This easy vanilla buttercream recipe is my go-to American buttercream for cakes and cupcakes. It’s rich, creamy, full of vanilla flavor, and less sweet than traditional American buttercream thanks to the perfect balance of butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. It has a smooth, spreadable consistency that’s ideal for filling and frosting layer cakes, topping cupcakes, and piping intricate designs. It also firms up in the refrigerator, making it perfect to use as a frosting base under fondant!
One reader, Iqra, says: “I LOVE this recipe, I have been making buttercream for some time now but I wanted to see if I could make it better, creamier and less sweet. And this recipe was just that! It was so creamy, light, fluffy and the perfect amount of sweetness. Best recipe I have found!” ★★★★★
I’ve tested countless buttercream recipes over the years, and this is the vanilla frosting I come back to again and again. It’s simple enough for beginner bakers but versatile enough for detailed cake decorating, and you can easily adjust the consistency depending on how you plan to use it.
Why You’ll Love This Vanilla Buttercream
- Beginner-Friendly. No cooked sugar, egg whites, or complicated techniques necessary here. This vanilla buttercream comes together in minutes with a stand mixer or hand mixer.
- Less Sweet. This recipe uses less powdered sugar than the average American buttercream and balances the sweetness with salt.
- Perfect for Cake Decorating. The consistency of this buttercream is ideal for filling and frosting layer cakes and decorating cupcakes. You can easily adjust the consistency to make it thinner or thicker depending on what you need it for.
- Strong Vanilla Flavor. You can use vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste here, either way you’ll end up with amazing vanilla flavor.
- Easy to Make Ahead. You can make this vanilla frosting up to two weeks ahead of time stored in the refrigerator, or up to two months ahead if you want to freeze it.
Vanilla Buttercream Ingredients
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 (60g). Just keep in mind that the consistency of the buttercream will be thinner.
- Vanilla. You can use either vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste to flavor the buttercream, and making sure you use a quality brand 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 and Kirkland Signature (from Costco) for vanilla extract, and Nielsen-Massey for vanilla bean paste. If you’re looking for more flavor options, I have all of my frosting recipes here.
- 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.
How to Make Vanilla Buttercream
- Whip the Butter.
- Add the Powdered Sugar
- Add the Vanilla, Milk, and Salt.
- Mix Until Smooth.
How to Make the Right Buttercream Consistency
Depending on what you’re using this vanilla buttercream recipe for, you’ll want to consider the final consistency of the buttercream (in other words, how thick or thin it is). I have a detailed blog post on how to achieve the perfect buttercream consistency if you want additional resources. Here are the 3 types of buttercream consistency and what they’re best used for:
| Buttercream Consistency | Best For | How to Make It |
| Medium Consistency (the recipe as-is) | -Filling and stacking cakes -Crumb coating -Frosting a smooth buttercream finish -Piping a buttercream border -Piping swirls onto cupcakes | Follow the exact recipe below |
| Thin Consistency | -Piping a message with frosting -Buttercream painting -Getting a super smooth final coat of frosting (like what I use in this smooth buttercream hack) | Add one extra tablespoon of whole milk or heavy whipping cream at the end of the recipe |
| Stiff Consistency | -Piping buttercream flowers -Piping intricate designs that need to stand upright against gravity (like ruffles on a lambeth cake) -Piping a really sturdy buttercream dam before filling cakes with a soft filling. | Add extra powdered sugar to the recipe, about 2-3 tablespoons at a time, until the desired consistency is reached |
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.
Vanilla Buttercream Troubleshooting + FAQs
- How much buttercream do I need to make for my cake project? It depends! I made this handy chart to help you calculate how many batches of buttercream to make for your specific cake size.
- How do I make my buttercream whiter? This buttercream is pretty white as-is from whipping the butter for so long, but to get it even more white, you’ll either want to add an icing whitener like AmeriColor Bright White or the tiniest amount of purple food coloring (it helps cancel out yellow hues).
- Do I need to sift the powdered sugar? It’s not absolutely required, but to get the smoothest texture for your buttercream, you’ll want to sift the powdered sugar.
- How do I get rid of air bubbles in my frosting? There are a few techniques! I detail them all in this blog post.
- Why is my buttercream grainy? Your powdered sugar isn’t fully dissolved. Keep mixing on low speed until it’s no longer grainy.
- Why does my buttercream look curdled? The most common reason is adding liquid (like the milk in the recipe) that is cold. This seizes up the butter content and creates a curdled look. To fix it, scoop out about ¼ cup of the buttercream and place it into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat it for 5-10 seconds, until it’s melted but not hot. Then, mix it into the rest of the buttercream to re-emulsify the separated fats and liquids.
