This White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe belongs in your recipe file of favorites!

Not only does it have a wonderful white chocolate flavor, but its creamy consistency is perfect for piping. It is the perfect choice for so many cake and cupcake flavors.

What I love most about this frosting recipe is that the white chocolate flavor really shines through.

The recipe calls for white baking chocolate (we really prefer this over white chocolate chips or candy melts). You are going to love the flavor.

Table of Contents

How to Make White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

*You can find the full, printable recipe card further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

This easy-to-follow recipe involves combining the melted white chocolate with the usual key players...butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla, and milk (or cream).

Cut/chop the white chocolate into very small pieces, put into a microwave safe bowl and add 4 Tablespoons milk or cream. Chopping the chocolate into small pieces will help it to melt more quickly and evenly.

Microwave the chopped white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl for 15 seconds and let sit for a minute, stir and microwave again 15 seconds letting it sit a minute to soften further, stir. (Repeat heating in small increments as needed).

We do it this way so that we do not accidentally overheat or burn the white chocolate. The heated chocolate will continue to melt as it is stirred. The melted chocolate should not be hot when added to the mixture and so allow to cool as needed.

Beat the butter until softened and smooth, add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add the white chocolate and milk mixture. Add vanilla and salt. Add another Tablespoon milk if needed. Beat on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes and it will become smooth and creamy.

This recipe makes 5 cups frosting, which is enough to frost a 2 or 3 layer eight inch cake. If you will be doing a lot of decorative piping, you will need additional frosting.

What Cakes Pair Well with White Chocolate Frosting?

This luscious, white chocolate frosting is a heavenly complement to so many cake flavors. It's perfect with fruity cakes, chocolate cakes, and more! Here are a few favorites:

Strawberry Sour Cream Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

White Chocolate Raspberry Cake

White Chocolate Cranberry Cake

White Chocolate Peppermint Cake

Classic Chocolate Cake

Is this White Chocolate Frosting Good for Decorating?

Yes! This white chocolate buttercream is not only delicious, it pipes perfectly!

As an added bonus, this frosting recipe develops a slight crust, making it perfect for smoothing using the Viva Paper Towel Method of Smoothing for those of you who prefer this technique!

If you've ever had Grainy Buttercream, Read this!

** We’ve had great results with Domino’s confectioner’s sugar in our frostings. 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 brand of confectioners sugar.

Here's our White Chocolate Buttercream in action, as the frosting for our White Chocolate Raspberry Cake!

More White Chocolate Cake Recipes

We've made several white chocolate cakes over the years! Here are just a few of our favorites:

Enjoy the Recipe!

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you give this white chocolate buttercream a try, we would love for you to leave a comment below!

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

This white chocolate buttercream has a nice white chocolate flavor, is smooth, creamy, and, pipes beautifully!

Ingredients

3 sticks (339g) unsalted butter, softened (do not soften in the microwave)
8 ounces (227g) white baking chocolate (I used 2 Ghirardelli Premium Baking Bars)
5 cups (575g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
4 tablespoons (42 g) milk or cream
½ teaspoon (3g) salt - optional to cut the sweetness

Instructions

Cut/chop the white chocolate into very small pieces, put into a microwave safe bowl and add 4 Tablespoons milk or cream.
Microwave for 15 seconds let sit for a minute or two, stir and microwave again 15 seconds letting it sit a minute to soften further, stir. Be careful not to over heat the chocolate. The chocolate will continue to melt as it is stirred. Let the chocolate cool down before using.
Beat the butter until softened and smooth, add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add the white chocolate and milk mixture. Add vanilla. Add another Tablespoon milk if needed. Beat on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes and it will become smooth and creamy.
Makes 5 cups frosting. Makes enough to frost a 2 or 3 layer eight inch cake. If you will be doing a lot of decorative piping, you will need additional frosting.

70 Comments

Delicious, I love white chocolate cake, thanks for the recipe Melissa.

My family always say that I am wasting my time here at net, however I know I am
getting knowledge every day by reading thes pleasant posts.

I made a batch as a trial, and I have some left over. How long can it keep in the refrigerator for? Will defi iteky make this for my daughter's cake as I was looking for a white frosting receipe that covers a chocolate cake.

Hi Kristin, You should be able to refrigerate for 10 days to 2 weeks if the date on the milk used was not at expiration. You can also freeze for up to 2 months. When ready to use just let it come to room temperature and remix to get a smooth consistency. So glad you like the recipe.

I’ve made this icing twice, the first time it was perfect! Today I made it again, but when I bought the white chocolate, I forgot about your Kristin’s note and bought white chocolate chips. I won’t make that mistake again, too sweet and the consistency is not the same. When made correctly it is delicious!

Does this frosting pipe well? I am looking to pipe roses for a cake!

I made a 1.5 times batch of this and used it to frost my mom’s birthday cake. She loves white chocolate and I typical don’t love working with white chocolate frosting as it doesn’t hold its shape well....not any more!! This recipe worked amazingly well. It held shapes very well and tasted amazing. I put a little more powdered sugar in because I could then just use the entire 2 lb bag and my mom loves sweet. I also added 1/2 tsp of almond. My family LOVES almond flavoring so I typically add it to all our baked goods. This frosting works great and tasted amazing. The 1.5 times batch worked to cover the huge 3 layer cake as well as a ton of flowers and even had a tiny bit left over. Will use again for sure!! Usually I have to make two frostings for her cakes - one that is white chocolate and one to decorate with but with this one, I can just make one. Thank you!!!

Hi Sarah, This frosting does pipe well.

Hi Marcy, Thank you so much for posting your picture. Sarah who asked about piping will be able to see the various piping techniques you used on your cake. The cake is lovely and I'm sure your mom was thrilled. Thanks for your nice review of the recipe!!

If using water as opposed to milk, would this recipe be shelf stable? As a baker working out of my home, legally I am not able to sell anything that requires refrigeration. Also, maybe you could list which frostings on your site are shelf stable? That would be super helpful to us home bakers. :)

Hi, everyone! I made this frosting and the flavor was wonderful but the consistency was too soft to pipe and hold its shape. It also never developed the slight crust I was expecting. I followed the recipe but did add a bit more milk, as the buttercream was initially quite stiff. I'm thinking I added too much liquid? Has anyone else had a problem with it being too soft?

Hi Kate, I'm sorry you had a problem. If the buttercream is too stiff, add additional milk a teaspoon at a time as it can go from stiff to soft quickly. Once it is too soft you will need to add additional powdered sugar. The next time you make this, add the powdered sugar gradually, you many not need all of it.

Thanks for your insight—I really do think it was the extra milk! I was in a rush and didn’t measure out the additional milk carefully and it did go from stiff to soft in a split second, as you noted. We all loved the flavor, though, and next time I’ll know to measure out the extra milk carefully!