How to Make Buttercream

🥘Buttercream Ingredients

This recipe makes enough buttercream (2 cups) for about 12 cupcakes. Gather the following items and ingredients:

• ½ cup butter, softened
• 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

📖Tweaks

With a few simple tweaks, you can change the flavor and color:

• If you don't want to add the vanilla because it darkens the frosting a tad, replace it with the same amount of milk or use a clear vanilla. This will ensure the same consistency.
• Or, change the basic vanilla frosting by using vanilla powder (check out how to make vanilla powder here) instead. It adds nice little specks of vanilla bean to the frosting.
• Add a few drops of red food coloring to make pink frosting. You can use gel or liquid food coloring for different colors.
• Make a different flavor by adding amaretto, mint extract, peanut butter, strawberry flavoring etc.
• Add a bit of cream cheese like I do in my cake pop icing recipe.

🧈Step #1. Cream the Butter

Place the softened butter in a bowl. Beat it on low speed with an electric mixer for about 1 minute or until smooth and fluffy.

🥛Step #2. Add Icing Sugar & Milk

Add the icing sugar, about ½ cup at a time, and continue mixing on low speed until fully combined. Add the milk and vanilla and mix on medium speed until smooth and fluffy (2 to 3 minutes).

🧁Step #3. Your Buttercream is Ready to Use!

You can use the buttercream frosting to spread onto cupcakes, cakes like my grapefruit cake, as a filling etc.

💭Tips

• Make it smooth. Sifting the powdered sugar before you add it, ensures the frosting will be smooth.
• Adjust thickness. You can add adjust the thickness of the buttercream by adding more milk if it is too stiff, or adding more icing sugar if it is too runny.
• Piping consistency. If you plan to use the buttercream frosting for piping, you will want to make sure it is thick. A simple trick on how to make buttercream frosting stiffer is to add less milk to the recipe or more sifted, powdered sugar.
• Adjust sweetness. To make the frosting a little less sweet, try adding a pinch of salt, substituting heavy cream for the milk, or adding in a squeeze of lemon juice.

🌡️Storage

Buttercream frosting can be made in advance and stored for up to a week in the fridge or two months in the freezer. Place the frosting in an airtight container and store it away from foods with strong odors. When you are ready to use it, let the buttercream come up to room temperature.