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.
247 Comments
Hi Maryam.
The colour of the buttercream with your White Cake looks great, yet I would like the to achieve a much lighter tone closer to white. Could I cream the butter before adding the rest of the the ingredients, could you please give a suggestion on how to make the buttercream white. Many thanks
Hi Claudelle! Yes you can totally cream the butter beforehand 🙂
Some people use the purple gel color trick where you add a very small amount of purple to cancel out the yellow tones in the buttercream (makes it look more white – you do have to be careful when using this hack though as a little too much and your buttercream can start looking grey), otherwise using some white gel color will help as well 🙂
Hi Maryam ,
what’s the recipe amount i need to crumb coat and cover a 1 kg cake ( box shape) for this buttercream ?
Thank You in advance
Hi Sara 🙂 Hmm good question! I don’t usually weigh my cakes, so I’m not too sure how tall or wide a 1kg cake would be sorry. As a reference, 1x this recipe will be enough to fully frost an 8 inch 2 layer cake 🙂
Hope that helps!
Hi, I live in India. When you mention cream, is it diary based. If so, will Amul Fresh cream work. Or Nestles.
Hi Viji! Yes I use dairy cream in this recipe and I believe the Amul fresh cream should work fine 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi! I would like to make the frosting ahead of time before actually frosting my cupcakes. Can I make it and put it in the fridge and then take it out before frosting? Is so, how long should it be out of the fridge before frosting? Thank you!
Hi Kara! 🙂 Yes you can totally make it ahead of time. Just pop it into an airtight container before placing it into the fridge and then I would bring it out a few hours before you need to use it to allow it to come to room temp. After a couple of hours, give it a mix with a spatula and if it feels a bit firm you can re-whip it again to make it nice and fluffy. Enjoy!
Hello
Can I use whipping cream?
Heya! 🙂 Yes any cream that has enough fat that it can be whipped into whipping cream will work well for this recipe 🙂
Enjoy!
Buttercream has always been way too sweet for me; but this recipe is amazing. I would love to make this into strawberry buttercream. Can I add some strawberry puree? If so, would I just alter the amount of sugar to help with consistency?
Thank you
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback Susan! So glad you enjoyed the buttercream 😀
Yes you could probably mix in some strawberry puree at the end (or even freeze dried strawberries) and if you find the frosting is a little loose then yes adding in a bit more powdered sugar should help stabilize it 🙂
Hello, how many cupcakes can i frost with this, and its not to sweet right, i am trying to find a recipe for my friends wedding
Hi Aqsa! 🙂 You should be able to frost around 25 regular sized cupcakes or so with this recipe and yes it is a less sweet buttercream 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
I made this frosting, however I found it to be a little bit gritty. Is there a way i can counter this by adding something to the frosting? or would i have to remake it with less powdered sugar?
Hi Demar! 🙂 You could try adding in a little more heavy cream, or reducing the powdered sugar slightly. You could also mix for a bit longer (just be sure to check that the butter isn’t too firm as well) and this may help too 🙂
How many cupcakes will this recipe frost?
Hi Lisa! You should be able to frost about 25 cupcakes or so with 1x this recipe 🙂
Hello, if it doesn’t bother you, how much buttercream would be made using the halved recipe?
Hello Seo-jun! Not a bother at all 😀
Half the recipe will make about 2 cups of buttercream (or a little less) 🙂
Enjoy!