- Why is my buttercream too thin? This recipe will end up thinner than usual if you start with butter that is too soft or your kitchen environment is too warm. In either of these cases, refrigerate the whole bowl of buttercream for 15-20 minutes to let the butter re-solidify slightly, then re-mix with your stand mixer on low speed until smooth.
- Why is my buttercream hard to spread? Sometimes after storing buttercream, it can thicken naturally and become hard to spread when you’re frosting a cake. In this case, I recommend re-mixing on low speed with your stand mixer and adding 1-2 teaspoons of room temperature milk until the consistency is silky and easy to spread.
- How do I store buttercream? Place the buttercream in an airtight container and store at room temperature for 1-2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-mix with your stand mixer on low speed until smooth. You can also freeze buttercream in a Ziploc bag for up to 2 months, then thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before bringing it back to room temperature and re-mixing until smooth.
Vanilla Buttercream Video Tutorial
This video shows my vanilla buttercream recipe from start to finish and includes all my best tips for success. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for all my latest recipe videos and cake decorating tutorials!
Cake Recipes to Pair with Vanilla Buttercream
The great thing about vanilla buttercream is that it pairs well with pretty much any cake flavor! Here are a few of my favorite recipes to pair it with:
- Vanilla Cake
- Vanilla Cupcakes
- One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Funfetti Sheet Cake
- Funfetti Cupcakes
I hope this vanilla buttercream recipe becomes your new go-to! Let me know what you think in the comments below (be sure to leave a star rating!) and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me a photo.
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.
Hi Whitney is me, I’m making your buttercream aswell because I’m gonna be using this to ice the cake in which you know is 6 inch and 3 layers so how much do I need like do I double this recipe to frost and pipe on 3 6inch cake layers or is this enough? Thnx
I would double the recipe to fill, frost, and pipe additional details on a cake of that size 🙂
Hi!
I was wondering if I could substitute fresh table cream (18%) instead of whole milk or whipping cream and if so how much would I use? Thank you and I love your YouTube videos! So informative!
Antonietta:)
Hi Antonietta! Thanks so much for the kind words! I’ve never tried that before but I’m sure it would work just fine to sub in an equal amount for the whole milk in this recipe.
Hi Whitney! I am making a 4 tier cake that will be covered in fondant. Would this recipe work for filling the layers and frosting under the fondant? And if yes, which version should I use, thin, medium or thick?
Hi Tammy! This recipe will work for filling and frosting under fondant. I would just use the recipe as-is, no need to alter the consistency. Make sure the frosted cake is nice and chilled before adding the fondant on top! Hope that helps!
Hi…I’m making a taller(5 – 1 inch layers) 6 inch round cake….so I’m guessing will I need 3x the recipe? Or 4? Should I use the basic recipe consistency to fill between the layers, then add extra milk for the thinner consistency you mention for the outside?
Thank you
Hi Jane! For a tall 6 inch round cake I would use 2.5x the recipe. That should be more than enough to fill and frost the cake. The recipe works for filling and frosting as-is, no need to alter the consistency!
I can’t have lactose especially can’t have any thing with whole milk or heavy cream or anything I can have foods wit small amounts of like skim milk but sumtimes get sick from that but what can I do to make it still?
Hi Athena! You can make this dairy free by substituting an equal amount of vegan butter for unsalted butter and an equal amount of dairy-free milk of your choice (I love coconut milk with this recipe). Enjoy!
Hi Whitney,
I followed your smash cake recipe for my niece’s smash cake. My sister asked for an exposed/rustic cake look so I would only need to fill and crumb coat the 3 layer 4″ cakes. Do you think I would have enough buttercream if I halved this recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Stacey! You would totally have enough to fill and frost this cake with a semi-naked finish if you half the recipe.
Hi Whitney,
I am excited to give this icing recipe a go. I am wanting to pipe some stars and rosettes as decoration on to a cake. Once I have filled the cake layers, made a crumb coat and re-iced the cake with the recipe above should I add additional powder sugar to the remaining icing to make it a medium consistency for piping? Do you typically make two different icing batches? One for filling and decorating the cake and another batch for decorating?
Thank you for the tips!
Hi Lauren! I usually do add just a little bit more powdered sugar to the remaining buttercream for decorative piping, but only if the buttercream seems too thin to hold it’s shape when piped. I make one big batch of buttercream for everything and just add additional powdered sugar (literally just mix a little bit in at a time) as needed when I get to the piping part. Hope that helps!
