Classic Vanilla Buttercream
This flavorful Classic Vanilla Buttercream Recipe is one of our favorites! It couldn't be easier to make, and it is so delicious. Keep it in mind the next time you need a flavorful frosting for your cake recipes and buttercream cake designs!
Table of Contents
Why we Love it
There are so many reasons to love this delicious vanilla buttercream! Here are just a few:
- Delicious and SO easy to make
- Perfect for piping
- It can easily be changed up with add-ins, extracts, and an adjustment here and there ;0) - A few examples are our Oreo Buttercream, Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream, Strawberry Buttercream, and Peanut Butter Buttercream!
- Develops a very light crust, which is great for those who use the Viva Paper Towel Method of Smoothing. Also, the Hot Knife Method of smoothing works great with this vanilla buttercream also!
How to Make Vanilla Buttercream
You can find the full, printable recipe card for this vanilla buttercream at the bottom of our post!
This frosting, which is known as an American Buttercream, is a simple combination of softened butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and a splash of milk.
Allow the frosting to mix for a few minutes to reach the best, creamy consistency. If you'd like to thicken the consistency of the frosting, (for piping buttercream roses, etc.) you can add a bit more confectioners sugar.
To thin out the frosting, you can simply add small amounts of milk.
Textured Buttercream
Of course, your frosted cakes don't have to be perfectly smooth. We love textured buttercream as well as the look of piping all over a cake.
Our classic vanilla buttercream frosting is versatile enough for just about any sort of buttercream cake or cupcake design you can think of.
Here are just a few of our free cake tutorials that demonstrate simple texturing and piping techniques: Ridged Buttercream Technique, Buttercream Petal Cake, Cascading Rosettes Cake, and Looped Ribbons of Buttercream.
Piping
If you are interested in learning more about piping borders or different piping techniques, make sure to check out our section of Buttercream Techniques, which features a section on Buttercream Piping.
There, you'll find tutorials on piping with star tips, piping with round tips, piping with ruffle tips, and more! All of these techniques can be done with today's Buttercream Frosting recipe.
Recipe FAQs
Classic Vanilla Buttercream (Crusting Recipe)
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (226g) Should still hold its shape but dent when pressed.
- 5-6 cups confectioners sugar (690g)(You can adjust amount slightly up or down to your liking.)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g) (For whiter frosting, you can use clear imitation vanilla)
- ⅓ cup milk or cream (72g) (Adjust amount as needed to reach desired consistency.)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
Instructions
- Cream the softened butter until smooth. Blend in the vanilla.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and most of the milk. Beat at medium speed until the powdered sugar is incorporated.
- Add remaining powdered sugar and milk and mix at medium speed another 3 to 4 minutes scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Then, slow down the mixer to very slow for 1 to 2 minutes. This will help eliminate air pockets in the buttercream. The texture will become very smooth.
- This recipe can be doubled or halved.
- Yields approximately 4 ½ cups of frosting. Enough to frost a two layer 8 or 9 inch cake.
- Can be frozen in air tight container for at least three months . Thaw on countertop.
- If your buttercream is too thin, add more sugar. If the consistency is too thick, add a bit more milk.
Hi Claudia, Yes, you will have a hard crust with that much powdered sugar, and you will probably need to add more milk or cream to get it to spreading consistency. When we frost cupcakes and cakes that we want to have a softer crust we cut the amount of sugar to 4 cups. Under the Directions below the ingredients, we make a comment about that. Give that a try sometime and see if you like that consistency and fluffiness.
Hello Melissa & BeBe! I have leftover classic & fluffy buttercreams, is it OK to combine them? I'm doing a mirror glaze cake & want to make sure it firms up OK if I refrigerate it before pouring the glaze & after to set up the glaze. Thank you!
Hi GuppyLove, that should be fine!
hi melissa! i have tried 6times of making vanilla buttercream frosting and it was rough because of the powdered sugar eventhough i strained it. what is the secret of fluffy and not roughed. thank you! god bless!
Hi Badette, I am sorry you are having a problem. Are you beating the buttercream long enough? You can beat it on medium to low speed and it will become very smooth. You can beat it longer than in the instructions. If the buttercream is too stiff, you will need to add more liquid 1 tablespoon at a time until it reaches the spreading consistency you like. Is the buttercream gritty? That could be due to the powdered sugar you are using. The package should read, Pure Cane Sugar. If it does not, it is made from beet sugar and will cause the
buttercream to have a gritty taste. We used to use the brands Domino and Dixie Crystals, both were pure cane sugar. Dixie Crystals must have changed their formulation because it now causes our buttercream to be gritty. You may need to experiment with different brands if grittiness is a problem for you. I am not sure what you mean by roughness so let me know if I have not answered your question.
Help. I need to know which frosting recipe will be the best one to pipe rosettes onto a cake with. My daughter-in-law has asked me to do my grand baby's smash cake for her first birthday coming up in the spring. I will be doing a chocolate cake with a vanilla buttercream and I was looking at your classic vanilla buttercream and your fluffy vanilla buttercream. I was thinking the fluffy, but then I read the comment where the lady tried it on for her daughter's birthday cake and the rosettes fell off. I have time to practice. Also, can the fluffy recipe be frozen?
Thanks - Melanie
Hi Melanie- Either recipe would work well. It's a good idea to crumb coat the cake just before adding the rosettes so that they will adhere nicely. You shouldn't have any trouble, although it's nice that you have plenty of time for a trial run! ;0)
I was just wondering if a frosting made with butter and milk needs to be refrigerated once it is on a cake or can it be left out like a shortening based frosting? Thank you.
Hi Sonja, A cake frosted with buttercream made of shortening and water can be left out without concern. If your buttercream is made with butter and a bit of milk, it can be kept in a cool part of the house and should be eaten by the second day. It can be kept longer if it is covered and refrigerated. The cake will be best if allowed to come to room temperature before serving.
What is the best buttercream recipe to decorate a wedding cake.
Hello, I tried making this buttercream. It turned out really grainy. I couldn't pipe it at all because of how grainy it turned out.
Could you help me troubleshoot why this could have happened? The butter I was going to use was at room temperature. But because the recipe called for 'cool to the touch', I popped it in the fridge for a couple of minutes before trying to make butter cream. Could this be one of the reasons? Could it be due to sugar? I used C&Hs confectioners sugar. I used Kitchen Aid Stand mixer.
Hi Shivani, I'm sorry that your buttercream had a grainy consistency. It definitely shouldn't be. I would experiment with a different confectioner's sugar. I'm not sure if you noticed our note beneath the recipe and so I'll paste it below-- I really think it must be the sugar.
We’ve had great results with Domino’s confectioner’s sugar and US Sugar (we buy ours from Costco). Some brands of confectioner’s sugar don’t work as well with buttercream frosting recipes. If a package doesn’t say pure cane sugar, it contains beet sugar which is more likely to give you a grainy outcome. In addition to that, we’ve noticed that even some brands that say “Pure Cane Sugar” will give a grainy consistency. So frustrating! One example is Dixie Crystals (although it used to work great for us a few years ago.) Something has changed…it’s a mystery. Anyway, this recipe should not be grainy, and so if it is, experiment with a different confectioners sugar.