Buttercream Cupcake Frosting Recipes
Basic butter cream or American buttercream is an easy cupcake frosting to make. Today we will look at the basic recipe and some of my favourite variations.
UPDATE: See seven different frosting recipes in a taste test and in the Aussie sun for a heat test on this more recent post. You may also like to check out the chocolate frostings taste test.
To completely cover and fill two 20cm (7.87 inches) round cakes layered on top of each other you will need to double this recipe.
Basic Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes Recipe
120g (4.23 ounces) or 1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 1/2 cups or 315g (11.11 ounces) icing sugar (icing mixture is fine-it does not have to be pure icing sugar)
0-4 Tbsp or 0-60 millilitres (2.03 fluid ounces (60.03 millilitres)) milk or cream Often when using margarine I don’t use any milk at all.
Leave the butter to soften at room temperature, then beat together with the icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk (or cream ) until smooth and light in colour. Add extra spoons of milk one at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes Recipe
Follow the basic buttercream recipe above and add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract with your first tablespoon of milk.
My Very Vanilla Buttercream Recipe
300 millilitres (10.14 fluid ounces) or 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp cream
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups or 315g (11.11 ounces) icing sugar
Whip the cream and then continue to whip until it turns to butter. Pour off the liquid, mix slowly for 30 more seconds, pour off any extra liquid – repeat until most of the liquid is gone. Add the vanilla and icing sugar and beat until smooth.
Lemon Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes Recipe
Swap the milk in the above basic buttercream recipe for freshly squeezed lemon juice. Yum! The tartness of the lemon helps offset the sweetness of the buttercream.
Coffee Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes Recipe
Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon of instant coffee in 1/4 teaspoon of boiling water. Add it in with your first Tablespoon of milk in the basic buttercream recipe above.
Fresh Raspberry Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes Recipe
1/2 cup or 70g (2.47 ounces) frozen raspberries
50 millilitres (1.69 fluid ounces) or 3 Tbsp plus 1 tsp freshly squeezed orange juice
Combine in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the raspberries soften and fall apart. Strain through a fine metal seive – you will need to push the pulp through so that you are left with mainly seeds.
Return the raspberry puree to the pan and heat until it reduces in volume down to two tablespoons. Cool completely – to speed up the cooling process you may wish to spread on a plate and place in fridge.
Swap the milk in the basic buttercream recipe for the raspberry puree.
Top cupcakes with a swirl of raspberry buttercream and a fresh raspberry.
Smooth Coconut Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes Recipe
240g (8.47 ounces) or 1 cup plus 1.5 Tbsp butter
1 cup or 78g (2.75 ounces) shredded coconut
2 1/2 cups or 315g (11.11 ounces) icing sugar
1-4 Tbsp or 15-60 millilitres (2.03 fluid ounces (60.03 millilitres)) milk or cream
Heat butter and coconut in a pan and bring to the boil. Strain through a fine metal sieve – push on the coconut until you have 120g (4.23 ounces) or 1/2 cup of butter. Allow to cool.
Whip the now flavoured butter, icing sugar and 1 Tablespoon of cream until smooth. Add remaining cream one tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
Top cup cakes with coconut butter cream and sprinkle with shredded coconut.
Fresh Stem Ginger Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes
Fresh ginger is such a unique flavour. Here is my recipe (shhh it’s a secret) for infusing that flavour into butter cream.
300 millilitres (10.14 fluid ounces) or 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp cream
10g (0.35 ounces) or 2 tsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
2 1/2 cups or 315g (11.11 ounces) icing sugar
Place the cream and ginger in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Leave to cool completely, this allows the ginger flavour to infuse into the cream.
Strain using a fine wire sieve – pushing on the ginger will give a more intense flavour. Discard the ginger.
Using a stand mixer, beat the cream for approximately 10 minutes. It will thicken and whip and then separate into butter and a milky liquid. Drain off the liquid and beat for another 30 seconds. Repeat this last step until most of the liquid is gone.
Add the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
Popping Sugar Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes
This one is always popular at kids parties and when the boys take cakes in for cake day at school.
