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
So good
I only used 3.5 cups powdered sugar as it’s all I had but they were perfect! Wouldn’t t want them any sweeter!
Awesome buttercream recipe, definitely the best I have made….thank you!
This is a very good tasting recipe for vanilla butter cream recipes I tried a few different ones and this one is the best so far I thought because of the amount of confectioners sugar it was gonna be to sweet but figured try it anyway and I did and I’m glad I did the grand babies are coming over today I’m sure all the cupcakes will be gone 🙂 thank you 😊 for the recipe:)
The best vanilla frosting I have tried ,
Easy to make and the consistency of it is AWESOME i give it 100. Is not heavy my Family loves it . The best of the best .
I tried different ones and it don’t compare to this one .
As long as you follow the recipe, it turns out magnificent!
Tasted awesome!
Hello! I am not usually a fan of buttercream, but this is delicious! It tastes so fresh and a little “lighter” than other versions. It came together quickly and spreads perfectly. Thank you for this keeper!
so today I wanted to make my pop pop a chocolate cake with vanilla and, WOW it’s so good! now I put everything in at once, but it turned out so very good!!!
This is the best frosting! It is now my go-to recipe. I wish I could just eat the bowl of icing. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing!
I only have Half and Half. How much do I use and it it ok to use instead of heavy cream…?..? Hope you see this soon need to make today July 20 2023
Yes half and half is just fine!
This frosting is delicious and gets a lot of compliments!
Can you use salted butter?
I recommend unsalted and only adding a pinch of salt to ensure it’s not too salty.
I made this for my friends surprise birthday party, with her favorite Oreo cupcakes!
And 4.5 cups of sugar is WAY to much. I only used 2 cups, and it turned out fine.
clearly everyone else’s frosting turned out perfect with the amount of sugar required, so you must’ve done something wrong.
Needed salt to balance the sweetness
So delicious and creamy. Great with chocolate cupcakes!
This is the best buttercream vanilla icing.
I made a chocolate sheet cake, cut it up into squares then topped it with the vanilla buttercream.
Absolutely delicious!
Will serve with a side of homemade vanilla ice cream.
It didn’t thicken for me. What can I do?
But it in the fridge the butter will harden
Did you soften your butter to room temp or melt it? Just asking because I made that mistake way back when I first started baking. I figured it was the same thing…I learned fast I was incorrect! Good luck next time!
I am looking forward to making these today so I was wondering should I melt it or soften it to room temp?
Soften.
Is the 1x portion good for around 12 cupcakes?
♥️
Making birthday cupcakes.
I have an old hand mixer which actually broke while I tried to mix this but only because my mixer was old. So I had to hand mix this, it was worth my effort.
The icing and chocolate cupcakes simply complemented each other so well. The taste was so good. Simple ingredients easy to follow recipe. Thank you.
Absolutely delicious!!! Great recipe. I love vanilla buttercream and chocolate. I used both of your recipes. Both are amazing!!! Thank you!! I used half and half which worked great.
Best buttercream recipe, EVER! Thank you!!
I tried this frosting recipe for cupcakes I made today and it was delicious and easy to make. Everyone at work loved it too. Glad I gave it a try!
I only used 2 cups of powdered sugar and it was perfect. Thank you!
I used this frosting for my daughter’s vanilla cupcakes served at her baby shower.
It is AMAZING. Definitely a show stopper.
I share my love of baking with several friends. I shared this recipe, we both agree this is now our go to buttercream frosting. It is easy to pipe, it tastes delicious and it is NOT overly sweet. It is literally perfect.
This was a bit too sweet for me so I added about 4 oz of softened cream cheese and it turned out incredible.
I was in a bind without a frosting recipe and limited supplies. I found this one, and it will be the only one I use from now on. Easy and perfect!!! Thank you!
Really sweet