Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
This is a classic frosting recipe used in a lot of delicious desserts. It is most commonly used to frost cakes. It is creamy, buttery and easy to use. It is also a base frosting for other frosting like my Raspberry Buttercream Frosting. In this recipe, I used both butter and shortening to create what is called a crusting buttercream meaning that it forms a crust after sitting for a while. While the butter gives this frosting a creamy buttery taste, the shortening provides the structure it needs to stay at room temperature. To see some of my buttercream cake designs, click here.
For a tutorial on how to make Swiss Meringue Buttercream, click here.
INGREDIENTS:
(1) 113 Grams Unsalted Butter (1/2 Cup)
(2) 113 Grams Shortening (1/2 Cup) (See Note 1)
(3) 460 Grams Confectioners Sugar (4 Cups)
(4) 2 to 4 Tablespoons of Milk. (See Note 2)
(5) 1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
(6) Food Color (Optional)
(7) 1/2 Teaspoon Meringue Powder (Optional) (See Note 3)
NOTES:
(1) You can use all butter, all shortening, or any combination of both. If using butter, it should be at room temperature. Take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you intend to make the frosting.
(2) The quantity of milk you use will ultimately depend on how firm you want the frosting to be. It is best to start with 2 tablespoons and add more if you need to. You can use whipping cream in place of milk for a richer frosting.
(3) While meringue powder is very optional, including it in your frosting will help the frosting hold its shape at room temperature.
PROCEDURE:
(1) Place the butter in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream butter until it is smooth and without lumps. With the mixer still running on low speed, add the shortening in chunks and mix until it blends with the butter. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl every now and then to make sure there is no butter sticking to the bowl. Mix both until light and airy.
(2) Next, add the confectioners sugar in 1 cup measurements. Mix at low speed to contain the sugar in the bowl. Mix until all the mixture comes together. This takes about a minute. The mixture will be thick and lumpy. Again, make use of your rubber spatula to scrape bottom and sides of bowl.
(3) After adding all the confectioners sugar, add the milk, vanilla extract and meringue powder (if using) and mix at medium speed until incorporated. Then, crank up the speed to high and mix for about 30 seconds or until the frosting is light, fluffy and has increased in volume. Do not over mix the frosting or it would have large air holes which is not what you want.
(4) The butter cream frosting is ready to be used. You can increase the quantity of milk if you require a lighter frosting. You can also add more confectioners sugar if you desire a thicker frosting. The frosting can be colored with you choice of color. Use paste as opposed to liquid colors for best results. A little goes a long way, so add color sparingly. While you can always add more color, it is impossible to take color out.
(5) This buttercream frosting can be used to frost cakes and cup cakes. It can be placed in a piping bag to pipe flowers and border designs. Let your imagination run wild. For a comprehensive post on how to frost cakes with buttercream, click here.
For Chocolate Buttercream Frosting click here. For Raspberry Buttercream Frosting click here.
Terry Adido is passionate about showing people how easy it is to recreate restaurant quality meals in the comfort of their kitchens. With a style of cooking he refers to as Afro-European Fusion, his meals are influenced greatly by French and Italian Cuisine with a West African twist. If you love good food, you are in for the ride of your life.
Terry! Aaaaaaaaaah! Omo to dun! I love you gan! You are too much!!!
Thanks. Loving you right back.
Thumbs up Terry!!
Thanks.
I hail oo,my bro.thanx so much and God bless u plenty.
Thanks
Hey Terry!
Your cakes look gorgeous, Did you learn to frost cakes yourself or did you take classes? If you did. where?
Hi. Thanks for the feedback. I am self taught no classes.
Terry,I must confess u are heavenly taught!!! Every of your post has been a blessing to my cake business!d humility in ur step by step teachings are just divine! Keep it up dear! God bless u richly.
Thank you.
LOL at heavenly taught. I agree with that cause I am just loving every post.
God bless your hands Uncle Terry
Thanks Ann.
Terry,the heart shaped cake did you just use the flowers to cover it or did cover the whole cake with buttercream first?
I covered the whole cake with buttercream first. The cover was however a thin crumb coat. This is necessary as there would inevitably be some blank sports where the flowers do not cover and what you dont wan is for the cake to show through.
3) 460 Grams Confectioners Sugar (4 Cups). Is this icing sugar or regular sugar.
It is icing sugar.
