This easy homemade American buttercream frosting recipe is the best ever! It's velvety smooth, full of creamy, buttery flavor, and perfect for decorating cakes, frosting cupcakes, filling sandwich cookies, and so much more! Go classic with vanilla, or add your favorite flavorings to make other incredible, rich flavors like chocolate and raspberry!
It’s the end of January, and while many people are wrapping up Whole30, I’m over here like ‘I love cake’.
Did you make a resolution to have an extra healthy January?
I’ve given up on trying to be extra healthy each January because I can never stick to my resolution. After a few days, I’m craving sweets so badly that I could eat an entire batch of cookies by myself! I’ve found that, for me, balance is best. My snacks and meals are mostly healthy, I exercise a few times a week, and I enjoy indulgent desserts. It’s a balance that keeps my feeling healthy and happy.
And with Valentine’s Day around the corner, you know I’ll be eating all. the. chocolate!
But today, I want to talk to you about frosting! And not just any frosting… the best buttercream frosting EVER! It is so decadent and silky smooth it will take all your self control not to eat it with a spoon. Which I’ve done and have absolutely no regrets about, by the way.
And the best part? Once you know the classic vanilla buttercream frosting recipe, you can make an infinite number of variations! I’m sharing two of my favorites, chocolate and raspberry, but the possibilities are truly endless.
How to Make American Buttercream Frosting from Scratch
This buttercream frosting is easy to make from scratch and takes just 10 minutes!
- Combine butter and shortening in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer) and beat until smooth. Add vanilla extract and beat well.
- Slowly add confectioners sugar, one cup at a time, beating the mixture on medium speed until the sugar is combined. The mixture will be a little bit dry.
- Add milk and beat on high speed. This small bit of milk will moisten the frosting, making it creamy and fluffy.
- That's it! You made vanilla buttercream! See the recipe at the bottom of this post for two of my favorite flavor variations: chocolate and raspberry!
Why Use Vegetable Shortening (Crisco) in Buttercream Frosting?
Vegetable shortening (commonly known by the popular brand name, Crisco) is a solid fat used in baking that has a consistency similar to butter. This recipe uses both butter and shortening to create a creamy and flavorful buttercream frosting. While butter provides delicious flavor, shortening provides two benefits when used to make buttercream:
- Shortening has a higher melting point than butter, so buttercream frosting made with shortening will hold up better in warm temperatures. (If you're serving a frosted cake in the summer, this frosting will be less likely to melt off your cake than an all-butter buttercream frosting.) This frosting will also hold decorations like piped roses a bit better and is less likely to become melty in a piping bag from the warmth of your hand holding the bag.
- Shortening is white in color, so a vanilla buttercream frosting made with shortening will be white, unlike all-butter buttercream, which has a pale yellow tint from the butter.
You may have seen me use this frosting before here and here, but I wanted to share my 3 favorite variations of this frosting in one spot so that you can easily find this recipe any time you’re making a cake, cupcakes, sandwich cookies - you name it! Next time you're baking, the only buttercream frosting recipe you'll need will be just a click away!
Love this American buttercream frosting recipe? Leave a review and be sure to check out these other dessert recipes that include this frosting!
- Neapolitan Cake from Scratch
- Valentine Heart Sugar Cookies
- Browned Butter Vanilla Snack Cake with Robin Egg Speckled Frosting
Best-Ever Buttercream Frosting 3 Ways
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: makes enough frosting for 24 cupcakes or one 9 inch. 2-layer cake
Description
This easy homemade American buttercream frosting recipe is velvety smooth, full of creamy, buttery flavor, and perfect for decorating cakes, frosting cupcakes, filling sandwich cookies, and so much more! Go classic with vanilla, or add your favorite flavorings to make other incredible, rich flavors like chocolate and raspberry!
Ingredients
for vanilla buttercream frosting:
- ¾ cup (12 T) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup vegetable shortening
- 1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 6 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 3 T whole milk
for chocolate buttercream frosting:
- 1 recipe vanilla buttercream frosting
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
for raspberry buttercream frosting:
- 1 recipe vanilla buttercream frosting
- ¼ cup raspberry jam
Instructions
for vanilla buttercream frosting:
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and shortening until smooth. Add vanilla and mix well. Add sugar slowly – one cup at a time – beating well on medium speed and scraping the bowl often. When all sugar is added the frosting will be dry. Then add milk and beat at high speed until the frosting is light and fluffy.
for chocolate buttercream frosting:
Make the vanilla buttercream frosting according to the instructions above. Then melt chocolate in a double boiler, stirring frequently so that chocolate does not burn. Once chocolate is melted and smooth, let chocolate cool for 1 minute. Add melted chocolate to vanilla buttercream and beat until blended.
for raspberry buttercream frosting:
Make the vanilla buttercream frosting according to the instructions above. Add the raspberry jam and beat until blended.
Notes
Storage: Store buttercream frosting in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. If you plan to refrigerate the frosting before using to decorate a dessert, let the frosting come to room temperature and whip it briefly with a stand or electric handheld mixer so that it's nice and fluffy before using.
- Category: Dessert
Keywords: buttercream frosting, American buttercream, vanilla, chocolate, raspberry
This post was updated in August 2020 to provide an improved user experience.
Can you use this buttercream recipe as the filling for macarons?
Hi Marissa! Yes absolutely! This is an American buttercream frosting, and will be a deliciously sweet filling in macarons.
- Allison
Why do buttercream harden an crust instead of staying soft? What to do when this happens ?
Hello! This recipe is for American buttercream frosting, which is a "crusting" buttercream, meaning that the frosting lightly sets and develops a very slight "crust" after it is exposed to air for a period of time. The frosting should still be very smooth and creamy and the "crust" almost unnoticeable when eaten, but the slight "crust" makes it easier to decorate using this style of frosting. If you are finding that your frosting is a bit too dry you can try slightly reducing the amount of confectioners sugar or slightly increasing the amount of milk used in the recipe. If you're finding that the frosting is becoming dry before you're finished decorating with it, you can place a damp cloth over the bowl of frosting to keep it moistened and stop it from drying out.
- Allison