This delicious Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting is crusting recipe that is perfect for cake decorating! This American Buttercream is similar to our Classic Vanilla Buttercream recipe, however, it has a lighter, fluffier texture due to the shortening in the recipe.
This fluffy frosting pipes and crusts beautifully. Because it is a crusting recipe, it works great with the Viva Paper Towel method of smoothing as mentioned here: Leopard Print Buttercream (using the Viva Paper Towel Method).
The shortening in this recipe makes it a bit lighter in color as well as more resistant to heat, but still has a nice flavor from the butter in the recipe.
If heat is more of a concern, you could switch to an all shortening (no butter) frosting recipe like this one: High Ratio Frosting. All frostings will melt if the weather is hot enough, but shortening certainly is more resistant than butter.
If you are looking for a crusting frosting that does not contain any shortening, we love our Classic Vanilla Buttercream recipe also. You can find it here!: Classic Vanilla Buttercream.
** Important note about the sugar: We’ve had great results with Domino’s confectioners sugar and US Sugar (we buy ours from Costco). Some brands of confectioners sugar don’t work as well with buttercream frosting recipes. If a package doesn’t say pure cane sugar, it contains beet sugar which is more likely to give you a grainy outcome. In addition to that, we’ve noticed that even some brands that say “Pure Cane Sugar” will give a grainy consistency. So frustrating! One example is Dixie Crystals (although it used to work great for us a few years ago.) Something has changed…it’s a mystery. Anyway, this recipe should not be grainy, and so if it is, experiment with a different brand of confectioners sugar.
Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. confectioners' sugar 910 g
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) (113 g ) unsalted butter softened (soften on countertop rather than microwave for best results)
- 1 1/2 cups solid vegetable shortening (such as Crisco or Trex) 286 g. or 10 oz. by weight. *** If using hi ratio shortening, see below)
- 2 Tablespoons clear vanilla extract 24 g
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring (if you are leaving out the butter and using all shortening)
- 1/4 teaspoons lemon or almond extract 1 g (OPTIONAL )
- 1/4 cup milk ( 57 g) any milk is fine but I like milk with higher fat content. You could substitute water too (See below)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt to cut the sweetness. We use popcorn salt because of its fine grain. If using table salt, you can dissolve it in the milk before adding.
Directions
- Cream butter, shortening , salt and extracts until creamy and smooth.
- Add powdered sugar and milk. Mix thoroughly on medium speed for approximately 8 minutes. For the last two minutes decrease the mixing speed to VERY SLOW ( number 2 speed on a KitchenAid) until creamy and smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally during the mixing process.
- ***If I use a high ratio shortening (such as CK or Sweetex brand) I decrease the shortening amount to 1 1/4 cups (236 g.) and increase the milk, 1/4 cup plus 2 to 3 Tablespoons milk or enough to make it the consistency you like.
- ***I used to always use water for this recipe, but I switched to milk for flavor & also because when you use a higher fat milk for your liquid, the buttercream still has a nice crust to it, but it doesn't crust quite so quickly or so hard as if you use water.
- **Makes about 6 cups of frosting-- you can half it, or freeze the leftovers if you don't need this much! (One cup of frosting frosts about 12 cupcakes with a simple swirl using a 2D tip)
Hi Terri, The amount is before sifting. However, sometimes when opening a new plastic bag of confectioners sugar it will not need sifting. The amount of confectioners sugar given in the recipe will vary, you may need a bit more or less depending on where you live and the humidity.
I weigh the powdered sugar then sift
BeBe and Jenny, thank you both very much!! I LOVE this site!!!!!!??
This sounds delicious! Will I be able to pipe “monster fur” with this recipe? I plan to use the grass tip for one cake and star tip 18 or 21 for the fur on the second cake. Will this be stiff enough to hold up? Thanks!
Hi Gloria, Yes, it will be stiff enough for your piping. The stiffness will vary due to the heat and humidity in your area. If it is not stiff enough, just add more powdered sugar until it is the consistency you need.
I have a question. My icing gets greay while on the cake after a day or so and I ont refrigerate due to drying out. so is there something I’m doing wrong?
I meant greasy. lol
Will this icing be snow white in color? If not, would adding some Americolor bright white gel paste help? Thanks
Hi Deborah, It does look white, but is not perfectly white because it has one stick of butter. It would be fine to add Americolor bright white if you would like to.
Hi! I used this recipe as frosting for my daughter’s birthday cake, wondering if you can help me troubleshoot as to why when I tried piping rosettes it literally fell off the cake? At one point half the cake of rosettes fell off. I ended up mixing an all butter-buttercream and it eventually stayed on the cake. I want to use this recipe as it tasted good and the colour was a nice white for a wedding cake I’m going to be making soon.
Thanks!
Hi Alexina, I’m sorry that you had trouble with the rosettes falling off! Were you piping rosettes all over the cake? Next time I would crumb coat the cake and immediately start your piping. This will help the rosettes to attach a bit better than if you were trying to pipe onto a fully crusted crumb coat. If this wasn’t your situation, then it could be that the frosting was a little too stiff to properly attach (you could just add a bit more liquid). Or, finally, it could be that the rosettes were attaching partially to the rosettes beneath it rather than to the cake itself and the weight eventually caused sliding. I hope that this helps!
Thanks for the reply! I think it was a combination of those you mentioned of crumb coating and too stiff. Yea the whole bottom tier was covered in rosettes. I didn’t apply the rosettes right away once I crumb coated, I wasn’t sure if it needed time to ‘set.’ I will definitely do this next time. I’m not sure if I read it here or somewhere else but to apply this recipe of crusting buttercream to a room temperature cake, that if it’s cool the buttercream will not crust like it’s supposed to? Can you please confirm this?
