakes, and even creating intricate designs. It also firms up in the refrigerator, making it ideal to use as a base under fondant!
Vanilla Buttercream Key Ingredients & Substitutions
There are just a handful of ingredients you’ll need for this recipe and it’s simple to whip up for people of all skill levels. I’ll explain what role each ingredient plays in the buttercream and any substitutes you can use:
- Unsalted Butter. This is the base of the buttercream and gives the frosting a rich buttery flavor 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 buttercream, you can follow this recipe which uses vegan butter sticks.
- 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.
- Pure Vanilla Extract. This flavors the buttercream, and making sure you use a good quality vanilla extract or paste is one of the secrets to success. You can use any kind of vanilla extract or paste, but my favorite brands are Trader Joe’s Bourbon Vanilla and Costco Pure Vanilla Extract (the price is unbeatable). You can also substitute this ingredient for other extract flavors, just be careful how much you use because some extracts are more potent than others! If you’re looking for more flavor options, I have all of my frosting recipes here.
- Whole Milk or Heavy Whipping Cream. 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 balance the sweetness beautifully.
Vanilla Buttercream Tips for Success
This buttercream is simple for anyone to make, but there are a few things to keep in mind when making, storing, and working with it.
- Room Temperature Ingredients. Be sure to use room temperature ingredients. This is important for ingredients to combine and create a smooth consistency. Over the years I’ve found that cutting corners like adding cold milk will create a curdled look in the final frosting because the temperature hinders the ingredients from coming together smoothly. Not the best look! So, take your ingredients like butter and milk out of the refrigerator for about an hour prior to making the frosting.
- Use the Paddle Attachment on Your Stand Mixer. Also known as the flat beater attachment, the paddle attachment is designed to incorporate just the right amount of air into the buttercream. This makes it easier to make smooth buttercream without a ton of air bubbles.
- Whip the Butter for a Long Time. To achieve the smoothest buttercream that’s also nearly white in color, you’ll want to whip the butter for a long time – about 7 minutes. In this amount of time, the butter should go from yellow to almost white and be extra smooth.
- Then Mix Everything Else on Low Speed. After you whip the butter, it’s important to keep the mixer on low speed any time you’re mixing in the additional ingredients. Even though it will take longer to mix the ingredients, keeping the mixer on low speed helps prevent air bubbles from forming in the buttercream.
- Let the Ingredients Fully Combine. After I mix in the final ingredient (salt) I like to run the mixer on low speed for another minute or two to allow everything to combine fully. This gives the powdered sugar time to dissolve as well, so the buttercream will taste smooth and not grainy.
Here’s a quick video I whipped up to show you my method for making this buttercream recipe and all my tips for success:
I’ve got more recipe videos like this one + some fun cake decorating tutorials on my YouTube channel if you want to see some more! I’m always rolling out new videos, so click the subscribe button while you’re there to ensure you never miss a new one.
Vanilla Buttercream
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 1/2 cups (420g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp whole milk or heavy whipping cream, room temperature
- 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Instructions
- With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the butter on medium-high until it’s creamy and light (almost white) in color. About 7 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add the sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time, scraping down after each addition and making sure each cup is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
- Add vanilla, milk, and salt and mix on low for another minute until fully incorporated.
Notes
- Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
- Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake. To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe.
Tips for the best buttercream consistency
There are three types of consistency for buttercream that you need to know, and each one plays a different role in cake decorating.
Medium Consistency
This is the most versatile of all consistencies. It works perfectly as a filling between layers, crumb coating, frosting a cake (especially if you want a smooth buttercream finish), and even decorating cupcakes with simple piping tips. This buttercream recipe is medium consistency as-is, so it’s super easy to spread smoothly onto cakes. To test and make sure you’ve got a medium consistency going, you should be able to dip your rubber spatula into the buttercream and it will come out with soft peaks and spread easily when you move your finger over it.
Thin Consistency
This is the perfect consistency for painting with buttercream or writing a message on your cake. To achieve it, just add 1-2 additional teaspoons of room temperature milk to thin out the buttercream.
Stiff Consistency
If you’re piping buttercream flowers, especially ones with petals that need to stand upright, you’ll need a stiff consistency. Add an extra 1/2 cup of powdered sugar per batch of the above recipe to achieve this. When you dip your rubber spatula into the frosting, it should come out with stiff peaks, but when you pipe with it, make sure it’s not so thick that you have to put a ton of extra pressure on the bag or clog the piping tip. If you’re running into these problems, fear not! You can tone it down by adding room temperature whole milk, 1 tsp at a time, until it’s just right.
Thank you for sharing with us ! If I want to colour this buttercream when do I put the food coloring ? An if I want to taste it for example with Nutella !? Can I do it ? Love from Greece
Hi Efi! If you want to color this buttercream, first make the buttercream, then add the food color gel to it afterwards. You can certainly add Nutella or any other flavorings, but the amounts are going to vary. I do have a recipe for Nutella buttercream here: https://sugarandsparrow.com/pretzel-nutella-cake-recipe/
Hi Whitney! I am baking a cake next week that is 3 layers and 6 inches round. How much of this recipe should I use?
Hi Sophie! I always double this recipe for a three layer 6 inch cake.
I finally succeeded a buttercream perfectly thanks to this recipe. Thank you so much for such a great recipe and instructions. My cake has been stacked and crumb coated with my first batch and I cant wait to make my second batch and using it to make a camo cake.
