How To Make Buttercream Frosting
Learn how to make buttercream frosting with this easy tutorial. This is the BEST recipe for homemade buttercream, it pipes perfectly, and makes a great base for other frosting flavors too!
Today we’re covering how to make buttercream frosting. Actually, we’re covering just how EASY it is to make your own frosting right at home. If you’ve been buying store-bought, you’ll want to ditch it after seeing just how easy it is to make your own.
I originally published this recipe in January of 2017, but decided it was finally time to update it with better instructions and more information. In today’s post, I’m breaking down everything you need to know about how to make the best buttercream frosting.
This recipe also makes a great base for so many different flavor variations. The possibilities are really endless, but I’ve included four different variations for you to try!
Recipe Ingredients
This easy buttercream frosting uses just 5 ingredients – butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt. Here’s a simple overview of each ingredient:
- Butter: I use unsalted butter in all of my recipes because the amount of salt in salted butter can vary quite a bit between different brands. By using unsalted butter, you control the amount of salt in your recipe. Make sure to use actual butter too and not a butter substitute like margarine.
- Powdered Sugar: Also known as confectioners sugar or icing sugar, this helps to thicken and sweeten the frosting. It’s best to sift the powdered sugar beforehand, but if I’m being honest I usually skip the extra step.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream work best in this recipe. You can replace it with milk, but keep in mind that the frosting won’t be quite as creamy.
- Vanilla Extract: This adds a little bit of flavor to the frosting. I recommend using pure vanilla extract for the best flavor. You can even use different extracts like mint, almond, lemon, etc.
- Salt: This helps to balance out the sweetness of the frosting. I stick with just a tiny pinch of table salt, you don’t need very much at all!
How To Make Buttercream Frosting
To start, set your butter out ahead of time so that it can soften. This will ensure that the frosting is smooth and creamy. You will need two sticks of unsalted butter, which is equal to 1 cup or 230 grams.
Beat the butter with a mixer for about 1 minute, just until it’s nice and smooth. You can either use a handheld mixer or stand mixer for this recipe, either one works fine!
Next, you’ll mix in the powdered sugar. I typically only use 3 cups of powdered sugar for a batch of this frosting. Some recipes call for quite a bit more powdered sugar, but I’ve found that 3 cups is all you really need. Feel free to sift the powdered sugar, but as I mentioned earlier, I usually skip this step.
Note: When you first start mixing the powdered sugar with the butter, mix it on low speed so you don’t end up throwing it all over the place. You may also mix the powdered sugar in 1 cup at a time to make it easier.
Once the butter and powdered sugar are mixed together, mix in the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. If needed, stop and scrape down the sides of your bowl and mix again to make sure everything is well combined.
Easy, right? At this point, you can go ahead and use this frosting to pipe onto cupcakes or decorate a cake. Or you can store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
Recipe Variations
The best thing about this recipe is that you can change it up to make different flavors of frosting. I’ve included 4 different variations below, but keep in mind that you can do so much more with this recipe.
- Vanilla: If I’m just making plain vanilla buttercream frosting to pipe on cupcakes or frost a cake, I like to add an additional teaspoon of vanilla extract to amp up the vanilla flavor.
- Chocolate: Sift 1/2 cup (40 grams) of unsweetened cocoa powder, then mix into the frosting base until well combined. Add 1 to 2 extra tablespoons of heavy cream if needed for a smoother, creamier frosting. If you prefer your frosting sweeter, mix in an additional 1/2 to 1 cup of powdered sugar.
- Caramel: Mix in 1/3 to 1/2 cup of homemade or store-bought caramel sauce. For a salted caramel frosting, you can use salted caramel and omit the salt in the recipe.
- Strawberry: Add a 1-ounce bag of freeze dried strawberries to a blender or food processor and process until the berries are crushed into a fine powder. Mix the freeze dried strawberry powder into the frosting until well combined.
Storage & Freezing Instructions
This frosting can be made 1 to 2 days in advance. While it’s not necessary to refrigerate it, I do recommend covering it tightly and storing it in the refrigerator so it stays fresh longer. When you are ready to use it, bring it to room temperature, and mix well before frosting cupcakes or a cake.
This will also freeze well for up to 3 months in a freezer bag. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature and mix well before using it.
