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This is THE original salted buttercream frosting recipe that went viral and has been shared by hundreds of thousands of people – and this recipe has been read tens of millions of times!
Millions Have Enjoyed this Recipe
Millions Have Enjoyed this RecipeThis was my very first viral recipe here on The Kitchen Magpie! If you like this, you should try my Lemon Buttercream Frosting recipe. This recipe is the best thanks to sweet and salty mixing together!
When I first wrote this recipe 9 years ago, no one was using salted butter in their frostings – or at least there weren’t any posted online that I could find.This recipe made it in to my cookbook, that’s how amazing it is! This recipe was one of the first on my website and has been viewed by tens of millions of people over the years! Isn’t that crazy?
This buttercream icing is still is amazing, melt in your mouth, whippy, ultimate swirly cupcake worthy. It was fantastic on the homemade chocolate cake I made to go with it the very first time I whipped it up. The cake was dense and moist, and paired with a light as air buttercream icing… heaven. Angels dancing on your taste buds. I’ve tried it on every cupcake that you can imagine and it’s even amazing on vanilla. Salty vanilla icing on a vanilla cupcake is heaven for vanilla lovers!
Please go and have a read of my Buttercream Icing FAQ which answers a lot of the questions about this recipe asked in the hundreds of comments on this post below!
The most important is How to Fix Broken Buttercream, that’s a whole post in itself!
Frosting Ingredients
There are four basic ingredients for this buttercream frosting and I have kept it simple and straightforward for years now:
- Salted butter – a good quality, tastes-good-off-the-spoon butter is important!
- Vanilla – You need that classic vanilla taste
- Icing sugar – This is also known as powdered sugar or confectioners sugar
- Coffee cream – This is literally called coffee cream here in Canada but what it is is a cream that is 18% milk fat and up
Commonly Asked Frosting/Icing Questions and Answers
Do I have to refrigerate a cake with buttercream?
This buttercream has butter and it has whipping cream in it. I personally leave it out all day and it’s fine ( butter is always fine at room temperature) but the whipping cream? That’s a personal call for you. I have left it out overnight, but I honestly have to tell you to refrigerate it instead of leaving it out. But it’s really a personal decision. Apparently because of all the sugar you can leave a cake with buttercream frosting out for 2-3 days.
How long can you leave a cake with buttercream icing out?
I leave mine out for a day, not in the hot sun at all and it’s fine. According to the US food and inspection agency, you can leave a cake with buttercream frosting out for 2-3 days.
What is the best butter to use?
Salted and organic butter is literally the best butter that you can use. It is the salt that really makes this the best buttercream frosting ever. It’s actually a myth that salted butter is an inferior quality – it’s not. It’s the same quality.
How do I make the frosting stiffer?
You will want to use less cream in order to make the frosting stiffer. Start out with only a small amount of cream and add it until you get the consistency that you want.
How do you thicken up frosting?
This buttercream frosting is thick to start without adding in the cream! To start, beat in the icing sugar and see what the thickness of the frosting is. Then you can add a little bit of cream, a little at a time, until you reach the desired consistency. IF you go too far, you then can add more icing sugar/powdered sugar to thicken it back up.
How do you soften buttercream?
This one is easy, leave it out on the counter at room temperature for 45-60 minutes and it will be soft! If that doesn’t work and your frosting is too thick, then you might have to beat it again and add some more cream.
Can you store butter based frostings in the refrigerator?
You bet! Buttercream frosting/icing can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or two, as long as the whipping cream that you use wasn’t going to expire soon.
Can you freeze butter based icings?
I freeze it all the time! Simply defrost, mix and use as normal.
Tips and Tricks for the Best Buttercream Frosting
- Always use salted butter. When I first wrote this recipe in 2010 there weren’t many people that were food blogging compared to today, so I literally couldn’t find a SINGLE buttercream frosting recipe on the internet that used salted butter! Now I am sure that if I looked there would be tons of recipes similar to this one. Oh, how times have changed! So I had discovered that salt and sweet are a match made in heaven for icing and I never looked back. You can also read about the difference between salted and unsalted butter.