Make the basic vanilla butter cream recipe (or any of the flavours you like) and mix in 2 tablespoons of popping sugar. When the kids, or adults take a bite the popping sugar pops on their tongue.
Banana Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes Recipe
180g (6.35 ounces) or 3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp butter
2 really over-ripe bananas, mashed
2 1/2 cups or 315g (11.11 ounces) icing sugar
1-4 Tbsp or 15-60 millilitres (2.03 fluid ounces (60.03 millilitres)) milk or cream
Melt the butter in a pan, add bananas and stir and cook for a minute. Leave for 10 minutes to cool slightly but not set.
Strain through a fine metal sieve – do not push the banana through you just want the butter. Leave the butter to cool completely and set.
Measure 120g (4.23 ounces) of the banana butter and beat with the icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of cream. Add more cream as needed to reach desired consistency.
Pipe onto cupcakes and top with candied fresh banana – for help making candy see sugar decorations post
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes
120g (4.23 ounces) or 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp butter
1 1/3 cups or 168g (5.93 ounces) icing sugar
1/2 cup or 60g (2.12 ounces) cocoa powder
1-2 tsp milk
Leave the butter to soften at room temperature then beat together with the icing sugar and cocoa powder and 1 tsp of milk. Beat until smooth adding an extra tsp of milk if needed. Note for a more intense choc flavour frosting beat this in equal quantities with dark chocolate ganache.
Smooth Buttercream Base Colour for Piping Designs or Flowers
125g (4.41 ounces) or 1 cup icing sugar
25g (0.88 ounces) or 2 Tbsp butter
Melt the butter, add the icing sugar and mix well. It may be a little runny at first, simply allow to cool a little and then place on cupcakes.
Alternatively if you have already made your buttercream you can heat some spoonfuls of it in the microwave and add extra icing sugar to make the desired consistency. Covering the cupcake in the warmed buttercream gives a smooth glossy finish.
N.B Two quantities of this buttercream will cover the top and sides and one inside layer of a cake 20.5cm (8.07 inches) in diameter and 9cm (3.54 inches) tall
Also check out these gourmet cupcakes – lemon meringue cupcake recipe, chocolate orange cupcake with gnache frosting, choc mint cupcake recipe,
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Hi Ann,
Love your website and made the mickey mouse cupcakes and my 4 yr old loved them..his favorite character:-) Your videos are very informative..next project – to try the Cars cake..
I wanted to check with you if I can frost the cupcakes the previous night as they are needed for the school the next morning. Would I need to refridgerate them after frosting?
Cheers, Chandana
hi chandana i would refrigerate them after frosting preferably in an airtight container
This too
Hope u appreciate
That’s a big cake, love the choc hearts
Hi ann,
I live here in mumbai-india .. can I use home made white butter for the frosting?
Also id like to mention ive become such a star using ur recipes tht all my husbands friends call me the mastet chef….all thanx to u and ur lovely, easy to handle,to the point, mend able videos.
Cheers , payal
hi payal, yes you can use the homemade butter
heloooooooooo ann>>i love u and i love all ur recipes<
i want to ask u for the recipe of buttercraem frostting for the foundan wedding cake??
ann why you did not answer my question???
Hi Ann, thanks so much for all your brilliant recipes. I know many people say it’s best to use gel food colouring rather than liquid, especially for buttercream but if liquid is all I have, is this possible? If so, any tips to help keep the consistency without making the buttercream too runny? Thanks!
P.S. You are such a star for replying to all of these comments, I’ve seen how helpful you’ve been to other posters, really appreciate it!
Hi Lisbon, I use liquid in buttercream often, if you see the ombre cake I used liquid colour for that. But if you need a really strong colour then you will need to use gel
Ah that’s good then, thank you!
Hi Ann I am a big fan of your site and all your delicious desserts and cakes. Since I am from Serbia (south Europe) I was wondering when the recipe says CREAM do you mean whipping or something else?