Nice work Terry.Terry pls how is it best to use margrine .cos what is mostly put for sale in Nigeria market is marg.(ice Topper,Romi)
thanks and waiting for or prompt response. Stay blessed and kinky.
Hi. If using margarine, just follow the steps and measurements listed above, i.e . 226 grams margarine. The cream frosting will however be a bit more dense then when butter is used.
how do I make a good rose flower from my buttercream?
For lifelike roses, you will need a Petal Tip to do that. For the roses on the white cake on this page, you will need a 1M tip.
Tanx for another great tutorial, Terry.
You are welcome.
I love buttercream frosting, howevr, mine always turns out too stick dt wen i cover the cake it doesn’t appear smooth. Wat do i do?
Maybe its your recipe. It might also be that you do not incorporate enough air into it or you use too little milk.
Weldone terry. Pls i nid to knw wat shortening is.and also if it’s a must to use it wit d mixture. Tanx
Hi. It is a form of vegetable fat like margarine. You can do without it and use only butter.
U’r really preparing me 4 my Bday cake, I’ve bn planning 2 decorate by myself. Thanks 4 this.
You are welcome.
Really enlightening…thanks…my question or would i call it challenge is this…i dont seem to get the perfect finishing to my butter cream frosted cakes..the mix is usuallly of a good consisitency yes..and i do the crumb coat layer and all..but yet still i dont get that perfect finishing like the”ordered cakes have”…lols…any ideas please… thanks.
Getting a perfect BC finish is not an easy task. It takes practice and patience. You can try dipping your spatula in some hot water and using it to marble your BC frosting after it has had some time to harden in the fridge. You can also try using some paper towel and fondant smoother to smooth the BC surface after it is hard.
Pls terry , I Dont know why my butter icing is always rough, is it because I Dont use turn table? Even if I use palette knife and comb after its still rough.. Place reply
Getting a perfect BC finish is not an easy task. It takes practice and patience. You can try dipping your spatula in some hot water and using it to marble your BC frosting after it has had some time to harden in the fridge. You can also try using some paper towel and fondant smoother to smooth the BC surface after it is hard. A turn table is also a must.
Thank you so much for sharing! I have plans to progress from just making cakes to decorating it. The steps you described here seem straight forward, I will let you how I get on. Hope to learn more from you.
Its my pleasure Tosin. All the best.
Well done terry, can red velvet cake be preserved, if yes how.
Thanks Afuwape. RVC is one of those cakes which should always be in the fridge. It can last up to a week there and still taste fresh. Just bring it out abut an hour before you intend to eat it so it can be soft again.
Nice art u’ve got,more grace to ur elbow. Please I need the normal fondant recipe.I’d be really grateful if U reply.Thanks in adv
Hi. I have none yet. Thanks.
impressing n challenging.want to lean, hw do i go about it?
Practice makes perfect
Terry,pls permit me to call u my mentor,ur lovely idea hv been helping me,tnx alot.pls what is spatula,pls reply.
Thanks. Its used for mixing and frosting. Google images should help.
U re a darlin,10nks4 d tutorial.cn I decorate d vanilla sponge cake n does it taste lik normal cake.pls
Thanks. Yes you can. I don’t get what you mean by normal cakes.
Wonderful talent u ve got. Pls wot can I use in place of a mixer. Thanks n God bless
Thanks. Hand mixer.
Well done my boss
Thanks
Thanks Terry. Please what size of cake can the measurement above cover?
Hi. It would cover an 8 or 9 inch cake.
I use this recipe but the buttercream is always a bit gritty; I can still taste the sugar granules. Do you have a remedy for that? What icing sugar brand do you use?
Hi. It should not be gritty as icing sugar is very fine. The brand does not really matter as I use a lot of brands. Try sifting the icing sugar before using. This should eliminate any lumps.
Thanks so much for ur response,I do appreciate
You are welcome
Hi!
Your recipes are just awesome. I want to ask you what is shortening refer to in your icing ?
Thanks
Thanks Shruti. It is a type of solidified vegetable fat. It is sold in stores. The most popular brand is called Crisco.
Thanks for the recipe Terry. I must say that working with buttercream is hard work. Could you please tell me a better way to work with it apart from having to stick the cake in the fridge every 10mins to harden up.
Hahaha. Yes frosting a cake with only BCF is not the easiest thing to do. The fist frost after the crumb coat should be long, about an hour or more. That should help make your job easier.