So happy you love this recipe, Samanatha! That totally makes my day. Thanks for letting me know and good luck on your camo cake!
Does this method work with Swiss or Italian buttercream as well so long as the consistency is correct or does it require the crusting that simple buttercream has?
Hi Amanda. Depends on which method you’re talking about. If it’s filling and frosting a cake, Swiss and Italian buttercreams work just fine. I’m not sure about creating buttercream flowers with either of those buttercreams though. The American buttercream crusts and dries firm, making it easy to work with buttercream flowers. Not sure if Swiss or Italian would do the same.
Hi Whitney! I just finished making this frosting. One quick question… if I’m on a low carb diet can I eat the entire bowl and not worry about my diet? Bahaha!! Just kidding. I crack myself up! It’s a great, easy recipe, love it!
Haha! I’m so happy you love this recipe, Lori!
Hi Whitney!
I’m looking to use this recipe to make some buttercream for a birthday cake, and I was wondering what brand/kind of butter you use? I’ve been doing a lot of research and I’ve heard a lot about European butter & high fat butter. Do you recommend this for this recipe? Is there a specific kind of butter you think is best for this specific recipe?
Hi Abby! I have never tried European/high fat butter before, I always just get mine at Costco (It’s classified as American butter). After doing a little research on European butter, I’m sure it will work just fine in this recipe if you want to use it. I’ve read that it has a tangier taste (which should be counteracted fine with the sugar in this recipe) and yellower hue, so you might end up with a yellower buttercream as a result. Just some things to consider. Let me know if you try it, I’m curious now!
Very well described. Thank you ! What do you suggest if we live in a cold county and the butter has to sit overnight on the counter to come to room temperature? I don’t use microwave. So what’s the best method ?
Thank you in advance.
Hi there! You only really need about 1-2 hours for butter to come to room temp (which should be about 65 degrees), but leaving it out overnight is fine. You can also cut the butter into smaller pieces and it will reach room temp even quicker.
Another question, is it true that colors set better when you add white food coloring and then the color that you want the cake to be ? Been wanting to know this for a while. Thank
You!!!
Adding whitener will just give you a pure white base (as opposed to yellow or off white), so when you add the food color gels, the color ends up being more pure. This buttercream ends up being pretty white as-is (from whipping the butter for so long), so I’ve never had to really add additional whitener to achieve rich colors with it.
First of all, I love you! I have a question, is this buttercream ok to put your white chocolate ganache on?(drip cake) and another question, can I add concentrated oil flavor to the buttercream, for example, strawberry oil flavor? Should
I still add the vanilla extract? Thanks !
Hi Alejandra! You can definitely do a white chocolate ganache drip cake over this buttercream (I do all the time!). Just make sure the buttercream cake is chilled before dripping with the room temp ganache. I’ve never added concentrated oil to buttercream, but if they’re made for flavoring I would add just a little bit at a time until you get the desired taste. I would still add the vanilla extract if it’s a complimentary flavor to the one you want to add.
Hi, I was just wondering how much buttercream I would need to make for a semi-naked cake with four layers?
Thank you so much!!
Hi there! For a 6 or 8 inch four-layer cake, I would make 1.5 batches of this vanilla buttercream recipe. That will be enough to fill the layers and frost them in a semi-naked finish.
Hello Whitney,
Thank you so much for sharing all of your talents.
I tried your medium consistency vanilla buttercream to frost cupcakes. However, I am so slow at frosting that by the time I finish frosting five cupcakes, my hands have heated up the rest of the frosting in the piping bag making the frosting very melty and aesthetically unpleasing. So, I tried adding less to the bag, refrigerated it, whipped it up, and then frosted but then I get these bad ruffley edges for the rosettes. PLEASE HELP. I can’t seem to get the temperature right to frost.
Hi Sam, I have a few tricks for that because it’s happened to me before! Prepare one piping bag by fitting it with the piping tip. Then, fill a second piping bag with the frosting, snip off the end, and place it inside the piping bag with the piping tip. This will help prevent the frosting inside from heating up too quickly. Also, try running your hands under cold water and drying them off before piping. This will slow down the process of your hands getting too hot. Between those two things, I think you can buy yourself lots of extra time for piping those cupcakes!
Hi Whitney! Can i use 1/2 cup margarine and 1/2 cup shortening?
Hi Roneth! I’ve never tried this recipe with margarine, but I have tried it with half butter and half shortening (which works great!). I’d say give it a try, but I can’t recommend it confidently since I don’t know how it will turn out with margarine.
I’ve used stick margarine instead of unsalted butter. DO NOT used Country Crock or any whipped margarine. It’s always better with real butter. I generally use half butter and half Crisco because it’s more stable. For decorating I sub all Crisco.
How much buttercream you use for a cake? To decorate it
Hi Alia! It depends on the size of the cake. For a three-layer 6 inch cake (the most common size I make), I double this vanilla buttercream recipe.
Do you have a butter brand preference?
Hi Daniela! I don’t really have a butter preference, I just buy unsalted butter in bulk from Costco (their brand).
Interesting! I have not bought the Costco butter because it says sweet cream and I thought that was different. Did you use Costco butter for your vanilla cake too?
Hi, could you explain what Tbsp mean? I cant find it in the dictionary 🙂
Hi Kasia! Tbsp = tablespoon.