Cheers, and lots of love from Serbia 🙂
Hi Dajana, cream has so many names around the world, any cream that is around 35% fat is good for this.
sorry the pics is this
WOW love it, it looks fantastic I hope they loved it too 😀
Hi Ann,
Thanks for all your postings.They are really easy to follow and taste great.
I did make a chocolate cake for my son and friends Bday which happens to be on the same day.
Instead of milk for the cream icing I added thick cream and it still turned out great.
This is the picture of the final cake.
Await your comments!!!
Hi Ann, Im an addict of your youtube series and have maybe watched each video atleast 4 times each.
I was wondering, can these buttercreams also be used for cake decoration and for icing cakes? thanks for sharing your wonderful creations with us 🙂
hi sundus yes, see teh vids on buttercream roses and buttercream princess cake and ombre cake for example. They all use this buttercream recipe
Hi Ann,
Which recipe will you recommend for macaron’s filling ? Preferably Vanilla flavour.
Hi Celine, I use ganache for filling macarons, you can make a vanilla white chocolate ganache. Or some people use buttercream so you could use any of these
Hi Ann,
My whole family loves coffee,so i thought of adding the coffee buttercream but i have one doubt we dont like much cream in the icing so when i make the coffee buttercream will it be runny or creamy???
Thank you…..
-Andrea
Dear Anne… I always knew you were amazing… I just didn’t realise HOW amazing 🙂 thanks for the late night tips… I’m getting my bake on for multiplied family birthdays in August! Hope you and the crew are well… Lots of love, Chrissy Lee, perth 🙂 x x x
Hi Ann,
I am an 11 years old girl who loves baking. I really love your recipes especially the chocolate because I am a great fan of it. Just now I made the chocolate buttercream, and boy it tasted so good. Thank you so so much
Hi Ann,
I’m an amateur baker who just discovered your channel today. I have yet to try these frosting recipes, however, when I tried making frosting before for earl grey tea cupcakes, it turned out really lumpy and watery.
I suspected that it was because the cupcakes hadn’t cooled properly or a problem with my beater, but I’m not too sure. Do you have any tips on how I could improve with the frosting?
The same thing happened to the cream in my green tea swiss roll.
Hi Ann,
I’m only 11 and i love love love cooking so i was wondering since i dont have all the recipes and i can’t buy them myself could you get buttercream in a supermarket? also how long does it take to make buttercream?
Hi aimee I am not sure that I understand your question about not having the recipes… the recipes are on this page. Did you mean that you don’t have the ingredients? It takes about 10 minutes to make buttercream. You can buy some frostings at the supermarket but it depends what country you are in, and the consistency of them varies so you’d have to buy them to see if they were firm enough to pipe.
I am in North Dakota USA and I meant I can’t get those ingredients myself and my mom and dad would never let me get them when we are at the store so does the store just sell it and thanks Ann 😉
Hello Ann 🙂
Loved the recipe for the buttercream I just have a question regarding the vanilla buttercream.. What kind of vanilla extract should be used the powder one or the liquid one ?
Hi Maha I use the liquid one 😀
Hi Ann…
I have a quest…
I m about to make the princes cake…
But i live in Spain n right now its very very very hot here…
N if i leave the cake out of the fridge the buttercream ll melt n if i put it inside the fondant ll sweat. What can i do?
Thanks
Hi vesi, put it in the fridge and take out half an hour before serving. The fondant will be fine, it will sweat a little due to condensation on the cold cake but the heat will then evaporate this off, if you see the minion cake it looks a little shiny in the photo due to this ‘sweat’ but it soon evaporated off.
Thanks Ann 🙂 I ve already did the cake n of course i had to put it in the fridge… but actually the fondant didnt sweat it was perfect. i m sending the result
Also is the butter cream for the cute little cookie monster cupcake just the basic butter cream with blue dye in it?
Hi aimee, yes that is correct but you can use a flavoured one if you prefer
i was just wondering if any one at any age could make the butter cream
Hi AImee, form age 7 yes they could make it, younger than that I would make it and bag it for them and let them pipe it on… do this outside or somewhere that it is easy to clean up any dropped blue icing