Often the most beloved element of a cupcake is the frosting. A good frosting can elevate a simple cupcake to a delicious, rich dessert. Classic American buttercream is surprisingly easy to make, and can be adjusted to your personal preferences using added flavorings, and adjusting the ratio of the ingredients. American buttercream is simply a combination of butter, powdered sugar, vanilla (or other flavoring), and usually a bit of milk or cream- that’s pretty much it! The frosting I love to use the most often is my Cream Cheese Frosting, which is simply a variation on American Buttercream, with some cream cheese added. Free free to play with this recipe and adjust it to your palate. This is a very sweet, classic frosting that pairs well with most any flavor of cupcake.
American Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) Challenge butter (salted, or unsalted)
1/4 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (best quality available)
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream, half and half or milk.
*Optional- As mentioned above, I like a cream cheese version of this frosting best. The cream cheese adds to the creamy texture, and cuts down on the sweetness just a bit. If desired, for a very light cream cheese flavor add 1/2 block (4 oz). cream cheese, leaving the other ingredients (as listed above) the same. For a more traditional cream cheese flavor, reduce the butter to 1/2 cup, and add 1 block (8 oz.) of cream cheese. If using a full block of cream cheese, you can reduce the cream or milk to 1 tablespoon total.
Flavoring options– An almost unlimited number of flavoring options can be added in addition to, or instead of the vanilla. Orange and/or lemon zest, citrus extracts, mint extract, coconut extract or the seeds of a vanilla bean are all wonderful options. In most cases I’ll still add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, then 1/2 teaspoon of the other flavoring. For zest, add about 1 teaspoon fresh zest. For chocolate buttercream, add 1/2 cup (good quality) unsweetened cocoa powder.
Directions-
* In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter (on medium speed) until completely smooth (30 seconds to a minute). (If you are adding cream cheese, add it now, then beat until smooth)
* Add salt (if needed).
* One cup at time, add 2 cups of powdered sugar, beating after each addition.
* Add vanilla, or other flavorings and beat to combine.
* Add about 1 tablespoon of cream, and continue beating.
* Add the remaining 2 cups powdered sugar, one at a time.
* Add an additional 1-2 tablespoons cream until desired consistency is reached. If you want to pipe the frosting on cupcakes, the frosting should be nice and thick. Continue to beat another minute or so. The frosting should now be smooth and fluffy.
Troubleshooting-
* If your frosting is not smooth, it is likely because the butter was not fully smooth before adding the other ingredients.
* If your frosting will not hold up when piped on cupcakes, your frosting has too much liquid or is too warm. Put entire bowl of frosting in the fridge for 15-20 minutes and it will stiffen up. If it is still too thin, then add 1/4 to 1/2 cup powdered sugar, beat well.
Recipe Source- American buttercream first appeared in cookbooks in the early 1900’s (here’s a little buttercream history) Countless sources since then have included very similar versions, always using some combination of butter (or shortening), powdered sugar, milk and flavoring. The recipe above is simply the proportions I like to use.
Try this classic frosting on top of my favorite Vanilla Cupcakes or Chocolate Cupcakes.
Happy frosting!
How to Make American Buttercream Frosting
American Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter 2 sticks (salted, or unsalted)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract best quality available
- 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream half and half or milk.
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter (on medium speed) until completely smooth (30 seconds to a minute).
- Add salt (if needed).
- One cup at time, add 2 cups of powdered sugar, beating after each addition.
- Add vanilla, or other flavorings and beat to combine.
- Add about 1 tablespoon of cream, and continue beating.
- Add the remaining 2 cups powdered sugar, one at a time.
- Add an additional 1-2 tablespoons cream until desired consistency is reached. If you want to pipe the frosting on cupcakes, the frosting should be nice and thick. Continue to beat another minute or so. The frosting should now be smooth and fluffy.
I am making cupcakes for my grandson’s 1st birthday and I finally found a website that was so helpful. I learned so much. I did a practice run earlier this week. I thought that your butter had to be warm, so I had mine sitting on the counter for at least 2 hours. I now know that after visiting your site the butter should still be cool. Also I learned that by adding the cream cheese this will cut back a little on the sweetness. I also watched your video on how to decorate cupcakes and it was very helpful. This will definitely be my go to site for cupcake recipe’s and great advice. I feel a little more confident now and I will be using your recipe’s and technique’s. Thank you so much!!
can we cut down on the amount of sugar so that the frosting won’t be too sweet? btw, i LOVE your site. great pictures, great tips & techniques! thank you
Feel free to adjust the recipe and experiment to your tastes. If you want the recipe to be less sweet, I would first increase the butter, and/or add cream cheese.
I just tried making this frosting a few nights ago and the consistency did not turn out like the picture at all .. I even added the cream cheese. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? My frosting doesn’t look like the picture at all. It looks too sugary and not thick enough. I whipped it up very good … HELP?!
Hi Jennifer, Sorry it didn’t work out for you the first time. Make sure your butter and cream cheese are nice and cool, and beat the butter alone first, until smooth, then add the cream cheese and beat until smooth before adding the sugar. I’m not sure how it could look “sugary”, since the recipe calls for powdered sugar, which does not have granules big enough to see. If the frosting is too thin after it’s made (possibly if you home is warm or if a bit too much liquid was added), put the full bowl of finished frosting in the fridge for 15 minutes to an hour. It should be plenty firm enough to pipe by then. Best of luck!
Just made this frosting, but I added food coloring to make a nice light orange and cinnamon to taste and it turned out absolutely delicious. I’m pairing it with a white cake recipe out of a Better Homes cook book and I’m going to add a bit of nutmeg into those for a combination of the two. Hoping for a nice cupcake to remind me of fall, and testing it out for Thanksgiving. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Best buttercream ever!! Thank you!!!
Just wanted to drop by and say thank you for the American Buttercream recipe and the chocolate cupcake recipe. I like to use baking as a casual math exercise for my 12 year old daughter (an excellent way to reinforce fractions!) and it helps when we find recipes our whole family enjoys. I’ve envied the creations on your website for over a year now and am inspired by your talent!
Blessings, — Jill Welch
How many days in advance you can decorate cupcales with this frosting? How long can they be left outside the fridge in warm weather? I’m decorating cupcakes for my wedding and obviously can’t do it on the wedding day
Two really big thumbs up!, I tried many buttercream frostings for our twin boys 5th birthday party and this was hands down the best. Thank you!!!
Does anyone have this in UK measurements? It looks perfect but I would need it in oz or grams! Many thanks! :):)
I’ve been making your vanilla cupcakes with the plain American buttercream for 2 weeks. I’m still tweaking it trying to get it as perfect in pictures as yours ;-D They taste amazing!
If you need a pure white frosting, do you substitute the butter with Cisco? If so, is that an equal substitution or do you increase or decrease the Crisco?
For all those asking about the tip, I didn’t have any tips large enough and just used an empty standard Wilton coupler with great results.
Thanks for doing all the legwork towards perfect cupcakes then sharing with all of us, Glory!