If you’re looking for a silky smooth buttercream frosting recipe that is not too sweet or grainy, then this recipe is it!
I find traditional American style buttercreams way too sweet, so I came up with my own version that has far less icing sugar (in relation to the amount of butter) compared to more traditional recipes. Best part is, it’s still stable enough to use for layered cakes and is great for piping too!
What’s Different With This Buttercream
Usual American style buttercreams that are made with butter and icing sugar (also known as powdered or confectioners sugar), have double the amount of icing sugar compared to butter. This makes a great stable buttercream, however it also makes it very sweet!
This version uses an almost 1:1 ratio of icing sugar to butter, so it’s far less sweet. It also uses a full half cup of cream to help dissolve the icing sugar in the buttercream to make the final product less grainy. Cream is also used in replacement of milk (which is more common in American buttercreams), as it has a higher fat content and provides extra stability to the buttercream when whipped.
This makes this less-sweet buttercream great for using with layered cakes and for piping. The picture below is an example of this frosting used in combination with my white cake recipe.
How Can I Store This Buttercream
Although this recipe is made using ingredients that aren’t usually kept at room temperature (i.e. cream), the high sugar content from the icing sugar and fat from the butter, prevent the frosting from going off immediately. This means you can keep the frosting at room temperature for a day or two, but after that it’s best to refrigerate.
Does This Buttercream Crust?
As great as this recipe is, the only down side is that it does not crust. This means that it may not be suitable for certain cake decorating techniques that require a crusting buttercream.
How to Make Buttercream Frosting
This recipe comes together really easily using only four ingredients!
In the bowl of a stand mixer (see note 1 on recipe card below), add in the butter, icing sugar (also known as powdered or confectioners sugar), vanilla and cream.
Using the paddle attachment, mix on the lowest speed until the ingredients are combined (about a minute), and then turn up the speed to a medium high and mix for a full 10 minutes. Scrape the bowl down half way through.
After 10 minutes, turn the mixer down to the lowest speed for a further minute or so to remove any large air bubbles.
The frosting should be silky smooth and it’s now ready to use! If you find that your buttercream is a bit firm and has a lot of holes, then it means that either the butter or cream was too cold. To fix this, gently heat the buttercream in the microwave for 5 second bursts (don’t heat it for too long otherwise the buttercream will melt), mixing in between each burst until the frosting is softer in consistency and you can easily mix it, and then rewhip it for a few minutes.
Silky Smooth Buttercream Frosting
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
- 1½ cups (340 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 3 cups (375 g) icing sugar - also known as powdered/confectioners sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract
- ½ cup (120 g) heavy cream - room temperature. Any cream used to make whipped cream will work.
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (see note 1), add in the butter, icing sugar, vanilla and cream.
- Using the paddle attachment, mix on the lowest speed until the ingredients are combined (about a minute), and then turn up the speed to a medium high and mix for a full 10 minutes. Scrape the bowl down half way through.
- After 10 minutes, turn the mixer down to the lowest speed for a further minute or so to remove any large air bubbles.
- The frosting should be silky smooth and it's now ready to use! If you find that your buttercream is a bit firm and has a lot of holes, then it means that either the butter or cream was too cold. To fix this, gently heat the buttercream in the microwave for 5 second bursts (don't heat it for too long otherwise the buttercream will melt), mixing in between each burst until the frosting is softer in consistency and you can easily mix it, and then rewhip it for a few minutes.
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.
243 Comments
Love to try this buttercream in my next cake order. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes!
You’re so welcome Jan! Hope you love the buttercream 😀
Hi what is the best frosting to use during warm & humid weather?
Hi Ursula!
I would recommend using an American buttercream like this one or even a ganache or Swiss meringue buttercream 🙂
Hello, first off I love your videos and I thank you for them. Secondly I have not made this buttercream frosting yet bu I want to for a christmas layer cake I’m going to make my questions are, can you use other flavors of extracts for flavoring and how well does it color.
Thank you
Hi Lon 🙂
So glad you’re loving the videos!
My apologies for the delay in reply here, I am too late unfortunately but for future reference, yes you can totally use other flavorings and gel colors work great with this frosting too 🙂
I hope it all turned out well if you decided to try it and so sorry again for replying so late!
