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
Do you prefer milk or the heavy whipping cream?
Heavy cream if I have it!
Baking a chocolate mayonnaise cake tomorrow???? i cant wait to try this gorgeous frosting. It looks really fluffy airy and light. Just what i was looking for. I’ll let u know how it goes for me. And thank you Ashlyn for sharing.☺????
Delicious!!!! It’s a perfect vanilla buttercream! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I made this and it turned out so fluffy and extremely delicious!! It was also so easy to make and made a perfect amount for my cup cakes!!
So I looove to bake but I have never found the perfect tasting and easy to make buttercream frosting…until I tried this recipe!!!! So easy to make and I got a fluffy and creamy delicious frosting! This will be my go to buttercream frosting recipefrom now on!
K
How far in advance can you make this?
Does it refridgerate well?
Yes!
Absolutely sensational! Added yellow food colouring for son’s transformer cake. Thank you!!
I pray that I have this wonderful opportunity w/my soon to be 21yr ONLY daughter! As fate would have it, she graduates from college @ d same damn time! December 2019! PLEASE GUYS/GALS, I welcome magnificent recipes for lamb and lobster tails also. Thx a million!
This was fantastic! Have you experimented with other flavors?
Hi Lauren! Glad you’re enjoying the frosting! Chocolate and raspberry might be on the horizon!
Just can’t wait to try this buttercream recipe!! Yum Yum!
Can this frosting be made the day before and put in fridge?
Yes!
So beautiful and amazing. I hope it works out well when I try it.
It looks delicious!
Omg this is the best buttercream I’ve ever had!!!!!!!!!
This buttercream looks amazing. Pinning for my daughter’s birthday cake this summer!
These cupcakes look amazingly perfect- I can’t wait to try this frosting!
I love how simple but beautiful this cupcake is. This a great classic recipe and will make any cupcake shine!
What a light and fluffy buttercream! Looks amazing.
I’m with you on the time flying by – i feel like it goes too fast! Anyway, this frosting looks amazing! I like to just eat frosting. no cakes, just frosting LOL!
If I was to frost a 2 layer cake and then pipe out borders on the top and bottom, will this recipe be enough? Should I double it?
Thank you
I made this tonight and I have been Bali g from scratch for a decade. This is by far the best buttercream I have ever made! Thank you!
So happy to hear that, Jenn! Yay!!
The cake is delicious and attractive, very specific formula. I appreciate your baking skills.
So good to have a delicious buttercream recipe on hand. This one looks luscious! And your photos are all so pretty!
Oh, man. I have an unhealthy relationship with buttercream frosting. This Vanilla Buttercream frosting really isn’t going to make things better. Well, it will make my cakes better. Oh, and my life better.
This sounds exactly like the simple creamy vanilla frosting of my dreams! (And I can so relate to time flying when you have little kids!)
I could just eat all of that out of a bowl! The perfect cupcake too.
Wow! This buttercream frosting looks so fluffy and light! Yum!