The Best Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
This is The Best Vanilla Buttercream Frosting! It’s rich and creamy, and is super easy to whip up. It pipes beautifully, and is the perfect way to finish off all of your cakes and cupcakes!
We celebrated our daughter’s fifth birthday last week and even as I type this, I find myself still sitting here in a state of denial!
It seems like just yesterday I was sharing a tutorial on how to make her 1st birthday smash cake. But in reality, it was actually FOUR years ago!!!
When people say “the days are long but the years are short,” that is the absolute truth. I sure wish time would slow down with these babies of mine.
Our princess’s request for her birthday cake was a “pink cake with a ballerina on top.”
I was able to provide the pink frosting just fine, but after realizing my construction efforts are pretty subpar, I turned to Etsy for a ballerina cake topper. Which was GORGEOUS by the way! If you’re interested, this is the one I ordered.
As for the frosting, I made this one (and dyed it pink). This is my go-to frosting recipe, and in my opinion, is The BEST Vanilla Buttercream Frosting ever!
I’ve been making it for AGES so I’m surprised I haven’t shared it before!
I have another recipe for buttercream here on my site that I use a lot as well, but this one right here is my favorite because it doesn’t require shortening, and it’s SO SO delicious!
I add plenty of vanilla to give it really good flavor and it pipes onto cakes and cupcakes so well, and holds its shape beautifully! I think y’all are really going to love it!
If you share this Vanilla Buttercream Frosting or any other recipe from my site on Instagram, tag #belleofthekitchen so I can see what you’ve made! And follow me @thebelleofthekitchen, too!
Recipe: The Best Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks),, softened
- 4.5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 4-5 Tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk
Instructions
- Beat the softened butter over medium speed with an electric mixer until soft and creamy. Continue to beat over medium speed as you gradually add the powdered sugar. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed to fully incorporate all of the sugar.
- Once butter and sugar have come together, add the vanilla. Beat in the heavy cream or milk 1 Tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. This frosting is perfect for piping, or for simply spreading onto cakes and cupcakes!
Notes
If you like this recipe for The Best Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, then you might also like:
Skinny Chocolate Cake
Excellent recipe, easy to follow and was a success! Do not skip allowing your butter to soften as long as possible, ideally overnight. Otherwise, it will be much harder to mix everything together. I cut my cold butter up into very small cubes and left it out at room temp for about 2 hours before starting the frosting, it had softened enough at that point but I think waiting even longer would have been better. I also sifted my powdered sugar before using and I think that was a good decision. I did end up using about 6 tbsp of heavy cream to get the consistency I wanted, it was perfect for piping and held its shape well. The only other thing I’d suggest that isn’t already included in the recipe is to add in about 1/4-1/2 tsp of kosher salt along with the powdered sugar, I found that it helps cut the sweetness nicely and added more flavor complexity. This is a wonderful base frosting recipe that you could easily adapt with different additions and flavors, it would be fabulous with a dash of coconut extract for a coconut cake or even some fruit preserves swirled in! YUM! Thank you Belle of the Kitchen!
Easy and delicious, makes decorating a cake/cupcakes a snap!
I absolutely love this recipe! The consistency of the frosting was perfect. 👌🏾 I used this frosting 2 mini cakes for twins and they loved it and I will be using this recipe more often for sure
Thank You! 😊
Victoria Jackson