Thanks so much!
Hi Alexina,
A crusting buttercream takes forever to crust if applied to a cold cake due to condensation. This doesn’t really matter unless you are planning to do the Viva paper towel method of smoothing which only works if the buttercream has crusted.
As a side note, you can settle your filled, unfrosted tiers before doing the crumb coat. (I usually wrap the unfrosted tier in plastic wrap and place a book on top to apply a steady (but not crushing) pressure for a few hours. Then you can apply the crumb coat and final coat to the cake.
Let me know if you have any more questions!
Thank you! I haven’t used this buttercream as a filling yet but wondering if it will still have that slight crust to it if used as a filling. You mentioned before to use a little less powdered sugar if I wanted it to have less of a crust if using a a filling.
Thanks!
No, a crusting buttercream doesn’t form a crust when used as a filling since it’s not exposed to the air (and the crust is so thin that even if it did form you wouldn’t notice). You can use less powdered sugar for a frosting that crusts less…not so much for the filling but if you are doing cupcakes, you may prefer a softer frosting. It’s just personal preference.
Thank you! I’m curious if you have a non crusting buttercream that is made with shortening and butter so that it’s still more white than an all butter- buttercream? Or maybe just use less sugar with this recipe? If so how much less sugar would you recommend?
Thanks a million
Is it safe to leave cake out if using this frosting
Hi Sylvia, Yes, it can be left out. It can be left out approximately 3 days unless you are in a very hot, humid climate. After that amount of time it begins to have an “off” taste.
Hi Sylvia can I add cream cheese and make it a cream cheese crusting frosting? Thank you.
Hi Sylvia, This is a Crusting Cream Cheese recipe from one of our members that you might like, Crusting Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butted
8 oz. cream cheese – slightly softened
1 Tablespoon clear Vanilla Extract
2 lbs. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
In the mixer combine the shortening, butter, salt and cream cheese
Add vanilla
Gradually add powdered sugar
Mix until combined
Once cooled in the fridge can you paint a watercolor picture on this icing?
Hi Samantha, you can paint on this buttercream after it has crusted using a very light touch. I haven’t experimented with painting on the cake when it is cold. If you’d like to try it, you could experiment with this by frosting a plate, chilling, and painting to make sure that condensation will not be an issue for you.
(There’s a Tulip Cake in our member cake video section where I painted tulips all over the buttercream if you’d like to see!) link to mycakeschool.com
Hi, is there a nice crusting recipe using a coconut crisco and/or dairy and soy free butter and also a non dairy milk? I have a child allergic to soy and dairy.
Hi Jennifer, I am sorry but we do not have experience with a coconut shortening. There is a Spectrum shortening that has coconut oil, I am not sure of the other ingredients but you might want to do a Google search on it. You can use water in place of milk in a buttercream recipe. The buttercream will crust more quickly if using water. Good luck.
Can you tell me if you can use Swiss Buttercream for the Rainbow Cake that you did the free video for ? I love Swiss Buttercream and have used it a lot, but not in the way this cake was made and I do want to make it for my daughters birthday it is so colorful and I love the cake rainbow topper with the clouds thank goodness for your free blog recipes and demonstrations, really love this site. But, unfortunately I cannot afford to enroll in the Cake School just yet. I so enjoy learning what I can from your free videos on the blog. Your a wonderful instructor and so very clear and so things slowly for beginners and explaining all the steps as you go is also very helpful. Thank you so much , hope to become a student soon. ..
Has anyone else noticed in the ingredients that there is one listed as 1/2 teaspoon but teaspoon of what isn’t put on there. Now I’m assuming since you begin talking about popcorn salt that this is suppose to be 1/2 teaspoon salt but the actual ingredient isn’t listed in the ingredients.
Hi Pamela, Yes, it should read salt. Thanks for letting us know, I have made the correction.
I just made this recipe with the hi ratio shortening and it really is delicious and fluffy! I wish you would add how to store and for how long in fridge or freezer to the instruction part. I feel like I spend so much time reading thru the comments to find how long this will keep.
My question is…today is sunday and will be frosting my cakes on friday. Should I keep this in freezer till Thursday or should I keep it in the fridge? How long will this keep in freezer and in fridge.
Thanks!
Ansa
Hi Ansa, If the butter and milk used in the recipe are not near their expiration date, it will be fine to keep the frosting in the refrigerator. We have frozen frosting for 2 months with no problem. Whether you refrigerated or freeze, once it comes to room temperature you will need to stir or remix to fluff it up a bit before frosting your cake.
Hi, How many batches of this icing will I need to frost a 2 layer 8″ cake?
Hi Gloria, The recipe makes 6 cups frosting. You need approximately 4 cups to frost a 2 layer 8 inch cake. The recipe will give you extra frosting for any decorative piping you might want to do. I want to let you know that on the home page of the site, you will see the Member Resources Heading on the right side of the screen. Click on Select a Page and you will find the Wilton Serving Chart that gives batter and frosting amounts. This will help you get a quick answer in the future.
My icing is crumbling before I get it all applied. Does it need more liquid?
Hello, I have two questions, did you use a flat beater or the whisk beater for this recipe? Also, my son is allergic to nuts. Can I use the almond extract?
Hi Debbie, We use the flat beater for this recipe. The almond extract is an optional ingredient so you can leave it out with no problem.