This delicious Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting is crusting recipe that is perfect for cake decorating! This American Buttercream is similar to our Classic Vanilla Buttercream recipe, however, it has a lighter, fluffier texture due to the shortening in the recipe.

Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Recipe by My Cake School! A fluffy, pipeable, crusting buttercream recipe.

Table of Contents

Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream: A Crusting Recipe

What is a crusting buttercream? As the name suggests, crusting frostings like this one develop a very thin crust when exposed to air. In as little as 5-10 minutes, a cake frosted in a crusting buttercream can be lightly touched without removing any of the frosting. Beneath that thin layer, the frosting remains soft.

Many cake decorators love to use the "Viva Paper Towel method" of smoothing when working with crusting buttercreams. Simply frost the cake, sweep around the sides and top with your spatula (or bench scraper) of choice, and then allow it to sit for a few minutes before smoothing over it with a paper towel.

(Viva brand paper towels are a popular choice for this paper towel method of smoothing because it has no quilting or impressions.)

You can find more information on this method of smoothing here: Leopard Print Buttercream (using the Viva Paper Towel Method).

Helpful Hints

This Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream frosting contains both butter and shortening. Because of the shortening, it is slightly more heat resistant than an all-butter frosting recipe, and it is lighter in color than an all-butter buttercream recipe.

If heat is more of a concern, you could switch to an all shortening (no butter) frosting recipe like this one: High Ratio Frosting. All frostings will melt if the weather is hot enough, but shortening certainly is more resistant than butter.

If you are looking for a crusting frosting that does not contain any shortening, we love our Classic Vanilla Buttercream recipe also. You can find it here!: Classic Vanilla Buttercream.

We often use clear vanilla in our buttercream frosting recipes because real vanilla gives vanilla buttercream more of an off-white or ivory color. However, this may not bother you! It simply comes down to personal preference or the design of your cake.

Does Brand of Confectioners Sugar Matter?

** Important note about the sugar: We’ve had great results with Domino’s confectioners sugar and US Sugar (we buy ours from Costco). Some brands of confectioners 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 brand of confectioners sugar.

Fabulous Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Recipe by MyCakeSchool.com. This recipe pipes beautifully and crusts for easy smoothing. My Cake School.

Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

BY Melissa and Bebe

This fluffy vanilla buttercream recipe is perfect for piping and works great with the viva paper towel method! Good flavor, and contains shortening which makes is a bit more heat resistant.

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Ingredients

▢ 2 lbs. confectioners' sugar 910 g
▢ ½ cup 1 stick (113 g ) unsalted butter softened (soften on countertop rather than microwave for best results)
▢ 1 ½ cups solid vegetable shortening such as Crisco or Trex 286 g. or 10 oz. by weight. ** If using hi ratio shortening, see below)
▢ 2 Tablespoons clear vanilla extract 24 g
▢ ¼ to ½ teaspoon butter flavoring if you are leaving out the butter and using all shortening
▢ ¼ teaspoons lemon or almond extract 1 g OPTIONAL
▢ ¼ cup milk 57 g any milk is fine but I like milk with higher fat content. You could substitute water too (See below)
▢ ½ teaspoon salt to cut the sweetness. We use popcorn salt because of its fine grain. If using table salt you can dissolve it in the milk before adding.

Instructions

Cream butter, shortening , salt and extracts until creamy and smooth.
Add powdered sugar and milk. Mix thoroughly on medium speed for approximately 8 minutes. For the last two minutes decrease the mixing speed to VERY SLOW ( number 2 speed on a KitchenAid) until creamy and smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally during the mixing process.

Notes

*If I use a high ratio shortening (such as CK or Sweetex brand) I decrease the shortening amount to 1 ¼ cups (236 g.) and increase the milk, ¼ cup plus 2 to 3 Tablespoons milk or enough to make it the consistency you like.

*I used to always use water for this recipe, but I switched to milk for flavor & also because when you use a higher fat milk for your liquid, the buttercream still has a nice crust to it, but it doesn't crust quite so quickly or so hard as if you use water.

*Makes about 6 cups of frosting-- you can half it, or freeze the leftovers if you don't need this much! (One cup of frosting frosts about 12 cupcakes with a simple swirl using a 2D tip)

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360 Comments

Hello ladies,

Unfortunately i do not own a kitchen aid mixer yet. Can this fbc frosting b prepared using a regular mixer? If so, are there different instructions so i can achieve the best results?

Hi Terri, yes, it can be prepared with a regular mixer, KitchenAid's are more powerful so you just might need to mix for a little longer. If you mean you are using a hand mixer, you can still make this, you may not be able to double the recipe......for fear of burning out the motor of the hand mixer.

Hi Melissa and Bebe,
1 cup of frosting for 12 cupcakes? How much icing per cupcake? I need to make 300 cupcakes and I am not sure how much icing to prepare. I would be using a tip 1M and making a swirl.
Thanks ML

Hi Mary Lynn, yes, one cup of frosting will frost 12 cupcakes with a simple swirl from a 2D or 1M tip. Allow for more frosting if you are going to be making a high mounding swirl. The Fluffy Buttercream recipe makes approx. 6 cups. I would double the recipe and make it twice ..... that equals frosting for 288 cupcakes then make 1 single recipe batch for 72 more .....that would be frosting for 360 cupcakes........it is good to have extra.

This is now my FAV buttercream recipie, and i got it down to a SCIENCE!

Since i Weigh all my ingredients, (which i would STRONGLY recommend, makes it super easy in the long run) here is the ratio i use:

4 oz butter unsalted
6 oz HR Vegtable Shortening
4 oz water
2 lbs powdered Sugar

I beat the HRVS first, then add Butter. when all mixed, i add 3 oz of water. Beat until its incorporated well. Then, add 1.5 lbs of the powdered sugar, until mixed well. Then the remaining .5 lb and 1 oz of water!

Perfect consistency, every time! Thank u so much for this recipie!!!!

Hi Damaris, thanks for posting, that's great!

Hi Melissa and BeBe!
I apologize for asking without reading the 186 comments first ;) but I was wondering if you might be able to help me out with quantity? How many cupcakes will this recipe frost? How large of a cake will this recipe frost?
Thank you!
HollyLE

I really hate when I do this! Geez!
I submitted my questions THEN scrolled back up to read the recipe again AND FOUND MY ANSWERs at the bottom of the recipe...I looked at the recipe 3 times before asking! It's like walking all over the house looking for my phone WHILE I'M TALKING ON IT!!
Thank you anyway~~
HollyLE

Hi Holly, don't worry, the same thing happens to us

Can you use flavored International Delight creamer in place of the milk? thank you!

Hi, yes you can.

I tried this recipe a while back without much success, but decided to try it again and read through all the comments and followed the tips from BeBe, Melissa and other members. I think I got it, but was wondering if someone could share what it's supposed to look like when it's done? When I think of smooth, I think of the SMBC I usually make...and this one doesn't look like that. It looks like it has some texture to it--sort of like a dried marshmallow....is that what it' supposed to look like? Or did I mess up and should start over?! LOL!

4.70 from 39 votes (39 ratings without comment)