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
Love this recipe I make it all the time.
Amazing! The icing went perfectly with some store-bought cake mix. Keep it up! <3
i love this frosting it is rlly sweet but love it
This recipe was amazing. I 100% recommend this! It tastes amazing too!
My husband is super picky when it comes to frosting and not effusive with his praise for anything, and he loved this frosting! Thank you!!
made a half recipe of this and it was super delicious and mixed very easy for me. ( mine always come out to chunky but that’s cause i’m impatient) but it came out great 10/10 would recommend.
Thank you for the yummy recipe. I made several batches and all ere great! I noticed one of my batches was a little airy and left holes when spreading on the top of the cake. Do you have any suggestions on what went wrong?
If you have air holes in your frosting, take a wooden spoon or spatula. and push your frosting up the sides of the bowl so the air pockets will pop. Usually about 2 or 3 minutes. just make sure not to over neat your frosting.
very good
I made half of this recipe and it covered 24 cupcakes with a knife, so if you are not piping or using a ton on cupcakes you can do with halfing it! Delicious!
Delicious buttercream icing, loved it!
I’m lactose intolerant and wanted to know if anyone has used plant based butter. I made some cream cheese frosting the other day with vegan options and it came out good. I was just wondering if using plant based butter for this would work as well, if anyone has tried it. It looks promising! Thank you!
I used olive oil based butter and it came out very well
I’m try this for the first time on my cake wish me luck
I used salted butter and I think it still tastes great!
I hope my good old hand held mixer works for this!!
Did it end up working? Was the consistency still smooth?
I have made these recipe so many times for cupcakes and it’s always so delicious! I want to make and decorate a cake this weekend. Will this icing set up enough on the cake to smooth it out to decorate?
Perfect vanilla frosting! Love this recipe. It’s my go to from now on! Thank you 🙂
I tried it today and it works great on cakes.
I only have salted butter, Can I use it instead of unsalted butter? If so is it a different amount?
Hi Brenda, only use unsalted for this recipe for best results.
I found that adding a small bit of salt actually brings this frosting to the next level!
I have made it both ways and, for my palate, adding the salt wins.
Salt benefits sweet!
Don’t negate its abilities…some may prefer using it over not using it. Everyone’s palate can vary 🙂
True, and I am a fan of adding a pinch of salt to my buttercream sometimes. However, using unsalted butter allows you to control how much salt is added. Salted butter does not. Many may find the flavor to be off if using salted butter. Like you said, though, it’s personal preference so proceed as you see fit!
I used salted butter, and it turned out great!