Baking Tips
- You can add food coloring to this recipe if you prefer. If using liquid food coloring, I recommend using just a few drops as it can thin out the frosting. For a darker color, gel food coloring is a great option!
- This recipe makes about 2 and 1/2 cups of frosting, which is enough to generously frost a batch of 12 to 14 cupcakes. If you prefer less frosting, you can cut the recipe in half. This recipe will also make enough to frost a 9×13 cake or lightly frost an 8 or 9-inch layer cake. If you prefer more frosting for decorating, then I recommend multiplying the recipe by 1.5.
- You can find my full tutorial for how to prepare your piping bag and frost cupcakes here.
Different Ways To Use This Frosting
Here are a few of my favorite cupcake recipes that you can use with this frosting:
Video Tutorial
How To Make Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup (230 grams) unsalted butter (softened)
- 3 cups (360 grams) powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons (30 to 45 ml) heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Tiny pinch of salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the butter until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed at first, then increase to medium speed and continue mixing for 1 to 2 minutes or until fully combined.
- Add the heavy cream (start with 2 tablespoons and add a little more if needed), vanilla extract, and salt and continue mixing on medium speed until everything is well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Use the frosting to pipe onto cupcakes or frost a cake or cover tightly and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.
Notes
- Vanilla: For a vanilla buttercream frosting, I like to add an additional teaspoon of vanilla extract to amp up the vanilla flavor.
- Chocolate: Sift 1/2 cup (40 grams) of unsweetened cocoa powder and mix it into the frosting base until well combined. Add 1 to 2 extra tablespoons of heavy cream if needed for a smoother, creamier frosting. For a sweeter frosting, mix in an additional 1/2 to 1 cup (60 to 120 grams) of powdered sugar.
- Caramel: Mix in 1/3 to 1/2 cup of homemade or store-bought caramel sauce. For a salted caramel frosting, you can use salted caramel and omit the salt in the recipe.
- Strawberry: Add a 1-ounce bag of freeze dried strawberries to a blender or food processor and process until the berries are crushed into a fine powder. Mix the freeze dried strawberry powder into the frosting base until well combined.
I froze a fair amount of buttercream frosting a year ago. We are almost at birthday time again, and I was wondering if I could use it again. Should I reuse? If not, what do folks who freeze wedding cakes for a year do? Should it not be eaten?
I typically only freeze frosting or baked goods for up to 3 months. I would use your best judgment on whether or not it’s still good to use.
Is the frosting supposed to have a shaving cream texture? I’d like for it to be more firm for decorating, what do you recommend?
The texture will be thicker than shaving cream. Did you make it and it was too soft? If so, you can use more powdered sugar and less heavy cream/milk.
Love the recipe but it doesn’t seem to like the gel coloring. Tried adding more powdered sugar to thicken it up but didn’t really help. Any suggestions?
Did it thin out the frosting? If you used gel food coloring it shouldn’t thin it out very much unless you happened to use quite a bit.
Amazing recipe, it came out great as cake frosting and cupcake decoration. Thank you!
I just saw the baking tips. Haha! Thank you for being prepared for that question!
No worries, Kris! I hope you enjoy the frosting!
Would this make just enough to frost a cake? Would I need to make extra for decorating?
OMG!!! Best recipe ever!!!!
I made the strawberry version of this frosting yesterday (uncertain as I was about the freeze-dried strawberries) and it turned out wonderfully! I mean, it was fantastic! Thanks so much for this recipe!!!
Hi Danielle!
I accidentally added 1 tbs of vanilla extract instead of 1 tsp and now it is too sweet. How can I even it out and making it less sweet.
You could make another batch without vanilla and mix it with the batch you made. If you have too much frosting, you can always freeze it for later.
This recipe seems extremely amazing, thank you so much for this!
So, uh, I am a beginner when it comes to baking (and therefore, also when making frosting), and I don’t have an electric mixer. If I were to whisk the butter manually, would that need any additional ingredients or requirements to make the butter of the same texture that it would be of when done with an electric mixer?
You shouldn’t need to make any adjustments to the recipe. I would just make sure your butter is soft enough so that it’s easy to mix with the powdered sugar.
Hi hi –
I am reading this and want to make sure I understand it:
“In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth.”
Does this mean I can use a hand mixer? Is that what you mean by “using an electric mixer”?