- Whip that butter, with a paddle beater if you have it, if not, don’t worry. You can also use the beaters on your handheld mixer just fine to beat the buttercream frosting! You want the butter to be smooth and creamy before you add the icing sugar.
- Fresh icing sugar makes all the difference. Icing sugar/powdered sugar/confectioners sugar goes stale, and you can sure taste it when it does! Crack open a fresh bag for icings, you won’t be sorry! Over the years many people have agreed that this is another trick to making great buttercream frosting.
- You can make this frosting as light or as heavy as you want by adjusting the amount of heavy cream that you use.
- Read this if you are looking for piping techniques.
Some More Frosting Recipes:
- Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- Chocolate Buttercream Icing
- Pistachio Pudding Buttercream Icing
- Vegan Buttercream Icing
- Candy Bar Buttercream Icing
Happy baking everyone!
Love,
Karlynn
The Best Buttercream Frosting Recipe
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Total Time
- 5 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisine
- icing
- Servings
- 16 servings
- Calories
- 223
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 1 cup of salted butter
- 3 teaspoons of vanilla
- 4 cups of icing sugar
- 4-5 tablespoons of coffee cream 18% and up
Instructions
- Get out the salted butter! Trust me and use salted butter, it’s the secret ingredient!
- Beat the butter until it is light and creamy. This is important as you are adding the icing sugar next. If the butter isn’t creamy you can get lumps in the icing.
- Add in the icing sugar. Again, if you are like me and can taste stale icing sugar, you will need a fresh bag.
- Add in the cream.. I used 4 tablespoons for my preference, you adjust to what you want.
- Stiffer icing = less cream. Lighter icing = more cream. Adjust the amount to your liking by adding one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
- Add the vanilla then keep mixing it until fluffy and thoroughly combined.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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spencer says
i want to try this but im not sure how much a cup of butter is??? have you got a weight i could use please????
Adrienne Potter says
Sounds yummy!! I was just wondering if you can add food coloring to the recipe and how many drops? I want to make blue cupcakes for my nieces babyshower.
Karlynn says
The best results are using the icing coloring gels, if you live somewhere that has a Micheals and you get the 40% coupon, you can get a mixed pack for a great price! Food coloring has always been the old standby of course (what else could they use before these fancy gels!) and works in a pinch, so whichever you want.
Meagan says
Hi! I’m doing a test run of my son’s first birthday cake (a monkey cake) and wanted to use your icing recipe, but need chocolate as well as vnilla icing. Have you experimented with the recipe to make chocolate icing? If so, how much chocolate did you add? I. Don’t want to disturb the balance of your finely honed recipe! 🙂
Karlynn says
Hey, I haven’t found a chocolate that I like yet, I have tried two versions but have yet to like them better than plain buttercream. Is it flavor or color you are looking for with the chocolate? You could just tint the buttercream brown if it’s only color.
Karlynn says
Coffee cream here in Canada is an 18% cream that is literally called on the carton “coffee cream” . On the scale of fat percentages, half and half is first, coffee cream, then medium cream, then whipping cream.
I do believe in the States that it is known as “table cream.”
Laura says
Actually, I live in Ontario, Canada and here, they sell table cream too! Infact, I havent seen coffee cream sold in stores around here. I made this recipe with it, it was awesome!
Amanda says
i was just curious as to what cream you used? like coffee mate creamer (liquid)?
whitney says
hey karlynn, thanks for posting this! however, every time, literally every time i make buttercream frosting i beat the butter and sugar for the time directed and it still comes out kind of lumpy and looks as if its trying to separate all the different ingredients. i use a kitchen aid, and powdered sugar. i’ve tried sifting and not sifting the sugar and it still always comes out the same. i’ve added a touch of milk and a lot of milk. i even thought adding more butter and less sugar would be my cure, however, it is not. any thoughts or suggestions?
