Classic Vanilla Buttercream
This flavorful Classic Vanilla Buttercream Recipe is one of our favorites! It couldn't be easier to make, and it is so delicious. Keep it in mind the next time you need a flavorful frosting for your cake recipes and buttercream cake designs!
Table of Contents
Why we Love it
There are so many reasons to love this delicious vanilla buttercream! Here are just a few:
- Delicious and SO easy to make
- Perfect for piping
- It can easily be changed up with add-ins, extracts, and an adjustment here and there ;0) - A few examples are our Oreo Buttercream, Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream, Strawberry Buttercream, and Peanut Butter Buttercream!
- Develops a very light crust, which is great for those who use the Viva Paper Towel Method of Smoothing. Also, the Hot Knife Method of smoothing works great with this vanilla buttercream also!
How to Make Vanilla Buttercream
You can find the full, printable recipe card for this vanilla buttercream at the bottom of our post!
This frosting, which is known as an American Buttercream, is a simple combination of softened butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and a splash of milk.
Allow the frosting to mix for a few minutes to reach the best, creamy consistency. If you'd like to thicken the consistency of the frosting, (for piping buttercream roses, etc.) you can add a bit more confectioners sugar.
To thin out the frosting, you can simply add small amounts of milk.
Textured Buttercream
Of course, your frosted cakes don't have to be perfectly smooth. We love textured buttercream as well as the look of piping all over a cake.
Our classic vanilla buttercream frosting is versatile enough for just about any sort of buttercream cake or cupcake design you can think of.
Here are just a few of our free cake tutorials that demonstrate simple texturing and piping techniques: Ridged Buttercream Technique, Buttercream Petal Cake, Cascading Rosettes Cake, and Looped Ribbons of Buttercream.
Piping
If you are interested in learning more about piping borders or different piping techniques, make sure to check out our section of Buttercream Techniques, which features a section on Buttercream Piping.
There, you'll find tutorials on piping with star tips, piping with round tips, piping with ruffle tips, and more! All of these techniques can be done with today's Buttercream Frosting recipe.
Recipe FAQs
Classic Vanilla Buttercream (Crusting Recipe)
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (226g) Should still hold its shape but dent when pressed.
- 5-6 cups confectioners sugar (690g)(You can adjust amount slightly up or down to your liking.)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g) (For whiter frosting, you can use clear imitation vanilla)
- â…“ cup milk or cream (72g) (Adjust amount as needed to reach desired consistency.)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
Instructions
- Cream the softened butter until smooth. Blend in the vanilla.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and most of the milk. Beat at medium speed until the powdered sugar is incorporated.
- Add remaining powdered sugar and milk and mix at medium speed another 3 to 4 minutes scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Then, slow down the mixer to very slow for 1 to 2 minutes. This will help eliminate air pockets in the buttercream. The texture will become very smooth.
- This recipe can be doubled or halved.
- Yields approximately 4 ½ cups of frosting. Enough to frost a two layer 8 or 9 inch cake.
- Can be frozen in air tight container for at least three months . Thaw on countertop.
- If your buttercream is too thin, add more sugar. If the consistency is too thick, add a bit more milk.
Thanks for the quick response. I probably failed to read that note as I was working on this late in the night. In your experience, have you seen one brand of sugar working really well with one recipe of buttercream and failing miserably in another?
I used the same C&H in fluffy-vanilla-buttercream recipe (https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes-tutorials/fluffy-vanilla-buttercream/) and it worked wonderfully in that recipe. Hence my confusion. At some point I was also thinking if it could have been the speed at which I operated the stand mixer? I did run the Stand mixer at 6 for a brief period and then 4. Would 6 be too fast? I don't know :(. Anyhow, I really appreciate you taking time to answer my question! Thank you.
The sugar which i powdered can i use for this recipe..
Hi Aathi, We have never made our own powdered sugar so I'm not sure of the outcome. If you give it a try, please let us know the outcome.
Hi Melissa? Love love love your website. I’m growing a pastry business in NYC and I’m amateur baker although I’m doing for over 15 years I never went to school or anything like that so I find this site very educational and helpful especially for bakers like me that can not afford a pastry school.
I have to make a unicorn cake which has piped flowers on top and side. Was wondering if the buttercream recipe is thick enough to hold the side flowers when it is a room temperature ? Will they stay there whitout falling all over to the bottom ?
The reason why I asked is because I tried the same thing last weekend whit a cream cheese frosting and it didn’t work really well.
Thank you!
Natalia from Brooklyn
Hi Natalia- Thanks for your kind words about our site! We are happy to have you!
Yes, buttercream holds up much better to piping flowers, etc. than cream cheese frosting. Our unicorn cake is a buttercream cake also-- I happened to use a different version of buttercream (which contains some shortening) for that video, but I wouldn't hesitate to use this one either. It's a great recipe. Good luck!!
How many cupcakes will this batch of frosting make if I am going to pipe a swirl around each one all the way to the edges of the cupcake? I have to make 80 of them.
Hi Tina, On a standard size cupcake, using a 2D or 1M piping tip, you should be able to pipe a simple swirl onto 10 cupcakes. Of course, that depends on how tight or high your swirl will be. Since you are going all the way to the edge of the cupcake you probably will not get 10. As you will read in the directions, when frosting cupcakes we often use 5 cups of powdered sugar instead of 6 for a lighter crust on the cupcakes and then the recipe will give you 5 cups instead of 4 1/2 cups of frosting. I would double the recipe to take away the stress of running out.
Help! Help! Help! I think my buttercream has to much salt in it. I had to triple the recipe and I made have put to much salt in it. How do I fix it with out throwing it out. :(. I could kick myself
Hi Claudia- I'm sorry! You could try adding more sugar and milk? Or you could make a half batch (minus the salt) and combine it with what you have already. Good luck!
Hi! Thank you for getting back to me so quickly what I thought was my really salted butter cream frosting. I said I had to triple the frosting for the 10 inch round cake that I was doing but actually I had to quadruple the frosting. I had not mixed it well enough and just overly tired from doing this cake. I got up the next morning And remixed the frosting and it was wonderful. I did your doctor lemon cake and everybody raved about how moist the cake was.
I had to make to 2 10 inch round cakes and did a simple Chambon catch syrup and a raspberry filling catch up. I’m uploading some pictures that I did of the cake. Please remember that I I am just a beginner and thank you for all the things that I’m learning from you.
Hi Claudia! I'm so glad that everything worked out with the frosting and that you got rave reviews on the cake- it looks beautiful! Thanks so much for following up and sharing a photo ;0) Happy baking! xoxo
I need to stop posting things from my phone. Sent the wrong picture and what is a catch Syrup and a raspberry catchup filling. I really need to see what I am writing or rather speaking before I send it out. Just think of me as an old woman and tired after making this cake. I will now upload the correct picture hopefully. At my age you have to have a good sense of humor . Thank you for teaching an old dog new tricks