If you’ve been following this blog for quite some time now, you’ll know we made numerous cake and cupcake recipes that require buttercream frosting. There has always been this one Vanilla Buttercream Frosting that has never failed me. It is extremely versatile and easy to make. Once you have this buttercream frosting recipe down, you can add any other flavoured extract or food coloring to customize it the way you want.
There are 2 important factors that contribute to successful buttercream frosting:
Room Temperature Butter – It is imperative that your butter has been softened to room temperature prior to making your buttercream frosting. It should be at a spreadable consistency (i.e. you should be able to easily spread it on toast) and should have a smooth and silky texture when whisked. If it still appears dry or lumpy when whisked, then your butter hasn’t been softened completely and this will affect the consistency and appearance of your final buttercream product. I typically leave my butter out on the counter at room temperature for approximately 3-4 hours (depending on your climate) to soften it prior to use. I also cut the butter up into smaller pieces to help speed up the softening process. If you’re in a pinch for time, you can also soften the butter in the microwave – just make sure to do it in small sprints of 10 seconds each, rotating your butter pieces each time and be sure to not overdo it or you will end up with melted butter which you do not want.
Sifting your dry ingredients (i.e. Icing/Powdered Sugar) – We often get lazy and we don’t sift our dry ingredients when it comes to baking. However, when it comes to making buttercream frosting it’s important we sift all our dry ingredients as any lumps in the dry ingredients will show up in the final product given how smooth and silky the butter texture is. If you want a smooth and silky buttercream, be sure to sift your ingredients!
Getting the right consistency – Depending on what you’re using your buttercream for, you will be aiming for a different consistency. For example, if you’re planning on doing a crumb coat, you may want a ‘thinner’ consistency so that it spreads more easily without scraping off too many crumbs from your cake. If you’re planning on piping the frosting that will require to hold its shape, you will want a stiffer consistency. To adjust the consistency of your buttercream, simply adjust the amount of liquid you add to the buttercream to thin it out. Usually this is done by adding milk so the more milk you add, the thinner the consistency will be. If you need different types of consistencies you can always separate our frosting into separate bowls and adjust the consistency accordingly.
Storing Buttercream
There are several ways to store excess buttercream:
Leaving it out at Room Temperature (2 days) – If you plan on serving your creations within the same day, we would recommend you leave the frosting out at room temperature because once you refrigerate it, the frosting will become hard (like butter) and will be trickier to eat. U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Services say that buttercream frosting made with small amounts of milk are safe to leave out at room temperature for two to three days.
Refrigerate in airtight container (up to 1 week) – When ready to use, just take it out of the fridge to thaw for about a couple of hour or until it is soft enough for you to pipe/frost.
Freeze in airtight container (up to 2 months) – The frosting will last for approximately 3 months before the texture of the frosting starts to change.
Now that we got that out of the way, see below for full recipe on vanilla buttercream frosting.
1. Add unsalted butter into a stand mixer with paddle attachment (or use handheld electric mixer) and beat for approximately 5 minutes on high speed until it is light and fluffy.
2. Add sifted icing sugar to the butter and reduce mixer to low speed as to avoid making a mess. Once all the icing sugar has been incorporated, increase to medium speed for a few minutes.
3. Finally, reduce to low speed and add vanilla extract and milk to adjust for consistency. Add food coloring if your recipe calls for it.
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