Karlynn says
Try making sure the butter is room temperature, then making sure all the sugar is beaten in first, then add the wet ingredients. Could be the butter separating, I have never had that happen before. I think that making sure the butter is soft and room temp should do the trick.
Actually, go ahead and make sure it’s ALL room temp, even the cream, won’t hurt for it to be warm for a while. Let them sit on the counter for a while.
Also, change brands of all the ingredients! It most likely is the butter if the problem persists.
Melissa Kedro says
okay salted butter is my life definitely works great in this recipe… as well the cream makes it so smooth… the fattier the ingredients are for some reason is the better lol… loved this butter cream.. i made a vanilla cake with chocolet mousse filling and this icing on top worked beautifully thanks 🙂
Emily says
YUM! I will be making this right away for my matcha green tea cupcakes and my red velvet cake! Thanks alot for the clear and thorugh instructions!
Karlynn says
You are using the butter cream as the base, then putting fondant on? I don’t actually work with fondant but I would think you can make the base coat butter cream no problem.
Thanks for the lovely compliment!
Tameron says
Hi Karlynn,
Id like to try your recipe, but I will be using fondant, will this buttercream work well with that?…and if so, would the fondant do better with a stiffer icing?
first time fondant user!
BTW… luv luv luv the way you did the directions! and pictures, well done!!
dil says
Ohhh…. I got the answer from your previous dicusions. But another thing i want to ask from you, how should i store iced cake without putting it in a freezer. I want to know the other ways. Can i leave iced cake out side for a day or refregerater for a day without melting icing ????(not the freezing part). Thank you.
Karlynn says
The refrigerator is perfect for short term, I leave mine in there when the birthday/celebration/whatever is the next day. The buttercream firms right up in the fridge (think what a block of butter does!).
And as an Edmontonian, I FREEZE my cakes outside when it’s cold enough and they are too large for the freezer! Cover it up with several layers to protect it and there you go.
dil says
Hello,
I want to know ‘What is cream’? I am not very familer with icing stuff. But I want to make icing for a cake. No idea how ‘cream’ comes can/tin/ where to buy??? Can you explain pls with any brand name. that’s good. Thank you.
Kim says
Is this a good icing to use for piping on designs? It sounds fantastic for covering the cake bit I also need to pipe on some details/decorations.
Karlynn says
Hi Kim,
I did this R2D2 cake all with my buttercream recipe, so yes, you can make a beautiful cake with it.
Tips: you have to pop your icing bags into the freezer for a couple minutes every now and then, because the icing gets too soft from the heat of your hands. Try a little less cream for a stiffer icing.
If you are willing to keep the cake chilled until it’s needed, then it’s fantastic. . And let me tell you, NOTHING tastes as good as this, fondant nor royal icing.
Vree says
Hi, I was wondering if you could use granulated sugar rather then icing sugar. Please tell me! Byee!
Karlynn says
Not with this recipe, most that use granulated are the type that combine with milk and warm it up to dissolve it first. If you have a food processor you can out the granulated sugar in and grind in down.
It makes it gritty and doesn’t dissolve into it.. but a food processor would break the sugar down enough first.
Jenn says
this is some really good icing i always use the recipe with half butter and half shortening and this tastes soooo much nicer thanks for sharing your great butter cream icing
Angelena says
How much icing does this make?
Karlynn says
I would say from 1.5 to 2 cups of icing, but I really just make it and use it, sorry I am guessing!
Laura says
Hi there does this have to be refridgerated or would it be ok left out overnight?
Karlynn says
I would refrigerate it, it has butter and cream in it. It’s ok when it’s left out for a few hours, but I wouldn’t do overnight.
Karlynn says
Glad to hear it Monica! I am making it for my son’s birthday cake this week too, it’s my go-to recipe.
Monica says
Best buttercream icing I’ve ever tried.I used it to make a wedding cake and was awsome to work with.
Karlynn says
Royal icing is a stiffer icing to hold shapes, while buttercream is better for covering cakes, swirly cupcake toppings and perhaps a few shells on the edges of cakes. You can try to stiffen it up, but it IS butter based!
