Baking a cake or cupcakes and need to figure out how much frosting you need? Let this article and the handy charts below be your guide!
Raise your hand if you've ever run out of frosting in the middle of frosting a cake. *Cue collective sign and hand-raising.*
It's such a pain to pull the ingredients back out and whip up another batch, and my goal with this article is to help us all avoid that struggle by figuring out how much frosting we'll need to cover our cakes and cupcakes before we start baking!
If you're like me and love to mix and match cake and frosting recipes, this article is going to be an absolute life saver!
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How Much Buttercream Do I Need?
The amount of frosting you'll need will depend on three things:
- The size of your cake
- The shape of your cake
- The number of cake layers
This guide will help you determine how much frosting you need for the top and sides of the cake as well as between the cake layers. If you're planning to pipe a decorative border or other decoration on your cake, it's best to make extra frosting (at least an additional 1 to 2 cups).
For cupcakes, the amount of frosting you'll need will depend on:
- The number of cupcakes
- The style of frosting (whether you're spreading it on or piping a tall swirl of frosting)
Many frosting recipes make 4 cups of frosting, which is typically enough frosting for a two-layer 9 inch round cake. You may need to scale a frosting recipe up or down in order to have the right amount for the cake you're making.
The helpful charts below will help you to determine just how much frosting you'll need based on these factors.
Does the Type of Frosting Matter?
I designed this guide with American buttercream frosting in mind, but it will work for other thick frostings as well, including other styles of buttercream (like Swiss or Italian), cream cheese frosting, and whipped cream frosting. Since we're measuring the amount of frosting by volume (cups) rather than weight (grams), it works for various types of frosting.
Frosting Guide
Use the following charts as a guide to determine how much frosting you'll need for different shapes and sizes of cakes or for cupcakes. Remember to make additional frosting (typically 1 to 2 cups) if you plan to pipe decorative borders or other designs on the cake. These frosting amounts are just to cover the cake and fill between cake layers. When in doubt, scale up!
I've included the cake pan sizes most often used by us homebakers in this guide.
Round Cake Frosting Guide
| Cake Size | Number of Layers | Cups of Frosting |
| 6 inch | 2 | 2 ½ |
| 6 inch | 3 | 3 ¼ |
| 8 inch | 2 | 3 ½ |
| 8 inch | 3 | 5 |
| 9 inch | 2 | 4 |
| 9 inch | 3 | 6 |
Square and Rectangular Cake Frosting Guide
| Cake Size | Frosted Top Only or Top and Sides | Cups of Frosting |
| 8 inch square | Top Only | 1 |
| 8 inch square | Top and Sides | 2 |
| 9 inch square | Top Only | 1 ¼ |
| 9 inch square | Top and Sides | 2 ½ |
| 9 x 13 | Top Only | 2 |
| 9x13 | Top and Sides | 3 |
Cupcake Frosting Guide
| Number of Cupcakes | Style of Frosting | Cups of Frosting |
| Half Dozen (6) | Spread or Piped Rosette | 1 |
| Half Dozen (6) | Tall Swirl | 2 |
| One Dozen (12) | Spread or Piped Rosette | 2 |
| One Dozen (12) | Tall Swirl | 4 |
| Two Dozen (24) | Spread or Piped Rosette | 4 |
| Two Dozen (24) | Tall Swirl | 8 |
Ready to start baking? You can find all of my favorite frosting recipes right here!
And did you know that I have adaptable cake recipes that can be used to bake layer cakes, sheet cakes, and cupcakes all using one simple recipe? Seriously, they're the only classic cake recipes you'll need! Be sure to check out my adaptable moist and fudgy chocolate cake and my adaptable moist and fluffy vanilla cake recipes.
Love this baking tutorial? Be sure to check out my other helpful baking tips! And don't forget to subscribe to Always Eat Dessert for even more baking tips and easy scratch-made dessert recipes.
Shelly says
I so appreciate this chart! I needed to know - top only, 9x13. Thank you!
Allison Ferraro says
I'm so glad it's helpful, Shelly! I actually come back to reference this chart all the time, myself!
- Allison
K says
Top only for the round cakes would be amazing as well, not that this isn’t great. I’ve just bought a new pan (6 inch) and was googling bc I rarely ice anything beyond tops, not for casual weekend eating. 🙂
Allison Ferraro says
Thanks so much for that feedback, K! I love keeping it simple and only icing the tops, too! Off the top of my head, I'd say that 1 cup of frosting would be plenty for generously frosting the top of a single layer 6 inch round cake.
- Allison