I LOVE this recipe, i tried it out for the first time recently as i have been making buttercream for some time now but i wanted to see if i could make it better, more creamier and less sweet. And this recipe was just that! Best recipe i have found. I have been researching for a long time now, and found it difficult to find a british buttercream recipe i liked, as i’m from london. But i didn’t like them, then a lot of american recipes are just too sweet or have too many ingredients for my liking. After making this and alternating it a little, i used salted butter because i saw another recipe discussing the myth of unsalted butter etc and i’ve always used salted for baking but when using it in buttercream i think it just ruins it for me, so salted butter definitely helped! Also instead of just sifting the icing sugar (powdered sugar) once i did it twice, i never used to sift my buttercream and it sometimes would be grainy also i decided to purchase a better quality icing sugar i think that’s what helped. And i had never thought about adding double cream as usually i’ve seen just milk but these new tips and ingredients really became a game changer. It was so creamy, light, fluffy and the perfect amount of sweetness. I never usually comment but i just had to as i was going to be using it again. So thank you!
I’m so happy to hear you love this recipe, Iqra! I’ll have to try salted butter sometime and see how it tastes!
What happens if use salted butter instead of salted? Will it be too salty? Or should I use salted butter and spent add any salt?
Hi Sara! It will definitely be more salty if you use salted butter, so be sure to omit adding salt at the end if you do so and it should taste fine!
Hi Whitney, I use a very similar ABC recipe and I love it! I always use the whisk attachment and have just recently seen people use the paddle attachment to mix their buttercream instead. What are the pros and cons of using either attachment? Thanks in advance!
Hi there! I’ve never used a whisk attachment for this recipe, and only because I’ve heard it adds extra air into the buttercream. I’m not sure how it actually compares since I’ve always used a paddle attachment, But I also know bakers who swear by the whisk! That’s probably not super helpful but until I do a side by side comparison I won’t know the pros and cons 🙂
Thank you so much this recipe is a winner indeed.
I am grateful for the explanation on the consistency of the buttercream
Greetings from Namibia
Yay, Rachael! It makes me so happy to hear that the recipe was a hit and the blog post was helpful. Thanks for taking the time to let me know and love from Portland!
Hi Whitney, curious if this would be enough for a three layer cake each of an inch
Hi Rahemeen, for a triple layer cake I would double the recipe. Hope that helps!
Hi Whitney!
This was so helpful! Are those burgundy roses? May I ask what gel colouring you used to get them so dark. TIA. Love from Seattle ❤️
Hi Sarh! I used Americolor Burgundy color gel for those and only colored a little bit of buttercream, so I didn’t have to use a whole lot to get that dark color: https://amzn.to/32osiLT
I’m planning on making your sprinkle fault line cake, you wrote there that you need 1.5 batches of buttercream. How many batches total would I need for the entire cake filling, frosting, and the fault line? (I’m making a 3 layer 6 inch cake.) Also can I use thin consistency buttercream for filling my cake or will it spill out the sides? Will my frosting stay good if it’s covered in a bowl in the refrigerator?
Thanks for your recipe!!
Hi there! Two batches of buttercream will be the perfect amount for filling, crumb coating, and replicating this fault line design. The frosting will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, just bring it back to room temperature and rewhip it with your stand mixer before using it on your cake. And as far as consistency goes, I would use the recipe as-is for filling and frosting the cake. That’s the consistency I use all the time. Hope that helps!!
So would that mean that half a batch is enough to crumb coat a 3 layer 6 inch cake? (Because I noticed that you wrote by the fault line cake that you need 1.5 batches in addition to a crumb coated cake)
I just made this with the vegan variation (using the Earth Balance -78% vegetable oil spread- vegan buttery sticks and room temp soy milk). It came out slightly grainy and I think I may run into the same issue when I made buttercream another time. I haven’t frosted the cake but the frosting doesn’t seem to be the right texture. It seems to almost be a bit grainy…??
Hey! Love your website!! I’m trying to make a birthday cake, and this has been so helpful!! I do have a few questions. If I use clear vanilla extract, will this make the buttercream white instead of yellow? Also, can the buttercream be tinted pink(doing two tiers)?
I saw the comment about storing the cake in the refrigerator after it’s frosted, but I’m planning to add a few fondant decorations. I’ve read fondant should not be refrigerated. Any suggestions on this?? Should I wait to add the fondant decorations until it’s reached room temperature again? Or just avoid refrigerating it? I was planning to frost the day before.. Thanks in advance!!
Hi Connie! To answer your questions: 1) This buttercream is already pretty white as-is from whipping the butter for so long, but using clear vanilla extract will make the buttercream even more white. 2) it can be tinted pink with the food color gel of your choice 3) I have stored cakes with fondant decorations in the refrigerator overnight before and they ended up being totally fine, but I know some bakers in more humid states have problems with that. I always refrigerate my cakes after decorating to preserve the details, so that’s what I recommend. Hope that helps!