Thank you.
Yes, that’s what I mean. A hand mixer works just fine!
If you use 150g butter how much sugar will you need?
About 2 cups (240 grams).
Once you put the icing on a cake does the cake need to be refrigerated? Or can it sit at room temperature for a few days?
It’s fine to leave it at room temperature for a day or two. I do prefer to refrigerate my frosted cakes, then bring to room temperature before serving so they stay fresh longer.
could i use salted butter or will that make it too salty
As long as your butter doesn’t have a lot of salt in it that would be fine.
There is a restaurant here that uses butter cream frosting on cookies. I adore them because the icing is not hard. Would it be best to leave frosted cookies out for sometime so frosting will harden a bit and I can decorate cookies? I don’t want it so soft that I can’t stack gently.
It would be fine to leave them out so that the frosting will harden a bit.
I used this recipe for the marbled look frosting. When I heated it as recommended in the instructions the frosting seemed to separate some. Is this normal or should I do something different?
I’m not quite sure what you’re referring to? There’s not a marbled frosting and I don’t state to heat the frosting in the instructions? Are you referring to another recipe?
1/4 c of Smuckers PB also make an amazing frosting. I whipped it like crazy. Soooo good.
Hi! Does the buttercream frosting stiffen up or dry out a little so that it doesn’t mess up when the slightest thing touches it or if it gets placed against something else? Or does it stay as cream texture {ex shaving cream) even when sitting out for a while? Thanks!
It will dry out slightly to the touch if you let the cupcakes sit at room temperature, but you do still need to be careful.
Hi, Danielle
My buttercream comes out grainy and sticks in the nozzles. if you rub some between your fingers it feels gritty. Why? what can I do to stop this. Can your buttercream be used to cover and decorate novelty cakes successfully?
Hi, Avril! Are you making sure to use powdered sugar? If so, you could try super fine powdered sugar and see if that helps.
hi !! how many cups does this make roughly ? tysm 🙂
About 2 and 1/2 cups.
Excellent! Just made the basic vanilla one and used it to pipe over a cake for my 1 year old. Also appreciate the fact that is not super sweet. Thank you!
Can I use for decorating sugar cookies? and if so, what size tip would you use for this recipe?
Yes, absolutely! Just keep in mind that it won’t harden like sugar cookie icing, so you won’t really be able to stack them. You can use any kind of piping tip, but a smaller one may work better. If you’re looking for an icing that hardens, I have a sugar cookie icing recipe here.
Can I use regular whipping cream instead of heavy whipping cream and it’ll turn out the same?
That would be fine for this recipe.
Can I substitute heavy cream used for frosting to water?
Using water instead of heavy cream?
I would recommend using milk instead of water.
Hi,
Instead of powdered sugar can I use confectioners sugar?? Will it be okay??
Yes, they are the same.
Have you ever added more heavy cream to get a more whipped like icing ? I want to try but dont want to waste ingredients lol
I haven’t tried it. You could possibly whip some heavy whipping cream separately and fold it in, but I’m not sure how much you would need to use.
Thank you , ill try doing that with a small batch and let you know how it turned out 🙂
Hi,
New to buttercream frosting, how long can I leave it in room temperature before decorating on cake.
I recommend refrigerating it until you’re ready to frost your cake. Just make sure to allow time for it to come to room temperature.
I adapted the strawberry recipe to peaches and it was delicious!! Thank you!
How many cupcakes does one batch of frosting cover
If you do a taller swirl, it will cover 12 to 14 cupcakes.
This is my fave buttercream ever!! I have a question…does this buttercream require refrigeration? I’m wanting to use this in my cottage food business but They’re strict on butter use. Has this ever been lab tested do you know? Trying to save time where I can I’m getting my license??
It’s okay at room temperature for a little while, but I do prefer to keep it refrigerated. I would use your best judgement.
Hi
I’m a newbie in baking but i have a question to ask
Wen u wanna ice a cake with a butter cream icing are u going to add another type of frosting in the first round before adding the the final layer or u will use dat same icing for both layers?
Hi, Deborah! Do you mean a crumb coat? If so, I just use this same icing and apply a thin layer around the cake to catch any crumbs, refrigerate it for 20 to 30 minutes, then apply the final layer of frosting.