Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Recipe video above. A classic vanilla buttercream that’s creamy and fluffy, and perfect for frosting cakes, cupcakes, and everything in between! Vanilla is such a classic flavour, this frosting is a terrific all-rounder that goes with almost any type of cake, though I especially love it with my Vanilla Cake and Vanilla Cupcakes.

Makes enough frosting for 2 layer 20 cm / 8" cake (top, sides and inside), top only of slab cake (23 x 33cm / 9 x 13"), 12 cupcakes piped ~ 3.5cm / 1.5" high, 18 cupcakes spread on thickly. Click on servings and slide to scale recipe up or down.

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After a less sweet frosting? Use my Secret Less-Sweet Fluffy Frosting. The texture is exactly like buttercream and it's also 100% smooth (no matter what anyone tells you, buttercream will never, ever be 100% smooth, you will always have faint graininess from icing sugar, it's just the way it is!).

Prep Time10

Course: Frosting

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: Buttercream frosting, vanilla frosting

Servings: cups

Calories: 3790cal

Author: Nagi

Ingredients

250g / 2 sticks unsalted butter , softened
500g / 1 lb soft icing sugar / powdered sugar , SIFTED (Note 1)
3 tsp vanilla extract or upgrade to vanilla bean paste
2 - 4 tbsp milk or cream, to adjust thickness, if needed

Cups - Metric

Instructions

Cream butter - Beat butter with paddle attachment in stand mixer for 3 minutes on high until it changes from yellow to almost white, and it becomes fluffy and creamy. (Note 2)
Add icing sugar / powdered sugar gradually in 3 lots, beating slowly (to avoid a powder storm!) then once mostly incorporated, beat on high for a full 3 minutes until fluffy.
Finish - Add vanilla and milk, then beat for a further 30 seconds. Use milk only if needed to make it lovely and soft but still holds its form (eg for piping). Use immediately to frost on cooled cakes and cupcakes! I especially love vanilla buttercream with a beautiful soft Vanilla Cake (pictured in post) or on Vanilla Cupcakes.

Pro tips

Remove unsightly air bubbles - Use a stick blender! Just blitz it around the bowl and watch the bubbles disappear. :)
Make it pure white - Vanilla buttercream is not pure white because of the butter and vanilla extract (which is brown). To make it pure white (like wedding cake white!) use a white food colouring (like this one). To make it whiter without using colouring, use a pale yellow butter (like Lurpak). You can also use a clear vanilla extract if you can find a good one which I have yet to find (most are imitation essence).

Notes

1. Soft icing sugar - If you're in Australia, be sure to get soft icing sugar not pure icing sugar (buttercream will crust, like royal icing).

2. Paddle attachment is better rather than whisk attachment which can aerate too much and create unsightly bubbles in your frosting. For handheld beaters you needn't worry as they are not as powerful as stand mixers.

3. Frosting too loose - If it becomes too sloppy/soft because the butter was too soft or your kitchen is too warm eg Aussie summer (!), just refrigerate 10 minutes - remove paddle attachment and stick it in the bowl - then whip again to re-fluff.

Exact conversion US v Australia - Experienced bakers will notice that the butter and icing sugar aren’t exact metric to US conversions. That’s intentional, I’ve rounded 250g butter and 500g icing sugar to 8 oz (2 sticks) and 1 lb for ease of use as these are based on standard packet sizes in Australia and the US. The difference is tiny and proportional, so it doesn’t affect the result. (8 oz = 227g, which is ~91% of 250g; 91% of 500g = 455g, very close to 1 lb which is 453.6g. And yes, I do this sort of maths for almost all my recipes!)

Storage - Keep covered in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature and mix on low before using to re-fluff. Frosted cakes - keep in the fridge, covered.

Nutrition is for the whole recipe.

Nutrition