A staple in any baker’s kitchen, vanilla buttercream frosting is deliciously soft, creamy, and sweet. My favorite recipe for American vanilla buttercream is simple to make and is easily piped onto cakes and cupcakes for a truly memorable dessert.
Finally! A completely separate post for the most common recipe in any baker’s repertoire: vanilla buttercream frosting. This is my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe. There’s nothing fancy, crazy, or complicated about it, but the flavor and texture will certainly taste like you added something special.
But guess what? You didn’t. It’s our little secret.
How to Make American Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
American vanilla buttercream is incredibly simple and much easier than, say, Swiss meringue buttercream. From mixing bowl to decorating cupcakes in less than 10 minutes! Here’s how to make it:
- Beat butter until creamy. Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature before beginning. Use a hand or stand mixer to beat until smooth and creamy.
- Add sugar, cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until these ingredients are incorporated, then bump up the mixer to medium-high speed. At this point, you can add more confectioners’ sugar if the frosting is too thin or a splash of heavy cream if it’s too thick.
- Taste and salt. Add a pinch of salt to offset the sweetness. Trust me on this one!
Buttercream Frosting Ingredients
Buttercream ingredients hardly differ between recipes, but the ratio of ingredients does vary. I’m here to tell you that this careful buttercream formula works EVERY time—my recipe is perfection.
- Butter: We can’t have buttercream without butter. Though salted is fine, I recommend using unsalted butter so you can control the added salt. Whichever you use, make sure you are using room temperature butter.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: Sweetens vanilla buttercream and adds stability and pipe-ability to the frosting.
- Heavy Cream: Though whole milk or half-and-half are perfectly acceptable, use heavy cream for maximum creaminess and richness.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Adds that glorious vanilla flavor. And if you use homemade vanilla extract, even better.
- Salt: Offsets the sweetness and adds that little something extra.
This recipe also serves as the jumping point for strawberry buttercream frosting and the cinnamon-swirl frosting from snickerdoodle cupcakes.
For something lighter and less sweet, I recommend this whipped frosting.
Decorating with Buttercream Frosting
The word “creamy” doesn’t even do this stuff justice. But even though it’s supremely creamy, this vanilla buttercream holds its shape beautifully. It’s perfect for piping even the most complicated and intricate designs. When decorating cakes and cupcakes, I gravitate towards the following 5 piping tips. Each creates a completely different look, so that’s why it’s a great collection if you’re just starting out. And these tips won’t break the bank—they’re each pretty inexpensive.
- Wilton 1M (Rose) – a classic piping tip and the easy buttercream rose is a staple decoration. This same tip can also produce a decoration that resembles soft serve ice cream.
- Wilton 8B – one of my all-time favorites.
- Ateco 849 – it’s a pretty wide piping tip. You can make a rose, a soft-serve swirl, or a super easy ruffled look.
- Wilton 12 small round – since it doesn’t have any detailed edges, I love using this tip for silky creamy frostings such as salted caramel frosting and cream cheese frosting.
- Ateco 808 large round – it’s also a round tip, but it’s much larger. Its decoration looks like a big fluffy cloud!
Want to see how to decorate cupcakes? Here’s my how to use piping tips video. And here is how we use this frosting to decorate easy Halloween cupcakes!
How to Rid Vanilla Buttercream of Air Bubbles
Over-whipping vanilla buttercream creates air bubbles. The taste is no different, but the buttercream is no longer smooth and velvety. Here’s how to get rid of air bubbles in your frosting:
Ditch the mixer. Grab a wooden or metal spoon and begin stirring the buttercream by hand. Mash the frosting up against the side of the bowl to “pop” the bubbles. Do this until most of the air bubbles pop, about 1–2 minutes. This trick requires a lot of arm muscle!
Yes, absolutely! You can add various extracts, in addition to the vanilla extract. If doing so, I recommend reducing the vanilla extract to 1 teaspoon. Extracts you can add include 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract, 1/2 teaspoon maple extract, 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract, 1/2 teaspoon orange extract, or 1/4 teaspoon almond extract. Taste the buttercream, and, if desired, beat in an extra splash of extract. Instead of adding extracts, you can keep the vanilla extract as 2 teaspoons, and beat in 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. You could also try this Lemon Buttercream, Chocolate Buttercream, Chai Spice Buttercream, or White Chocolate Buttercream.
Yes, this is American-style buttercream and it’s sweet. If you’re looking for a less-sweet option, try this Whipped Frosting or Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
There are 2 options. You can freeze the buttercream for up to 3 months, and those detailed instructions are in the recipe card below. You can also make it up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate it. Remove from the refrigerator and use a mixer to beat it with a splash of room-temperature heavy cream, half-and-half, or milk to help make it creamy and smooth again.