Hi Terry great job by the way God bless you. please is it possible to use a double hand mixer or only a stand mixer can be used?
You can also use a hand mixer. You might however need to mix for longer.
I tried this out but the icing wasnt smooth and came out watery Please what is my mistake?
Did you sift your icing sugar before using? Did you make beat your butter and shortening until smooth before adding the icing sugar? Was your butter at room temperature before using? Did you over beat it at the end, thus incorporating a lot of air?
As for it being too thin, a quick fix is to add more icing sugar until you get to the consistency you like OR start with 2 tablespoons of milk and graduate upwards if you feel the need to.
I love your tutorials you are specially gifted wish to be as creative as you are God bless your magic fingers
Thanks Jumoke.
tanx terry. bt dt ur cupcake wit ball on it .u said it was royal icing. bt i tot butter n royal does nt go together. how did u do dt. tanx
Mariam, the green grass was made out of buttercream. The ball was made out of royal icing. The ball was pre-made and placed on top of the cake.
More grace to u 4 sharin ur tutorials.pls d milk used is it liquid or powdered milk or any1.10ks
Thanks. I used liquid milk. I believe you can add water to powdered milk and use that too.
Lol… I wish you can just transfer all your creativity and skills into my memory. Not really good at piping. Working hard to get better, especially on the roses, when working with buttercream. Is caster sugar the same as confectionery sugar? Thanks for always being there. Love you to the moon and back!
Thanks a lot for your message. Piping can be challenging, but practice makes perfect. It might be useful to keep practicing even on cake pans with leftover frosting. Caster sugar is granulated white sugar which has been blended until it is almost fine. It is not as fine as confectionery/icing sugar. Confectionery sugar also has some corn starch in it.
Butter cream frosting gets spoilt on time after icing, why? And how can this be avoided?or shd I say what’s d durability of butter cream frosted cake?
From my experience, this is not the case. The sugar preserves it. Your experience might be due to very hot weather or your choice of ingredients. Maybe water in place of milk might work better in hot climates.
Tnks
You are welcome Dupsy.
going to try this today!!!!
Awesome. Do let me know how it turns out.
turned out so well thnxxx but what is the shelf life like
Awesome. I would store it in the fridge for up to a week.
Hi there love your site 🙂 can this be made with dairy free margarine as my son is allergic to cows milk. Thanking you. Angela 🙂
Thanks Angela. Yes it can be made with only margarine. You might want to use a couple tablespoons of milk only as margarine thins out more than butter.
Beautiful tutorial as always….guess here will be my learning class! You are absolutely good with your work & the good spirit of sharing! Thank you
Thanks a lot Anita. I’m glad to have you here.
Weldon Terry God bless you. You said in one of the reply that “a turn table is a must” What do you mean by turn table? Thanks
Thanks. Its best you google it to see a picture. They are either called “turntable” or “lazy susan”
Hello Terry,ur cakes are wonderful. Where are u based and do u train people? I can bake but not at ur level and now I’m really interested.
Thanks. I’m based in Canada and no, I do not train.
IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FOOD COLOUR & FONDANT COLOUR? GOOD MORNING SIR
Color paste is used to color fondant. It is a type of food color.
thanks a lot for your time Terry, please can I use egg white in place of the Meringue Powder and if yes, what is the equivalent of 1/2 tsp Meringue Powder.
No. Egg whites cannot be used.
Oga Terry tanx for the tutorials,welcome,more grace
You are welcome Kemi.
OMGoodness… Thank you so much Terry
You always create magic with your hands
Hear it everyone… AM A TERRY FAN
🙂 Thanks Belle. I appreciate you very much.
I have learnt what I didn’t know before now.Thanks so much Terry
You are welcome Christiana.
Thank u Terry for this tutorial.the milk for the butter cream is it powdered milk or evaporated milk?
None. Liquid milk.
Please Terry,is the milk for butter cream icing powdered or liquid? Thanks in anticipation
Liquid milk.
thanks mr terry adido I have been looking for your site I just stumble on it.please i have problem with my covering of cake with butter frosting i mean thickness and smoothness what can i do.secondly when youbcome to nigeria will tou organise a one day workshop to help address this issue.
Hi. This post might here. About Nigeria, fingers crossed.
Wow!Terry this is lovely
Thanks Christiana.
