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.
Why is my buttercream grainy? No matter what I do my sugar never melts into the butter
Hi Manisha! It’s hard to know exactly what’s causing the graininess since I am not able to observe your exact method/ingredients used with this recipe. After searching Google a bit, it seems like grainy texture can happen from the following reasons: 1) ingredients aren’t room temperature (usually when they’re too cold), 2) powdered sugar is made from a less-dissolvable source (apparently Cane Sugar is the best source to use), 3) powdered sugar was not sifted, and 4) you didn’t give the mixture enough time to come together at the end. If your ingredients are room temp, you’re using the right powdered sugar, and you’ve sifted it, try mixing it on low for an additional minute or two to give it more time to dissolve. If it’s still grainy, try add a tsp of room temperature milk and continue mixing.
I have the same issue. My buttercream icing is always grainy. I followed all above 4 points you mentioned but it’s still grainy 🙁
Hi Nikki! If it’s still grainy after all four of those suggestions and you haven’t made any substitutions and made sure your ingredients were all room temp, my only recommendation to fix it is to add 1-2 tsp more (room temp) liquid and mix it on low with your stand mixer for 1-2 more minutes. The mixing on low should allow the sugar the time it needs to dissolve.
So I’m doing your smash cake recipe and I also wanted to use this buttercream but it yields a lot of such a small cake. How much do you think I should divide it
Hi Jada! I typically use one batch of this to fill, frost, and decorate a smash cake. If you half the recipe it will be just enough to fill and frost with a thin layer of frosting.
Excellent, I already made the recipe and for my best of all you are the maximum thousand thanks
So happy you love this recipe, Yudirma! Thanks for taking the time to let me know 🙂
Hi! Your vanilla cupcake recipie with your vanilla buttercream recipie is delicous!
Thank you so much, Ale! So happy to hear you love those recipes!
Hi your frosting recipie is AMAZING I have been using it ever since the first day I made it!
Hi!
How much should I double this to have enough frosting to fill & frost a three layer 9” cake? Thank you!
Hi Kacie! Doubling this recipe should be just enough for filling and frosting a three layer 9 inch cake. If you want to do any additional decorating with the frosting (piping, etc) then I recommend making 2.5x the recipe.
Thanks for this recipe. I know it’ll affect it taste-wise, but will using margarine affect this recipe texture-wise?
Hi there! I’m not exactly sure how it will affect the texture to use margarine instead of butter, as I’ve never tried it before. But after a quick Google search it looks like margarine is a suitable substitute for butter in a buttercream recipe! I’d say go for it!
Hi! I have made your recipe before and I had to keep myself from eating it all before I had my cake frosted! I am making a “number 3” cake for my twins’ birthday this weekend using 2 Bundt cakes. I will do a crumb coat and then pipe stars all over it. How many batches would you recommend making? I will be making a few different colors with it so I don’t want to come up short and then have to try to match the colors if I have to make another batch.
Hi Sarah! So happy you love this recipe and your cake sounds so cute!! To be on the safe side, I would double this recipe to ensure you have enough for crumb coating and decorating. You might end up with a little extra, but in my opinion it’s better to have a little more than barely enough 🙂 have fun!
Hi from Australia Whitney! Thanks for all the detailed info. I’m about to try your galaxy cake next week for my 5 year old. I was wondering, do you sugar syrup your cakes before layering/frosting/crumb coating them? Or does that depend in the cake recipe used?
Love your videos, Belinda
Hi Belinda! I don’t typically syrup my cakes before filling and frosting, as they’re already pretty moist and flavorful as-is. It’s something you can totally do with any layer cake though!
I love this buttercream recipe! I hate it when buttercream is too sweet and this one is perfect.
How much of this recipe would I need to fill and frost a 3 or 4 (I haven’t decided yet!) layer 8-inch cake? Would I double the recipe? x
So happy you love this recipe, Elissa! I would make 2.5x the recipe to fill and frost a 3-4 layer 8-inch cake.
I have being searching for a good butter cream recipe, God bless you for this knowledge. I will definitely give it a try.
Excited for you to try this recipe, Precious!
Hi! I love this recipe! I have been searching for one that wasn’t quite so sweet, and this is perfect!! I was wondering if there is a brand of vanilla you love? Right now I use Molina. Thanks again for sharing your delicious recipe!
Hi Aubree! So happy you love this recipe as much as I do! I love using Trader Joe’s Bourbon Vanilla Extract in mine.
Hi, thank you for sharing. If using milk or cream , how safe is it to be left out of fridge? Some cakes will be out on table etc at parties. Thank you
Hi Sue! The sugar content in the frosting actually preserves the small amount of dairy in this recipe, so it’s safe to leave out on a frosted cake for up to 3-4 days.
Hello! I can’t wait to try this recipe! Have you ever added chocolate to this, either melted chocolate or cocoa powder, and if so, how much? I am always looking for a good chocolate American buttercream recipe to go with classic yellow cake.
Thanks!
Hi Bethany! I do have the chocolate version here and it pairs perfectly with yellow cake: https://sugarandsparrow.com/chocolate-buttercream-recipe/ one of my favorite cake flavor combos of all! If you need a good yellow cake recipe, I have one as well: https://sugarandsparrow.com/yellow-cake-recipe/
Hello there! To avoid too many air bubbles in your bc, do you add the sugar at low speed? There seems to be different techniques out there! Th am you!
Hi Andree, I do add the sugar at a low speed and I find that it helps control the amount of air being incorporated into the buttercream. I’ll add that to the instructions!