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

Hi! Do you think this would be the best icing to make a complete sprinkle cake? My daughter is about to have a Sprinkles and tutu party but I'm worried about which frosting to use! Thank you :-)

Hi Becca, It will be fine to use the Fluffy Buttercream recipe. You could also use the Classic Vanilla Buttercream which is all butter. You will be pressing on the sprinkles before the icing begins to crust. You will have a bit more time before the frosting dries with the Fluffy, but either recipe would be great to use. Such a cute party idea!!

have you tried grocery outlet thats where i get my hi ratio shortening sweettex

I tried this recipe & it was very yummy ... as well as easy to work with. I did have some dryness using the high ratio shorting modification. Rereading the recipe I now realize I did not add the additional milk. I will definitely be making this recipe again ... following the measurements this time. ?

How many cups of sugar do i add?

Hi Aidan, Two pounds powdered sugar is approximately 8 cups. You can use less if you reach the spreading consistency you like to work with.

I am so so confused :( 1st time making shortening based buttercream, trying to pair with WASC cupcakes, which are amazing btw!

My problem: I followed directions, including weighing ingredients, and following advice of Christine on March 5, 2013 post. BUT my buttercream is not working. It has zero flavor (tastes like nothing, or shortening) even though I put flavorings in plus 2 lbs of sugar. I have made this twice now with same texture and grainy flavorless result, even though I have sifted first, and beat on high for a long time. What could be wrong please? I am using Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening instead of Crisco and I have read that it is really good in buttercream. Could this be the culprit? Even so, why would my buttercream come out with zero flavor and grainy?

I LOVE THIS RECIPE!! It was so easy to work with and the recipe is spot on with measurements!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe- it made the icing process a breeze! Thank you!!!

hi bebe

if im using this recipe what would be the best way to frost it. can I use the hot knife method and put it in the freezer and then frost again and keep repeating. and if I use the classic all butter buttercream can I use the hot knife method. im confused because I use an all butter buttercream crumb coated it then placed it in the freezer to firm up then I applied another layer of frosting and smoothed it with a hot bench scrapper. from what I read I was suppose to let the cake come to room temperature before frosting it. can you please explain which buttercreams that are used for the hot knife method and which ones for the viva towel. im confused. my buttercream also streaked I colored it pink with the gel color.

Hi Linda- When we want smooth buttercream, we use this recipe (or any crusting recipe) and the Viva Paper towel method of smoothing 99% of the time. The main rule to keep in mind with the Viva method is that the cake needs to be frosted at room temp....or at least, brought to room temp before frosting the final coat. Otherwise, it will take a very long time to crust. Both the Viva and Hot Knife Methods of smoothing are in our Basics section of video tutorials if you'd like to see:

For the hot knife method, yes it can sometimes cause a bit of color variation in the frosting. If you are using white vanilla buttercream it isn't an issue...but sometimes with tinted buttercreams, it can bring out some (usually subtle) color variation. I'm not sure why this is...it's just a tradeoff of the technique. When using the hot knife method, I frost my cake and smooth it as best I can with my bench scraper & rotating on the turntable. Then, I chill it for 5-10 minutes in the freezer until firm. Then go in with the hot bench scraper and smooth out any imperfections, adding fresh buttercream as needed.

I hope this helps!

Hello ladies! I REALLY need help! I need to know what I am doing wrong...my icingson more often than not have grit in it. I asked before and BeBe told me to make sure my sugar does not contain beets. I use dominos 10x. It still comes out the same. Can you think of anything else I may be doing wrong. Is there a fix to it or must i throw away yey another batch...please help. It's awful to have a beautifully decorated cake but doesn't taste equally as well as it looks...thanks!

Here's what I use:
Unsalted butter
Hi ratio shortening
Pure cane sugar (Domino)
Heavy cream
Pure vanilla
Pure almond

I've read the you can beat thee butter for a long time. But mixing should be at a minimum after adding the shortening & sugar. I'm not sure how much truth there is to that.

4.70 from 39 votes (39 ratings without comment)