Thank you very much for sharing your recipes. I would like to know if I would increase the quantity of butter (113g) for vanilla butter frosting since I would be using it solely. Shortening is not readily available where i reside
You are welcome and yes.
Pls Terry can one use fresh egg white in place of marigue powder?
Hi Keji, no.
Hi Terry,
Only thing I would stress on the frosting is the use of unsalted butter. I never really liked homemade frostings, even my own, until a culinary arts teacher friend suggested I use it. Made all the difference in the world!
Thanks for your feedback and suggestion Anissa.
a job well done. pls is shortening the same with white butter?
I want to make basket design on the sides, do I still need to frost first?
thanks
Hi. No they are not the same. Some pple will not frost first. I always frost first because I do not want any part of the cake crust showing.
Hi Terry, thank you for all the insight,you have been a blessing to me. Pls I’ll like to know;(1) if I can use Trex as Shortening or is it only Crisco that is good? (2) when baking a cake, can I use butter as Stork(that contains salt) because that’s what i have been using to bake cake. why unsalted butter? Thanks
Hi. (1) I believe Trex could be used to substitute shortening. (2) You can use salted butter. Just omit the salt in the recipe.
I prefer unsalted butter in the butter cream frosting because i find anything that contains salt makes the frosting taste salty. To me. By all means people can use what they like.
Those who water others shall be greatly watered….thanks so much Terry,you have been of great help and you will always receive help.
Thanks Tolu.
Hello, pls can I use corn starch in place of meringue powder? My BCF does not hold its shape. Pls reply as soon as possible. Thanks
No you cannot.
Pls how can you get a our
Pure white buttercream.
Thank you
Beat the butter and shortening for long.
thanks so much. your recipes are always great. please I just have a question can this buttercream recipe be used to pipe simple stringwork? also can I place royal icing flowers on fondant covered cake? thanks
Hi Funnyi. Yes and yes.
And I only got to learn about you today.thank you and God bless
Glad to have you around.
Hi Terry.Been a while!Thanks for your liberality. You re appreciated.
Thanks Kemi.
Good day Terry. Thanks for being so helpful. You are doing a great job.I am an ardent reader of Ur blog n I most say it’s d best thing dat has ever happened to bakers like me. Please can u share a recipe for white Buttercream. I mean very white. Thanks
Thanks. You can use the same recipe, just use white margarine and white flavors. You can also add a bit of whats called Wilton’s White White.
You too much Bros, pls is what is shortening called in Nigeria, is it Crisco. Cos I keep seeing vegetable shortening on Crisco content. Tanx Pls reply.
Thanks. I am not sure. But Crisco is a brand of shortening.
OMG!
Where have I been? I just stumbled upon this site. Great recipes and well broken down steps. Kudos Terry.
Thanks Buki. Welcome.
Hi Terry,just stumbled into ur site in my quest to get better recipe for my daughters first birthday cake. Wow! I love ur recipe. Will definitely use it.
Awesome. All the best with the cake.
Thank you for d tutorials, it’s so easy to comprehend.
Pls show me what the meringue powder looks like.
You are welcome. Please google it. Thanks.
Love your website! I’ve only ever baked a few desserts without the aide of boxed mixes and store-bought icings, so I’m pretty new to “from scratch” baking. My mom loves lemon-flavored desserts and I stumbled across your website while looking for a good lemon cake recipe. Browsing your website made me want to rush in the kitchen and start whipping things up! You’ve clearly put a lot of thought and effort into teaching amateurs like myself proper technique and it’s much appreciated!
Quick question: Do you think this vanilla buttercream frosting would be okay for use with your lemon cake recipe? In addition to lemon cake, my mother also loves vanilla buttercream, but I wasn’t sure how it would mesh with the lemon cake I wanted to make for her. Thank you!
Hi Anya. Thanks for your message. Yes the two will mesh well.
Hi Terry…please will this recipe cover a 9×3 inch cake…
It should.
Pls can I use this buttercream to crumbcoat a cake to be covered with fondant?
Yes.
Hi Terry, I have wondered if you have a step by step tutorial on decorating the first cake on this page. Looks ruffled throughout. Looks nearly impossible to get. Can you tell what tip you used. Thank you for this goldmine you are sharing. God bless you!!!!!
Thanks, No I do not have a tutorial on it. It must be a rose petal tip.