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.
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!