This is my go to frosting recipe and I use it for pretty much all my cakes and cupcakes. I love that this frosting is easy to make, tastes delicious and isn’t too sweet.

This frosting stands up well for decorating and piping details as well as for filling layered cakes. You can use icing gels to tint the frosting to your liking, or leave it as is for a beautiful ivory color.

Recipe for Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

Ingredients Needed:

1 cup unsalted butter softened (room temperature)

4 cups of powdered sugar

6 tablespoons heavy cream (you can sub milk if you don’t have this)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of salt

Optional - icing gel colors to tint frosting

Servings Made: About 2½ cups of frosting which should be enough to frost 24 cupcakes iced flat, 15-18 cupcakes iced swirled, or a two layer 8 inch cake.

Time to Prep: 5 minutes

Time to Make: 10 minutes

How to Make:

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes.

Pro tip - Sift in the powdered sugar making sure no lumps of sugar enter mixture. This helps to make your buttercream is nice and smooth.

Add salt and vanilla, mix well and then gradually pour in cream. Continue mixing another minute until combined well. You can add more cream if you want thinner icing for decorating, or add more powdered sugar for thicker icing. (just add 1/2 - 1 tablespoon at a time).

If you are tinting the frosting with icing gel colors, add some now and mix well with mixer or spatula.

Frosting can be used as is now, or stored in fridge or freezer to use later. Keep in mind if you are tinting frosting with gels, the color will become more vibrant as it sits.

Pro tip - As you handle the frosting, it will get thinner/melt over time as your hands and the room temperature surrounding you melt the butter. You can place it in the fridge for a few mins to cool down and to harden again.

Enjoy!

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