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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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bakerbrit says
Hi there! I used this recipe and everyone loved it! Actually I am using it as frosting for wedding cupcakes this weekend. I tried it out a while ago though and forgot how much it made. I know it says serves 6 but I was wondering what you mean by that? Either in cupcakes amount or cake pan size will do. Just need a round a bout answer for shopping. Thanks so much for sharing!
nburke178 says
Can you use confectioners sugar?
AmyColeman2 says
nburke178 Confectioners Sugar = Powdered Icing Sugar
ConneeMcCallon says
AmyColeman2 nburke178 There you go that answers my question. Powder Sugar aka icing sugar. thanks
Karlynn Johnston says
I am so glad you liked it! Also very glad to meet another Edmontonian!
Carmz says
Perhaps Edmontonians are attracted to great icing! I’m from there also 🙂
AmyColeman2 says
I used this icing a few weeks ago for my Dad’s birthday and it was AWESOME! Even Mom, who has relied on her overly sweet buttercream recipe for 30+ years, was impressed and asked for the recipe. It is the perfect combination of fluffiness and sweetness (which my teeth appreciated). Using this recipe again for a 5 year celebration cake for one of my employees.
P.S. – I didnt realize we both live in Edmonton when I found your blog. Its always nice to find locals!
CatsCudey says
You should use clear vanilla instead of black vanilla. You can take out 1 tsp of vanilla and add 1 tsp of almond flavor. It just tweaks that flavor of the vanilla.
CatsCudey says
You can use whipped cream to. Also if you want to make flowers put the icing sugar through a fine sieve and use less whipping cream. I use a different butter cream icing made with shortening for decorations because it holds the decorations better.
Loveysgirl says
The best icing I’ve ever tasted! It’s a new household favourite…no more store bought.
dfdfdfdfdfdgggtgt says
I actually (now that I think about it)
In DON”T like the recipe:P
dfdfdfdfdfdgggtgt says
Wow but I don’t have any coffee cream and our house doesn’t use salted butter so the rest of the butter will be a waste so I’m just going to stick to another recipe
penny says
dfdfdfdfdfdgggtgt add in salt maybe?
DesireeMarettaPoirier says
dfdfdfdfdfdgggtgt I made this with unsalted butter, I just added 1/2 tsp salt and it turned out AMAZING
Karlynn Johnston says
It might!
Karlynn Johnston says
Yes, for stars but not flower shapes.
galidink says
can this be piped for cake decorating , , will it hold up ?
Karlynn Johnston says
Glad you liked it!
Joy says
Ok, I needed a really good frosting really quick for cupcakes. I ran across this one so thought I would give it try. I had everything needed but the cream, and didn’t want to make a trip to the store. After searching around, I found CoffeeMate liquid creamer in French Vanilla, so thought I’d give it a try, as I had no other choice. The frosting turned out wonderful! It was the individual servings, so I used 5 containers. I have these in different flavors, so might try another one the next time. Yummmmmmm!!!
RoxC13 says
I have some coffeemate coconut & caramel (smells like the girl scout cookies..) Do you think that’ll do the trick?
AmeliaHoughton says
You should definitely add those drops of lemon juice – my grandmother always did! Its delicious!!
DebraBlatz says
I made a half sheet cake for the 4th of july..and this was the first time I used this recipie..and it was great.. but I found out..I had to double the recipie..to have enough icing to cover the cake and do the border. but.. I used the left over icing..to do cupcakes also.. but I made my roses and ect out of royal icing..but the next time.. I try this icing..I will do the entire cake.. with it.. and I also forgot to add vanilla..but the flavor of the coffee cream was just fine..I used brown butter southern pecan.. and also..for a tip.. I thought it was a little sweet for me.. so added 2 table spoons for all purpose flower.. it helps also to cut the sweetness.. and needless to say..I didnt bring one piece of cake back home with me..it got devoured.. ..
Java_Junkie says
I’ve tried a few Buttercream Icings and they’ve all been “meh, OK”. Last week I decided to break away from just the “OK” & try something new. I’m so glad this was the 1st page to pop up in my search. This is by far the best BC Icing I’ve ever had. I don’t like overly sweet icing & this is sweet enough for my liking, but still sweet enough that the kids LOVED it. The consistency (which I usually struggle with big time) was bang on!!
I’m with ginaandjeremy…this is my go to recipe from now on. The others shall be deleted :-). Thank you so much!!!
Msquaredfamily says
My apologies if this has been answered already (I looked through the comments and did not come across an answer).. I’m new to icing/decorating and I am wondering if this recipe would work for a frozen buttercream transfer? I’ve seen others who say buttercream without shortening is less “stable”, but I’m unsure if that means it won’t freeze as well in order to do a transfer. Any advice would be much appreciated – thanks in advance 🙂
Sharon says
@Msquaredfamily Hello fellow baker!
This recipe should work beautifully for a frozen buttercream transfer!
Reason: Butter gets VERY HARD when chilled (or frozen!). So go ahead and have fun with your transfer!
Sharon 🙂
Karlynn Johnston says
Possibly but the taste will change, the ratio as-is makes this fantastic..change at risk!
desserina says
Is it possible to use less sugar? I want to try this out ASAP, but I’m afraid of it being too buttery or too sweet, which is what I hate the most! I have never had good buttercream and I don’t know what the fuss is about…I really hope this recipe will change my mind about that!
stefffie78 says
desserina if you don’t like things buttery and sweet you will never like any buttercream icing 🙁
Karlynn Johnston says
Treat the icing like you would treat anything perishable because of the cream and butter in it! Yes to the fridge.
shireza says
Hi! Sounds like a good recipe ….. but would I have to keep the cake in the fridge if i make it a day ahead of my party? I am concerned that the cream needs refrigeration.
Karlynn Johnston says
Oh that sounds divine!
skcassibo says
This icing turned out wonderful. I’ve always used the buttercream icing recipe that calls for shortening and butter but just butter is so much better. I was frosting strawberry cupcakes with strawberry/rhubarb filling so I diluted a couple of teaspoons of strawberry jello powder in the whip cream before adding it to the icing. I also garnished the tops with a chocolate dipped strawberry. Yummy, Thank you! Hoping they go over well for my daughter’s engagement party.
Laura Brown says
Best icing ever. So flavorful and smooth. I couldn’t stop licking the spoon. Thank for sharing this recipe….
bobisu says
This is the same recipe my mom taught me 40 years ago!!! It’s so delish!
Karlynn Johnston says
Aw thanks so much! I hope to see you “around” here more! (and keep on commenting, I love it!)
Marie says
I usually don’t comment after trying a recipe, even if I liked it . I always mean to , but somehow never get around to it. I had to take the time tonight. I tried the butterrem recipe today and OMG… it is the BEST I’ve ever had. Who knew? .. salted butter and cream would make such a difference. And its so versatile. I doubled the recipe then divided the finised into three prts. I added lemon curd to one, semisweet ganache to the second, and vanilla bean paste to the third…ALL winners.
This one is a keeper. Thank You Karlynn!!!
ladams1221 says
US Federal code CFR 21 part 131:
Light cream (also known as coffee cream or table cream) must contain at least 18% but less than 30% milkfat. It is the lightest true cream.
Half-and-half is lighter than any of the true creams, containing at least 10.5% but less than 18% milkfat
trudy says
Coffee Cream (IN THE U.S.) is referred to as Half n Half. Half n Half is half heavy cream, half milk. It’s perfect for coffee.