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!
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
Could you use this for homemade sandwich cookies too?
Yes that would work great!
Needed a vanilla frosting for my Funfetti cupcakes. This recipe is a winner! Easy to make, very delicious! Makes plenty—enough to generously fill and frost 12 cupcakes. Thank you for this excellent recipe!
I needed to double it but didn’t want it to be too sweet, I left this recipe as is and added one 8oz brick of cream cheese and it was perfect! I had kids in my daughters class saying it was the best frosting they’ve ever had! Definitely will be using this recipe from now on with my modified addition or cream cheese.
This is so delicious , I’ve been making my own homemade buttercream icing for years now & everyone always raves about how good it, but I think this is going to be better than mine. Making 3 dz cupcakes for Halloween 2022 for tonight. Can’t wait for them to taste these….. yummmmm
Tried it for cupcakes and it tasted really good. But it frosts way more than 12 I had a lot left over.
Yummy!! Very cry and good for decorating !!
Mistakenly used only 1 stick of butter however no worries it came out perfectly. I use vanilla buttercream frosting as the base for my maple icing and this frosting tasted wonderful and the spreading was perfection and the flavor was remarkable everyone loved it.
5 stars
The best frosting EVER
Absolutely the best buttercream frosting. I’ve tried many. I had a 2 layer 9 inch cake. I could have used more frosting, but I made it work.
Next time I will add more powdered sugar and cream. M
Really liked the cake and this was the best recipe I have ever used.
This is a fast and easy buttercream that the family loved. I used a heavy coconut cream instead of milk which made it separate in the heat but it did add some flavor and the family considered it a good trade off.
So easy and super yummy
Loved it you can add 3-4 spoons of drinking chocolate to add flavour and a pale brown color
My son tasted this and his eyes got big and said “omg mom this is better than what the stores have” he’s 8 but still gave me a big boost! Lol. This is an amazing recipe. I’m using it on my parents birthday cake surprise party!! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Absolutely the very best Vanilla Buttercream I’ve ever had.
Thank You Belle!
The butter cream is really good and on a chocolate cupcakes it tastes great
I absolutely love this recipe!! The only thing is to use less sugar. I added a cup less and it was still too sweet. I personally don’t like very sweet but if you do I would still recommend at least a half cup less. Otherwise very delicious! Also, very true to the time. 🧁
deliciously fluffy and rich. is a little thick but you can thin it out. If you have a delicate cake definitely do
Delicious and very easy to make!
SUPER SWEET!! I recommend using 2 or 2.5 cups of powder sugar instead of 4.5 for me it was way to sweet and over powered by the powder sugar. I have a sweet tooth but this was just over board. However the texture and consistency was very nice for piping!
sounds delicious! Would this “hold up” to the addition of fresh or canned pineapple? I have an abundance of tangerines and plan to make “pea/pig pickin’ cake” which has whipped cream & pineapple filling & frosting-hoping to sub this buttercream instead of whipped cream with a package of vanilla pudding as recipe is written.
Hello i am making some mini cupcakes for my sons birthday party on friday, i was wondering if this icing could be made ahead of time and refridgerated and frost my cupcakes the day of the party. Thank you.
Yes it can be made in advance and refrigerated. Take it out and let it sit on the counter for about 20-30 minutes before you frost your cupcakes so that it can soften up; it hardens in the fridge.
Best buttercream recipe ever!! It is honestly sooo good and everyone raved about my cupcakes for days!
I’m wondering what I could add to make this chocolate flavoured?? Thank you!
Add some Hersheys Powdered Cocoa, a couple of heaping tablespoons or more, and you will turn it into chocolate frosting.
Best buttercream I have ever made and I have tried many. This is PERFECT.