This post is dedicated to Buttercream Basics. Whip up a batch of my favorite Buttercream Frosting Recipe and let’s get creative!
Buttercream is basic, it’s delicious, and you need to know how to make it. Luckily it’s really simple to make, and WAY better than any canned frosting you could buy. And today I’m going to show you how easy it is to turn vanilla (white) buttercream into something completely unique!
Tips to Making Buttercream
If your buttercream is too stiff for your liking, add more milk. Add it one teaspoon at a time while mixing until you get the consistency you’re after. If you’re looking for creamy, a little more milk will help you achieve that. If you want to pipe tall stiff roses, add a little less milk!
BUT if you have an oops and add too much milk, no worries! Just add in some more powdered sugar. Add 1/4 cup more at a time to get it back to the thickness you are after.
What Can You Add Into Buttercream Frosting?
Once you have your perfect buttercream, let’s get creative. You can add pretty much whatever you want.
Here are a few examples…
Here we have a delicious “Cookie Butter” (which is about the same consistency as peanut butter or Nutella), cinnamon and coconut extract. These are just a few ideas…use your imagination! What about caramel? Or Strawberry jam? Or pumpkin pie spice? Or cereal?
** The Cookie Butter is the Trader Joe’s version of Biscoff spread. It was just something I had on-hand that I thought would make a yummy buttercream. It did.
Now. Here’s where I want you to trust me. I am not going to give you measurements…AND I want you to be ok with that.
For the experiment I separated some frosting into bowls…
For the first flavor I wanted to give the “Cookie Butter” a try. (It tastes a little like the best graham cracker that you have ever eaten)
I took a large dollop and added that to the buttercream…
Then you know what I did? I turned my mixer on. That is all.
You can add more to create a more intense flavor or less for something a little more subtle. You aren’t going to mess this up, people.
I repeated the process with peanut butter…If you add too much peanut butter and your frosting becomes too creamy what should you do?
Add more powdered sugar. Trust me on this, the worst that can happen is your frosting will be too sweet…and is that REALLY a problem? If you said yes, please leave now.
For my next batch I added some cinnamon and mixed away. Use a light hand when adding spices, you can always add more…
This applies to extracts too…a little generally goes a long way. If you MUST measure, start with 1/4 teaspoon and add more if you need to. The only way to fix an over-extracted frosting is to add more frosting.
So with one batch of frosting I made four flavors of buttercream…Coconut, Peanut Butter, Snickerdoodle (the cinnamon) and Graham Cracker (using the “Cookie Butter”).
I frosted a batch of mini vanilla cupcakes with all the different flavors I made.
Garnish them however you like.
But see how easy that is?
Buttercream Frosting is really hard to mess up, so I want you to get creative with extracts and add-in flavors! Can’t wait to see what you create!
Wow! My family had 6 bakeries so I grew up with goodies but everyone is now gone so I have to bake – not a good thing for the people who have to eat it. This is wonderful! Now if only I could find my grandfather’s wedding cake recipe for less than 200 people. It wa so dense and rich! Thanks for the recipe.
how do you do the swirl on the pic. the rightmost swirl. thanks
I used a WIlton 1M tip 🙂
What store do you usually find cookie butter at? And what is the cookie butter located next to in the store? Thanks!!!
I found it at Trader Joes!
Mmmmmmm! It sounds so yummy! Can’t wait to try different flavors! Does this buttercream need to be refrigerated since it has milk & butter?
Becky, you should look into the TRUE European style buttercreams. MUCH better, IMO. Shortening = gross.
I was so sad to see shortening as a recipe. Shortening is such an archaic and harmful ingredient. One of the beauties of making something from scratch is you leave out the harmful stuff that the grocery store cans of frosting have. Would love to see other recipes from this person if they don’t have shortening.
You could certainly sub in butter for shortening, totally a personal preference. As I stated in the post I use it because it holds up better to warmer temperatures but there is no reason you couldn’t use all butter. Thanks for the comment.
With a true buttercream addiction, you might never need my little tip, but i occasionally need about a half a cup of frosting. I need this for the cookies from a mix I make for my husband and boys. It gets even easier–instead of dropping each cookie onto a baking sheet, I line a baking dish with foil and make a gigantic cookie bar, which might need icing. So for the icing, I start with a tablespoon of butter and melt it in the microwave and start adding powdered sugar and milk until I have the right consistency.
You can never go wrong adding frosting 🙂
You can never go wrong with adding extra frosting 🙂
Amazing, just love it, but how much butter .
I included the link to my buttercream recipe few times in the post… here it is.. http://cookiesandcups.com/vanilla-buttercream/
I just made your yummy buttercream recipe and it turned out perfect! I’m waiting for my cakes to cool so I can frost them….but I have a question. Does this need to be refrigerated once it’s on the cakes or can it be left out on the counter?
Awesome!
Well, I don’t refrigerate my cakes once they are frosted. The only time I do that is if it’s a super warm day.
If you aren’t covering the cake right away, yes I would refrigerate it, but otherwise, I don’t.
Also I dont have a stand mixer or electric hand mixer either, just doing it the good old fashioned way, does that affect the consistency? thanks!
Linda,
Yes…the mixer situation will make the difference for sure. For this type of buttercream you need the electric mixer, that would definitely lead to the grainy texture 🙁