This post may contain affiliate links. See my privacy policy for details.
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.
Made this recipe?
Share a photo of what you made on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thekitchenmagpie or hashtag it #thekitchenmagpie.
Please rate this recipe in the comments below to help out your fellow cooks!
Learn to cook like the Kitchen Magpie
A Very Prairie Christmas Bakebook
Cookies, Candies, Cakes & More: Vintage Baking to Celebrate the Festive Season!
Flapper Pie and a Blue Prairie Sky
A Modern Baker’s Guide to Old-Fashioned Desserts
The Prairie Table
Suppers, Potlucks & Socials: Crowd-Pleasing Recipes to Bring People Together
Pin This Recipe to Your Desserts or Cakes Boards and Remember to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST!
susan says
Yummm! Thanks for the recipe. I made the vanilla, then a batch of lemon – using 2 tsp of lemon and 1 tsp vanilla and it was pretty good too – probably could of used 3 tsps of lemon and it would have been a little bit more lemony. But definately the best butter cream recipe I’ve tried so far!
Karlynn Johnston says
So glad you liked it! The best part is that you can add and taste test and it’s the perfect base to start creating all sorts of flavors with!
CarolN says
I want to try this recipe, it sounds great! Any reason you say 3 teaspoons of vanilla instead of 1 tablespooon? I always thought 3t=1T….
CarolN says
I want to try this recipe, it sounds great! Any reason you say 3 teaspoons of vanilla instead of 1 tablespooon? I always thought 3t=1T….
Karlynn Johnston says
They are the same measurement, but when a recipe is a new one, I will write the measurements one at a time..one tsp then taste taste….two tsp then taste test and then three tsp was perfect. So usually I type out exactly what I wrote on paper while making the recipe and this would be a perfect example of it!
Cbelston says
I tried your recipe this weekend to top sugar cookie bars and I was not disappointed!! DELICIOUS :) Thanks so much for sharing this treasure!
Cbelston says
I tried your recipe this weekend to top sugar cookie bars and I was not disappointed!! DELICIOUS 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing this treasure!
Karlynn Johnston says
No problem! I am glad you liked it!
Steph says
I’ve made this several times and is by far the BEST buttercream icing EVER!! It’s the salted butter…it’s the little salty detail that makes this icing DEEEEEE—-VINE! 😀
Steph says
I’ve made this several times and is by far the BEST buttercream icing EVER!! It’s the salted butter…it’s the little salty detail that makes this icing DEEEEEE—-VINE! 😀
Karlynn Johnston says
Glad you liked it! Yes, sweet and salt are a match made in heaven..mmm..
Belinda Madsen says
You are completely right. This is the BEST frosting recipe of all time. I made mint brownies with it and substituted the vanilla with mint extract. DIVINE. Thank you!
Belinda Madsen says
You are completely right. This is the BEST frosting recipe of all time. I made mint brownies with it and substituted the vanilla with mint extract. DIVINE. Thank you!
Karlynn Johnston says
Oh my..mint, that’s right up my alley! Mmmm! Glad you loved the recipe!
Tabitha says
I have tried a recipe a while back, can’t remember what or where I got it but UGH, I totally screwed that up! It hurt my feelings having to taste test it. I am excited about trying this one! I HEART buttercream icing!
Tabitha says
I have tried a recipe a while back, can’t remember what or where I got it but UGH, I totally screwed that up! It hurt my feelings having to taste test it. I am excited about trying this one! I HEART buttercream icing!
Karlynn Johnston says
Welcome to my site, glad you found me! This is a pretty darn good recipe, I hope you enjoy it!
PP says
AMAZING recipe!! Delicious and so super easy! This is the first time I have ever made frosting and it came out perfect!!
Can you store any unused frosting? Fridge or freezer? how long will it be good? Defrost completely to reuse?
Thanks!
Judyhax says
can you freeze this on a cake, and have it look good when unthawed??
Judyhax says
can you freeze this on a cake, and have it look good when unthawed??
Karlynn Johnston says
Yes indeed, search for the R2D2 cake on my site and you can see how it was frozen completely then defrosted for the day of the party.
PP says
How much cake/how many cupcakes does this recipe cover? Also, if I frost my cake and refrigerate it overnight, will the icing still be good when the cake is eaten the next day? It won’t be too hard/dry?