You can keep the buttercream white or tint it with food coloring. To color it, beat in a drop of gel food coloring. (Here is my favorite brand.) I recommend gel food coloring instead of liquid food coloring because liquid can throw off the consistency. For lighter tints, I recommend using the tip of a toothpick to add color, rather than squeezing a whole drop into the bowl of frosting.
Buttercream frosting is typically fine at room temperature for up to 1 day. After that, it’s best to refrigerate it. That said, do what you feel comfortable with; if your kitchen is particularly warm, you may want to refrigerate it on day 1.
Ways to Use Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
I’ve used this vanilla buttercream more times than I can even fathom, but I love it most paired with chocolate cupcakes or vanilla cupcakes. If you scale it up (slightly) you can use it to frost a layered cake, like I do with my white cake recipe (use this how to assemble a layer cake post as a guide). If you add slightly more heavy cream, you can use this as the base for whipped buttercream, as I recommend with my vanilla sheet cake. It also tastes delicious with:
- Lemon Cupcakes
- Confetti Cupcakes
- Vanilla Cake
- Soft Cakey Sugar Cookies
- Brown Sugar Butterscotch Cupcakes
- Checkerboard Cake
- Sugar Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Piñata Cupcakes
- Sugar Cookie Cake
By the way, if you make my homemade vanilla extract, this buttercream tastes even more fantastic. 🙂
Print
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2.5 cups
- Category: Frosting
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is my favorite vanilla buttercream. It’s the perfect vanilla frosting that’s simple, creamy and smooth and tastes unbelievable on vanilla cupcakes!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 – 5 cups (480-600g) confectioners’ sugar (see note)
- 1/4 cup (60ml) heavy cream, half-and-half, or whole milk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add 4 and 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, the heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and beat for 2 full minutes. Taste. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. I always add 1/8 teaspoon.
- Adjust if needed: You can control the consistency at this point—add up to 1/2 cup more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin or more heavy cream if frosting is too thick (add only 1 Tablespoon at a time, beat together, then taste and add more if desired).
- Use immediately or cover tightly and store for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing, thaw in the refrigerator then beat the frosting on medium speed for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. After thawing or refrigerating, beating in a splash of heavy cream or milk will help thin the frosting out again, if needed.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then beat the frosting on medium speed for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. After thawing or refrigerating, beating in a splash of room temperature heavy cream, half-and-half, or milk will help thin the frosting out again, if needed.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer)
- Quantity: This recipe is enough to frost 12-16 cupcakes or a thin layer on a 9×13 inch quarter sheet cake. Follow the ratios written in this white cake for a two layer cake, or for a three layer cake use the ratios in this confetti cake.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: If your confectioners’ sugar is particularly lumpy, I recommend sifting it 1-2x before measuring and using.
- Heavy Cream: I love using heavy cream for the creamiest consistency. You can use half-and-half or whole milk instead if needed. The lower the fat, the less creamy your buttercream will be. Whichever you use, make sure it’s at room temperature. Otherwise your frosting could separate or appear grainy.
- Decorating Tips: Be sure to check out my post on how to use piping tips (with video tutorial!), and my recommendations for essential cake baking & decorating tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Since this recipe uses heavy cream…will the cupcakes need to be refrigerated after decorating?
Hi Lin, we find the frosted cupcakes are okay to keep at room temperature for about 24 hours, but after that we recommend refrigerating. Although you can certainly refrigerate right away and enjoy the cupcakes cold or take them out a bit before serving to bring them back to room temperature. Whatever you are most comfortable with!
Made my stepsons 4 tier wedding cake…2 strawberry (one was anniversary layer) , 1 chocolate and 1 white. This was foolproof and delicious with each flavor. Tons of compliments. Thanks so much!
Great recipe. Very easy. A useful bit of info for any of your lazy bakers out there… A 2 pound bag of confectioners sugar turns out to have about 8 cups in it. So if you are making double this recipe, you can pretty much put in one bag without measuring, then add a cup or two depending on how you want the buttercream to be.
Hi Sally! Would this be a good recipe to add gel food coloring? My daughter wants an orange birthday cake this weekend and I am not very well versed in food coloring yet! Thank you!
Hi Abby, You can use food coloring (we do use and recommend gel food coloring) with this frosting – we do it all the time!
Thank you for the super fast response! Thanks so much!!
Good morning! This is my go-to recipe now! I used to use shortening but this flavor is unbeatable!
I do have a question. I am doing a semi-naked cake for a small wedding. Would it be best to chill after frosting? Or will the condensation ruin the cake as it comes to room temp the day of?
Hi Nikki, this frosting is okay on a cake at room temperature for about 24 hours, but for anything longer we’d recommend storing it in the refrigerator until serving. So glad you enjoy this buttercream!
PERFECT!! Sally, you are a rock star! Thank you so much for this recipe! I used it on the Chocolate cupcakes with this frosting you recommended! DELICIOUS!!
I loved this recipe so much! It’s so simple and delicious that a kid could make it!
