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

I made this last week and forgot to freeze my leftovers. Can I still freeze it?

Also, forgot - how many cups does this make? Is it enough to frost a 10" round with 4 layers of cake and 3 layers of filling, plus crumb coating or should I double it?

Hi Pamela, if you have kept it in the refrigerator and the ingredients used were not near expiration date it should be fine.

This is a link to the Wilton Party Serving Chart The recipe makes 6 cups. According to Wilton's chart you would need 5 cups of batter for a 2 layer four inch tall cake. We tend to use a lot of frosting on our cakes so I would probably double the recipe and freeze the leftovers.

BeBe...I plan on making this for cupcakes for a reunion on August 3, 2013. Can I say make this on Monday, refrigerate it until Thursday or Friday, and then ice the cupcakes. Please advise and Thank you so much

Marlene

Hi Melissa & BeBe,
How many cups are in 2 lbs?
Thank you!!

Hi Krislyn, if the powdered sugar is unsifted 3 1/2 cups = l pound
if it is sifted, 4 cups = l pound.

Sifting adds air and increases the volume of the powdered sugar

This one reason why you often need to adjust the amount of liquid to get it to the consistency you like to work with.

HELP... I can not get this buttercream to crust.. even over night it didn't crust! I followed the directions to the letter! I live in Arizona so not humid, its only 90 and I keep my house temp at 79,80 degrees! any ideas?????

Hi Kelly-- I'm sorry, that is strange! The most common cause of the frosting not crusting is if the final coat of frosting was applied while the cake was cold. Was this by chance the case with you? Even if it was, I am surprised that it didn't eventually crust overnight.

You can try placing in front of a fan, or you may have to move to plan B and use the hot knife method of smoothing in which case you would freeze or chill for a few minutes, take a hot knife and glide over the icing. (If doing this method, I like to have a little bit of fresh buttercream on hand also to glide over any imperfections with the hot knife.) -

I live in Hawaii where it is very humid n around 80 degrees most of the time. Does anyone live in a similar climate and have experience w this frosting?

I'm wondering if it will crust despite the humidity and of it could b suitable for a wedding cake that will be displayed outside for an hour or so. I plan on not doing any heavy techniques that will slide or droop...

Mahalo! (Thank you!)

Hi Anon, if there is high humidity it could take it longer to crust, you could increase the amount of confectioners' sugar and that would help give you a firmer crust. It should be find to be outside a few hours, preferably in a shady area. The High Ratio Buttercream recipe would also be a good one to use if you have access to high ratio shortening in Hawaii.

Hi, Melissa! I enjoy all your videos and use many of your recipes - especially this one! But I have such a hard time getting my cakes as smooth as yours look in the videos. When I push the frosting across the top of the cake, I get what looks like popped air bubbles. It takes SO long to smooth, and I wonder if I am doing something wrong. Perhaps the icing is too thick . . .? Do I beat it too long when mixing it . . .? I so want my cakes to look as smooth as yours! Any suggestions? (I do use the viva towel method, but somehow it never is as smooth as yours). Thank you!

Hi JeanF, when we are making this recipe we let it mix around 6 to 8 minutes, during the last 2 or more minutes we slow down the mixing speed, this will greatly reduce the popped air bubble look. You also may need to add more liquid if you feel it is too thick, adding it a teaspoon at a time, this will help with the popped bubble look also. Let us know if the problem improves.

4.70 from 39 votes (39 ratings without comment)