PP says
How much cake/how many cupcakes does this recipe cover? Also, if I frost my cake and refrigerate it overnight, will the icing still be good when the cake is eaten the next day? It won’t be too hard/dry?
Karlynn Johnston says
This will lightly frost a 2 layer cake, so if you want a substantial coating, make a double batch. To keep it in the fridge, you can “tent” saran wrap over it by placing toothpicks in the cake to hold the wrap off the icing. It will keep it fresh, then you just remove the toothpicks to serve and smooth over the very small holes in the top. Good luck!
PP says
AMAZING recipe!! Delicious and so super easy! This is the first time I have ever made frosting and it came out perfect!!
Can you store any unused frosting? Fridge or freezer? how long will it be good? Defrost completely to reuse?
Thanks!
Karlynn Johnston says
It stays in the fridge just fine for a couple of days, I don’t usually freeze it too long but it will stay quite a while I assume! Just defrost and mix.
Aaronlee says
I seriously screwed up making a different buttercream recipe for cupcakes for my daughters birthday this weekend, and google brought me to you 🙂
Here’s to hoping I don’t screw up this recipe too! 😀
Aaronlee says
I seriously screwed up making a different buttercream recipe for cupcakes for my daughters birthday this weekend, and google brought me to you 🙂
Here’s to hoping I don’t screw up this recipe too! 😀
Karlynn Johnston says
Oh, it’s so beautifully easy! It will make wonderfuly, swirly cupcakes!
Van091988 says
hey! i want to try this for a wedding cake but the wedding is outside…will it melt?
Nicole says
Depends on how hot it is but classic buttercream like this is highly unstable and prone to melting. You may want to try an Italian or Swiss Meringue buttercream as they stand up better in the heat. I wouldn’t leave any cake outside for long though.
Van091988 says
hey! i want to try this for a wedding cake but the wedding is outside…will it melt?
Nicole says
Depends on how hot it is but classic buttercream like this is highly unstable and prone to melting. You may want to try an Italian or Swiss Meringue buttercream as they stand up better in the heat. I wouldn’t leave any cake outside for long though.
Karlynn Johnston says
Yes, buttercream cannot take heat at all! Just think of butter in the sun..yikes!
Tana says
hey, umm.. i just have one question: what’s coffee cream??
Tana says
hey, umm.. i just have one question: what’s coffee cream??
Karlynn Johnston says
It’s a high fat cream, 18%, you can use half and half as well, which varies from 12-18% milk fat.
Alexis_mommy800 says
hi there I was wondering if this recipe would smooth out good for use on a wedding cake?
Alexis_mommy800 says
hi there I was wondering if this recipe would smooth out good for use on a wedding cake?
Karlynn Johnston says
It smooths out very nicely, as long as you have a great crumb coat. To smooth it, freeze the cake then work on smoothing out the frozen icing. Works like a charm!
Magen says
iam geting ready to make some cup cakes for my freinds baby shower and i got the mix at the store to make the butter cream icing and the shower is on sat and i will be making them on thrusday night will they be ok till then
Magen says
iam geting ready to make some cup cakes for my freinds baby shower and i got the mix at the store to make the butter cream icing and the shower is on sat and i will be making them on thrusday night will they be ok till then
Karlynn Johnston says
I would freeze them Thursday evening and then defrost them the morning of. But the icing is fine as long as it’s kept cold, it will keep its shape. Thanks for stopping by the site!
Taylor Ann says
I have always hated buttercream…. but this one looks worth a try. Im not sure what it is about buttercream that I don’t like… but it’s SOMETHING. This just might change my mind:)
going to try!
Taylor Ann says
I have always hated buttercream…. but this one looks worth a try. Im not sure what it is about buttercream that I don’t like… but it’s SOMETHING. This just might change my mind:)
going to try!
Karlynn Johnston says
I think it’s when people use shortening in it, and not real butter. Shortening makes me want to scrape my tongue clean after I eat it. That was probably too much info for you right there. But I can TELL and it is sooo gross! Pure butter only for me!
Mod Ethel says
AMAZING!!! THANK YOU!!!!
Mod Ethel says
AMAZING!!! THANK YOU!!!!