I have used this recipe in my cakes, cupcakes, and sometimes, it’s so good, I have a small taste test! Even a kid could make this! It’s so delicious and easy!
Perfect, perfect, perfect! My new go-to recipe. Delicious & easy to work with.
This recipe is great! It turned out beautifully! I did use a butter called European blend from the Chef’s Store because the butter was so expensive. I think it is a butter margarine blend. I was doing some research for an upcoming wedding cake. Once the bubbles were out it piped like a dream! I am planning on using this recipe for the wedding cake!
Perfectly piped details on my tiered cake
This vanilla buttercream was soooo good! It was super easy to make, and delicious. I frosted vanilla cupcakes with this buttercream. Perfect recipe!
Super easy to make and minimal mess!
This recipe was easy and delicious i used less sugar and it still came out Great. Thank you Sally.
Just made this again for probably the 20th time. It’s my go to frosting for everything and so easy. Everyone loves it and not too sweet! I can’t imagine anyone having a problem with it if they follow the recipe. I would truly call it foolproof! Thanks for all the great recipes Sally. I’m having a cupcake baking weekend with only your recipes!
My husband says this is the best buttercream he has ever had!
I love your recipes, Sally. I am now also addicted to baking because of you
Is this recipe good to use as a crumb coat?
Hi Keiairre, yes, you can use this buttercream for a crumb coat.
I absolutely adore this recipe! It was my first time making buttercream from scratch and the final product looks superb. I took Sally’s advice and replaced the beater with my spatula instead. It ended up being smooth, creamy and absolutely fantastic. Room temperature is definitely key.
This was the first recipe from this website that was a real fail for us. It was way too sweet, and salt couldn’t save it.! And then it melted in the car on the cupcakes on the way to the party. The whole reason I was doing the buttercream frosting instead of the whipped cream is cuz I was afraid the whipped cream would melt. Would have much preferred the whipped cream or a cream cheese based frosting. This was yuck. I used it on the confetti cupcakes, which were just okay. People were eating the cupcakes and throwing the frosting in the trash. Very embarrassing and sad.
I made this recipe for the first time today, along with the vanilla cupcakes, and was delighted with the results! Following the directions and making sure to use room temperature ingredients makes a huge difference!
Is this firm enough to hold decorative flowers piped on a cake? I know it’s delicious but don’t want the decorations to droop on a June day . Thanks!
Absolutely! You could also replace half the butter with shortening for an even stiffer piping consistency.
Do you have any suggestions for making the frosting the day before and piping after it has been in the refrigerator? Thanks!
Hi Becky! If the frosting has been in the refrigerator overnight, you can beat it on medium speed for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. Beating in a splash of heavy cream or milk will help thin the frosting out again, if needed.
YAS! MY GO TO RECIPE FOR BUTTERCREAM!!!♡︎
DO NOT MAKE THIS RECIPE MINE ENDED UP BAD I COULDN’T PIPE IT WITHOUT IT MELTING
You may need to adjust how much cream vs powdered sugar you use. If it’s too thin then you’ll struggle with piping so you’ll want to add more powdered sugar (that’s why she gives a range in the ingredient list). Temperatures affect how much you need to add so you want to check the consistency before you put the buttercream into a piping bag to use. If your hands are warm it’ll also melt the icing while you’re trying to pipe it because it’ll absorb the heat from your hands. Give the recipe another try. It really is delicious! With baking you have to be able to adapt to all the different factors that can affect your recipe.
I made this and it turned out wonderfully maybe something wasn’t quite right with your ingredients . This was the best icing recipe I’ve made that I would recommend to anyone 🙂
The BEST BUTTER CREAM ICING I have ever made . Thank you it’s a keeper
Hi Sally! I can’t wait to try this recipe. After piping, how long can the cupcakes stay at room temperature for before they need to go in the fridge? Many thanks!
Hi Bon, We typically recommend that cupcakes can be made ahead 1 day in advance, covered, and stored at room temperature. After that it’s best to store them covered in the fridge. Enjoy!
This recipe is amazing! I will not use any other buttercream recipes other than Sally’s. (I use several different kinds of hers) All of the flavors are on point and so delicious! They are my go to buttercream recipes for sure! I’m actually making 6 different types of cupcakes this weekend and 6 different frostings. All Sally’s recipes of course!
I’ve used this frosting many times and it is delicious! I was wondering if I could replace part of the vanilla extract with coconut extract and/or the heavy cream with canned coconut milk to use with your coconut cake. I’m planning to make it for a birthday and my grandfather prefers buttercream to cream cheese frosting. Thanks!
Hi Jessica, you sure can! Use canned coconut milk instead of milk and add 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract.
Thank you so much!
I have been too intimidated to try to make frosting but this was easy! The frosting turned out great and I used it as the mix in for my cake pops, and had plenty leftover for snacking on.
This was a perfect frosting! Thank you, Sally.