Hi MK today I finished my very first Butterfly cake and used this buttercream for the filling and everyone has commented on how amazing it is so will definitely use this on all my cakes it’s amazing I could do with a little help on how to cover a cake with fondant icing and help and or videos would be gratefully appreciated your videos are amazing happy baking 😊
Hi Paul 🙂 Congratulations on your first butterfly cake!! So so happy to hear everyone loved the buttercream too 🙂
I have done a few tutorials in the past – they’re a bit old now but still have some great tips if you wanted to check them out! I’ll link them below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4nNXWYoRFw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m13wJ2aHKnA&t=19s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtE1623OMNc
Hope that helps Paul! Happy baking 🙂
Hi MK,
Love your buttercream recipe and have been using it for quite sometime now. I have a few questions. I will be making a 2 tier cake for my friend’s baby shower with 2- 8″ inches and 2- 10″ cakes. How much buttercream will I need. I am trying so hard but can’t calculate it. Please help.
-I will be making the buttercream 2 days in advance. How do I store it in refrigerator? Will an airtight container work? Should I cover it with cling wrap first?
-If I make 2× the frosting, will my prep time increase from 15 minutes to 30 minutes?
The event is this Friday and I desperately need your help.
Hi Prarthna! 🙂
So sorry for the delay in reply here – I hope the cake for the baby shower went well!
For future reference, if completely coating the cake in frosting (crumb coat and final coat), I would make about 2.5x the recipe for a two tier cake of that size. If there is a lot of piping, then 3x the recipe.
For storage, yes an airtight container works great! You’ll just need to bring the frosting to room temperature and re-whip it for a few minutes to get it nice and smooth again.
If increasing the quantity, the only thing that will increase in time is the mixing time (for 1x the recipe I suggest whipping the frosting for 10 mins. If making 2x the recipe add on a few extra minutes (so around 13 minutes of mixing) and so on).
Hope that helps for next time Prarthna 🙂
Hi! I just discovered your page as I started research to make the popular vintage decorated cakes.
Do you think this recipe would pair well with your red velvet cake recipe? Or would it be too sweet?
Does this frosting hold up well with piping like shell boarders?
Thanks! I am so excited to try it!
Hi Hanna 🙂
Yes this would pair well with the red velvet cake! It’s a less sweet American style frosting and holds up pretty well so I think it should be fine. You can add a bit more powdered sugar to make it firmer if you like (this will just make the frosting a little sweeter but because the original recipe isn’t overly sweet you can get away with adding a little more if you need).
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
hey i tried this one after failing miserably the last time i had a problem i was using homemade butter and it gave off a very strong buttery taste even tho i added a good amount of vanilla, so will store bought butter work? i dont want a really strong straight-up butter taste and can u tell me if i can use simple whipped cream instead of buttercream to decorate a cake and will it be stable enough?
Hi there 🙂
So sorry to hear the first time didn’t quite turn out how you’d hoped! So store bought butter should work and it shouldn’t have an overly buttery taste in the end, but you can add more powdered sugar at the end if you feel the frosting tastes too buttery. Also to get the write texture/taste, you want to make sure the butter is soft enough (and the cream isn’t cold) so that when it’s whipped for the full 10 minutes heaps of air is whipped into the frosting and makes it light and fluffy. If the butter is too cold it won’t whip up properly and will have more of that buttery taste in the end.
With a whipped cream frosting, if you want it to be relatively stable I would recommend using my stabilized whipped cream frosting: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/stabilized-whipped-cream-frosting/
Hope that helps 🙂
What is the difference between a crusting buttercream and non? Love this frosting, but hoping it’s the right one to frost my daughter’s cake. I will be colouring it purple and attaching some small fondant decorations to it too.
Hi Amy 🙂
Great question! So crusting buttercreams will form a little crust as they set so when you touch the buttercream it doesn’t stick to your fingers. Ideally for fondant or other decorations like wafer paper that are sensitive to moisture, it’s best to use a crusting buttercream.
Coloring this recipe should be fine, and the fondant decorations may be okay, it’s just that the moisture in the frosting may affect the structure of the fondant decorations. If they’re smaller fondant toppers that are going on top of the cake it should be fine, but anything larger then might be best to use a different type of frosting 🙂
Hope that helps!
Hello! This is the second time I’ve made your buttercream recipe and it’s amazing. This time I’m using it with the super soft sponge cake. Thank you for all your hard work. Love your videos ❤️
Hi Simmie! So so happy to hear you’re loving this recipe as well as the videos 😀
Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback 🙂
A review by a non cook. This buttercream icing was the easiest thing to make and it is absolutely delicious. I put it on a vanilla sheet cake, and there was plenty to cover the top of the cake. I am practicing because I said I would bring a dessert for Thanksgiving dinner. This icing is going on whatever cake I make. When I take a dessert I usually buy it , don’t make it 😁Everybody is going to be so surprised
So so happy to hear you loved the frosting Genell! I really wanted to make it as simple as possible, but still taste delicious. So glad you’ve gained the confidence to make your own buttercream now – go you! 😀