This grit free American buttercream (ABC) is everything you love about a traditional ABC, minus the grainy/gritty texture! It’s easy to make, yet smooth as a Swiss meringue buttercream!
What makes this better than a regular American buttercream?
American buttercream (ABC) is one of the easiest and most commonly made frostings, but the biggest problem that most people have with it is that it often has a ‘gritty’ or grainy feel to it. This is because of undissolved icing sugar (also known as powdered/confectioners sugar).
This version uses a technique where the icing sugar is dissolved into hot milk, which is then cooled and added to the butter. This results in a super smooth, grit free buttercream! I first saw this technique on Cupcake Savvys YouTube channel, so kudos to them for introducing us to this method!
Another common complaint is that ABC is far too sweet! Most recipes have double the amount of powdered sugar to butter, which is just far too sweet for some. This recipes uses far less icing sugar without your frosting tasting too buttery.
Is it stable enough?
This was the first thing that came to my mind when I decided to try this technique. Would dissolving the icing sugar into the hot milk make the buttercream less stable? I decided to give the method a go, and experimented with using water instead of milk as my ‘thinning’ ingredient to make the ABC a little more creamy. I also used a bit more sugar than the original recipe so that the frosting was a little more stable. I also did some research and found that meringue powder is a great stabiliser and could easily be added in to this buttercream to provide additional stability.
The result – OH MY! A super delicious, creamy, GRIT FREE American buttercream! It basically tasted like a Swiss meringue buttercream (SMBC) but so much easier to make! Was the recipe good enough to put on my blog – ABSOLUTELY! My new favourite way of making ABC!
Does this grit free version still crust?
The only downside for cake decorators is that this buttercream does not crust because the icing sugar has been dissolved. It acts more like a SMBC where it hardens when placed in the fridge, but at room temperature is soft to the touch. If you’re looking for a traditional American buttercream that crusts, then check out my original ABC recipe.
Grit Free American Buttercream
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (500 g) unsalted butter - room temperature, see note 1
- ½ cup (125 ml) milk
- 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract
- ¼ tsp salt - omit if using salted butter
- 2½ cups (330 g) icing/powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder - OPTIONAL
Instructions
- Add your butter to a stand mixer, and using the paddle attachment, mix on a medium high speed for 5 minutes until it is light and fluffy. Give the bowl a scrape down every now and then to make sure everything is mixing well.
- In a microwave safe bowl, combine the milk, vanilla and salt and heat it in the microwave so that it's hot, but not bubbling (about 30 seconds to a minute).
- Add your icing sugar to the heated milk mixture and mix until the icing sugar is dissolved. It should be a thin paste like consistency.
- Strain the milk/icing sugar mixture to get rid of any lumps, and then let the mixture cool to room temperature. You can speed this up by placing the mixture into the fridge for 15 minutes, stirring it every 5 minutes.
- Once cooled, turn your mixer onto a medium speed and slowly drizzle in the milk/icing sugar paste into your whipped butter. It may look like the mixture is curdling, but this is normal.
- Once the mixture is added into the butter, scrape down your bowl, and then mix on a medium speed for a further 10 minutes. This is going to lighten the buttercream in both taste and texture. Your buttercream is now ready!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
141 Comments
Hi,
I like the sweetness of American buttercream but I love the silkiness of Swiss buttercream. If I use the recipe method but double the icing sugar like traditional American buttercream methods, would I be able to get that
Hi Lisa! 🙂 If you double the icing sugar I think it may produce some grit, but will still be silkier than regular American buttercream. Alternatively, you can try my silky smooth buttercream recipe, it’s kind of inbetween a SMBC and regular American buttercream 🙂
I love this recipe!!! Its so smooth and glossy.
How would I make a chocolate version? Would I substitute a percentage of icing sugar for cocoa?
So happy to hear you enjoyed it Amy-Charlene! 🙂 For a chocolate version, I think just adding in additional cocoa powder at the end (until you’re happy with the taste) should do the trick 🙂
Hi MK. I tried this recipe twice and it didn’t work out . the first time 500g seemed too much as compared to the milk consistency .I ended up adding icing sugar to make it thicker. The second time I reduced the butter quantity to 250g , which then turned out to be more again . I’m not sure where I’m missing it
Hi Michelle! 🙂 Sorry to hear the recipe isn’t quite working out for you. When you say you added more icing sugar to make it thicker, do you mean to the milk? The consistency should be like a thin paste. Also just to clarify the 500g is for the butter and not the milk :). The key to this recipe is whipping the butter for a while at the beginning and this makes it light and fluffy. I would recommend sticking to the quantites provided, otherwise you can try it out my new, less sweet American buttercream recipe which may work better for you 🙂 hope that helps!
Hi, I have a question about this recipe. Could you theoretically heat the milk, add it to the mixer bowl, add the sugar, vanilla, and salt, and just beat it to cool it in there? Then add the butter gradually and beat till smooth? Also, how much do you think you’d need to fill and frost a 3 layer, 9″ cake?
Hi Janet! 🙂 Yes I think that may work fine. And for a 3 layer 9 inch cake you probably want to make about 1.5-2x the recipe depending on how much extra piping you want to do 🙂
Hi dear
I love the recipe, its not to sweet, exactly what i was looking for 🙂 but my powdered sugar builds crystals again so its grainy after the milk-powdered sugar-mixture cools down. What am i doing wrong? When i melt it, its perfectly smooth, with no grit, i did it two times.
Thank you for your help.
Jovana
Hi Jovana! So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe 😀 in terms of the grit, is it still there after you’ve made the entire buttercream? If so, then it may be a ratio problem. I would recommend using the gram measurements if you didn’t already as this may help 🙂 if your buttercream is still grit free at the end once it’s whipped then I wouldn’t worry too much about the initial grittiness when the mixture cools down 🙂
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I followed the recipe to the letter and made it the night before I needed to frost my cake. While it worked beautifully, the next day the consistency had completely changed. I let the frosting come up to room temp after being stored in the fridge overnight and afterwards noticed the frosting started to split, had gone yellow and looked like cottage cheese. No amount of whisking/putting it back in the fridge could save it. Would really love to figure out what happened – any ideas?
Hi Charlotte! 🙂 Sounds like the buttercream split which can happen after the frosting has been refrigerated. Luckily this can be easily fixed! Check out this video on ways that you can bring your frosting back together 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=HG6diwnwT-k
Hi! I plan to make a 2 layer cake using this grit free butter cream. It’s fairly warm still here where we stay. Would you still recommend it?
Hi Neha! 🙂 If it’s quite hot where you stay then I would recommend adding in the meringue powder for extra stability, otherwise a recipe with more icing sugar in it may be better 🙂
I need to make an egg free layer cake and I am wondering which frosting you recommend more, Your American Buttercream or your Ermine Buttercream? Which one is more stable and which one looks more white?
Hi there! 🙂 So either frosting will work fine, but for a more stable and white frosting I would recommend the buttercream recipe I use for my white cake recipe 🙂
When would you add the meringue powder If using it?
Heya! You can add it in at the end before whipping for the 10 minutes 🙂
Is this heat stable? Thank you.
Hi Katlyn! It preforms pretty well and as long as it’s not a very hot day it should be fine. Otherwise I would recommend adding meringue powder for a more stable frosting as it’s not quite as stable as a regular American buttercream 🙂