American Buttercream Frosting

Using only one bowl and four ingredients, you can whip up a batch of this easy vanilla American buttercream frosting in just 10 minutes so try it on your favorite cake or cupcakes today!

AMERICAN BUTTERCREAM 101

American buttercream is  made from creamed butter or shortening and powdered sugar. 

The great thing about American buttercream is that it is so easy. 10 minutes. One bowl. Boom!  Vanilla frosting for cakes, cupcakes, macarons, sugar cookies, and a topping for brownies and bars.

This classic frosting can be flavored an unlimited number of ways.  It main characteristics are how light, fluffy, and sweet it is. It can also get a tad grainy due to the powdered sugar.  This is the frosting we grew up eating at birthday parties and on homemade cupcakes.  

Vanilla Buttercream INGREDIENTS: 

The majority of buttercream frostings as a ratio of 1 cup butter to about 1 pound or 3-4 cups powdered sugar, flavors/extracts, and up to ¼ cup liquid (typically milk or cream):

• Butter:  You can also use high quality shortening or ½ butter ½ shortening. Using shortening can be helpful if the frosting needs to sit out in the heat.  Make sure the butter and shortening are room temperature so they combine easily when mixing. 
• Milk or Cream: This is to thin the frosting so either works fine.
• Powdered Sugar:   Make sure your powdered sugar is free of lumps.
• Vanilla Extract: For vanilla frosting you can also use vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste.  You can also flavor with other extracts. See the section on buttercream flavors for more ideas.
• Salt (optional):  You can add a pinch of salt if using unsalted butter. This can help cut the sweetness.

How to Make Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

1. Add the softened butter to the bowl of a standing mixer or large bowl with a hand held mixer. Whip the butter for 3-5 minutes. This helps with getting the frosting light and fluffy.
2. Turn off the mixer and add the powdered sugar and vanilla. 
3. Start mixing on low speed until the buttercream gets crumbly. Once all the powdered sugar is incorporated turn up the mixer and mix another 2-3 minutes. 
4. Add milk or cream 1/2 tbsp at a time until desired consistency.  Add in any additional flavors and mix ins. Mix another minute.  That’s it!

BUTTERCREAM FLAVORS

Okay friends, this is where it gets fun. Once you have your basic frosting down, there are basically unlimited ways to flavor traditional American Buttercream.

Here are the most common:

Extracts

The easiest way to flavor frosting is to add some extract and call it a day. Vanilla, mint, lemon, maple, almond extract, if you like it, you can add to American buttercream to flavor it! 

The amount of extract will change depending on what type of extract.  For instance you can add much more vanilla extract without overpowering powering a frosting than you can mint. So, look at the directions and start small. You can always add more but you can not take it away. 

Fun flavor to try: Lavender Honey Buttercream – drop vanilla extract to ½ tsp. Then, add in 1 tsp lavender extract and two tablespoons honey to the finished vanilla buttercream and mix another minute until incorporated.  This is a delicious buttercream for macarons. 

Add-Ins

Just as adding extract is easy you can add in pretty much anything you can think of: 

• Lemon Curd or Jam
• Crushed Cookies 
• Candy
• Crushed Nuts
• Mini Chocolate Chips

I recommend ½ to 1 cup of desired mix-in.  The only thing to be aware of when adding mix-ins to your frosting is that things like chocolate chips, candy, and nuts will make the frosting harder to pipe. You’ll need a very large tip like a Wilton 1A  (and even then it might still clog) or make sure the add-ins are chopped up very small. 

Citrus and Fruit

Another easy way to jazz up American buttercream is to you citrus zest and juice in place of the liquid like in this lemon buttercream.  You can also cook down and cool berries or use freeze-dried berries like in this strawberry buttercream recipe. 