Royal icing doesn’t have butter in it and has ingredients that harden fast and firm.
Tracy says
Actually, buttercream can be used for most decorating, as long as it is kept cool and not set out in a hot room or outdoors. You also may need to cool your hands every so often if your hands tend to get hot, so you don’t melt the icing while you’re piping with it. Royal icing gets really hard and isn’t as palatable — most people don’t want to eat a crunchy rose 🙂 If you need the buttercream stiff enough for roses, just add more powdered sugar and less cream. Also, if you want smoother, less airy buttercream, don’t whip it quite so long and you won’t have all those little holes in your icing to try to smooth out when you ice your cake. 🙂 I’m glad you’ve discovered the joy of using salted butter and cream in icing! This is very similar to my usual buttercream that I’ve used for years now, and people just can’t get enough! 🙂 Hope you don’t mind me adding my two cents! 🙂
Toni says
Love this recipe. I usually use salted butter. I have used my half-n-half in a pinch before and it is so creamy. I always use butter cream to decorate unless I have to do roses or flowers that need to stand out.
Thank you for the tip on white food color! I hate using shortening for pure white. Thanks.
Actually on humid days if you want your butter cream frosting to stay put, add 1 tsp of cornstarch dissolve in a little water enough to pour (this recipe should call for 2 tsp.) and add to the icing after the powdered sugar. (I use a strainer to make sure there are no lumps.) It will hold up nicely. Also you can add Meringue Powder, which has corn starch in it anyway.
I did this on a very rainy day and made 3 doz. cupcakes that were put out for the party. They held their shape and did not melt at all.
Holly says
is this iceing ok for doing like fancy decorating? i did a decorating class and want to try out some designs.
Anna Durham says
Does this recipe hold strong enough to make swirls on cupcakes and to make roses?
Karlynn says
Plain swirls yes, if you use less cream and aim for a stiffer icing, just like all the pretty cupcakes you see in pictures. Royal icing is more what you use for structured icing creations like roses, buttercream has to be kept cool to keep it’s shape. The butter makes it taste so amazing, but goes soft in heat.
Anna Durham says
I want to try this recipe. Does it really taste good? If you put swirls on cupcakes does it hold strong enough? That’s what i’m looking for is to hold really good.
Donna Mutschler says
I have made every white icing possible. I have used the cook method, non-cook method. This recipe sounds nice but I cannot find the sugar you suggest. Is there a special “Icing sugar”?
Where do you buy it. I have never seen this in our grocery stores. Some of my recipes come out a little gritty. This special sugar may be my salvation. Please advise. Thanks.
Karlynn says
It’s also known as powdered sugar or confectioners sugar? Does that help? Where do you live? This type of sugar is fluffy and light as air, and will NOT be gritty, thus making an amazing icing!
Karlynn says
Hi Maria, I used coffee cream, which is 18%. Thanks for asking ,that’s a good thing for you to point out! Half and half would work just as well, it’s fairly close in fat content.
maria says
what kind of cream did u use???? please tell me because i wnt to make this on top of my cake for my family memebers
Ree says
Do you have a buttercream recipe for sugar cookies? Thanks. Ree
Karlynn says
OH my lord, if I won a Kitchenaid Mixer, I wouldn’t know what to do, I’d be so excited! So you can guess how excited I was Christmas morning, more excited than the kids !
How are you liking the glass bowl? I LOVE it. It’s coming out to purchase as an accessory in April with a lid, I can’t wait to get another “stand-by” so I can rest easy about it breaking!
Katie says
My daughter and I were making cupcakes and discovered we did not have any “frosting in the can”. Oh the horror. We had to make it from scratch. My recipe is similar to yours. No more canned for me! It was absolutely delicious. Yuh uh uh mee!
Memoria says
I’ll have to try this recipe very soon. I love the idea of using salted butter.
I have the same mixer as you! I won it on Pioneer Woman two months ago.