TIPS AND TRICKS for Vanilla Buttercream

• Make sure your butter is at room temperature or slightly cooler. If using a mix of butter and shortening, make sure they are both at room temperature so they combine easily.
• Mix the butter for a good 3-4 minutes before and after adding the powdered sugar. Mixing the frosting for so long makes for a very light and fluffy buttercream, and helps cut the graininess of the powdered sugar.
• If your powdered sugar is hard or has lumps, sift it to get a smooth lump-free frosting. 
• Start mixing the powdered sugar on low so it doesn’t spill and make a mess.  You can mix ½ or ⅓ at a time  until it is incorporated. 
• Test the consistency. If the vanilla frosting is too thick add milk or cream 1/2 tbsp at a time and mix until it reaches the desired consistency. If you add too much liquid, add a few more tablespoons of powdered sugar and remix.   
• You can easily color with frosting with food coloring. I recommend gel food coloring because it brighter and more vibrant than the liquid kind. 

STORING BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Like most buttercream frostings, this recipe keeps in the fridge and freezer very well.  It’s so easy to make, I almost always make it the day I’m using it, but it will last 1-2 weeks in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer. When ready to use defrost and let come to room temperature, then remix.  

Make sure it is very tightly wrapped and covered in an airtight container or freezer bag so the butter does not take on flavors from your fridge or freezer.

Common questions and answers

Why is my frosting so powdery when mixing?

Keep Mixing! It will turn to powdery for the for the first minute but it will come together, I promise.

What can I cover with one batch of frosting? 

This is the most common question I get asked about frosting. Unfortunately, it’s hard to say exactly because people prefer different frosting to cake ratios and they pipe and spread frosting differently. 

That being said, here are generalizations for a 3 to 4 cup batch of frosting.  In general one batch of frosting will cover:

• 12 -16 cupcakes with piped frosting like the picture
• 24 cupcakes spreading the frosting with a knife
• 2 layer cake – 6 or 8 inches
• 9 x 13 inch sheet pan cake 

I recommend 1.5 or doubling the recipe if you’re doing a three layer cake, frosting using a turntable, trying to get crisp edges, and/or adding decorative piped frosting around the top and edges. Any decorative piping on a cake will require more frosting.

I’ve found it’s always better to have more frosting and freeze the rest (buttercream freezes really well), then have to make more frosting mid-cake.  This is especially true if you’re coloring your frosting, as the second batch might not be the exact same color as the first.

Can American buttercream and frosted cakes sit out?

Yes, the frosting can sit out at room temperature.  Same with frosted cakes and cupcakes, the frosted desserts can sit out rather than being refrigerated. Putting cake and cupcakes in the fridge can actually dry them out a bit, so keeping the frosted dessert at room temperature for up to a couple days is fine. (Technically, according to cake experts, frosted uncut cakes can stay out up to 4-5 days cut cakes 2-3) and they are stable due the amount of sugar in them.

Just be aware of any other ingredients in the desserts that might need to be refrigerated, such as filling a cake with pastry cream or strawberry filling that would need to be stored in a fridge.  

Also, make sure it’s being stored at a cool temperature so it doesn’t melt or get greasy in the heat. 

Will this frosting crust?

Yes,  American buttercream will form a slight crust as it sits out. 

This frosting is so sweet, can I just cut the sugar?

Sure! American buttercream is a super sweet frosting and it’s totally okay to add less sugar. You can always start with two cups of powdered sugar, then taste it, adding ¼ cup until you get the sweetness you want.  But note, if you do cut the sugar, the frosting will have less volume, be more buttery, and less stable for piping and sitting out. 

If you’re looking for a less sweet frosting, I highly recommend trying Swiss Meringue Buttercream or Ermine Frosting. They have an extra step of heating up egg whites or milk, but Swiss Meringues makes a silky smooth frosting often found on bakery and wedding cakes, and Ermine tasted like a delicious and thicker whipped cream.  They’re very tasty and will really take frosting game to the next level. 

More American Buttercream Recipes

We’ve already went over the basics for how to add flavor to basic vanilla buttercream but here are some fun Partylicious buttercream frosting recipes:

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