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This is THE original salted buttercream frosting recipe that went viral and has been shared by hundreds of thousands of people – and this recipe has been read tens of millions of times!
Millions Have Enjoyed this Recipe
This was my very first viral recipe here on The Kitchen Magpie! If you like this, you should try my Lemon Buttercream Frosting recipe. This recipe is the best thanks to sweet and salty mixing together!
When I first wrote this recipe 9 years ago, no one was using salted butter in their frostings – or at least there weren’t any posted online that I could find.This recipe made it in to my cookbook, that’s how amazing it is! This recipe was one of the first on my website and has been viewed by tens of millions of people over the years! Isn’t that crazy?
This buttercream icing is still is amazing, melt in your mouth, whippy, ultimate swirly cupcake worthy. It was fantastic on the homemade chocolate cake I made to go with it the very first time I whipped it up. The cake was dense and moist, and paired with a light as air buttercream icing… heaven. Angels dancing on your taste buds. I’ve tried it on every cupcake that you can imagine and it’s even amazing on vanilla. Salty vanilla icing on a vanilla cupcake is heaven for vanilla lovers!
Please go and have a read of my Buttercream Icing FAQ which answers a lot of the questions about this recipe asked in the hundreds of comments on this post below!
The most important is How to Fix Broken Buttercream, that’s a whole post in itself!
Frosting Ingredients
There are four basic ingredients for this buttercream frosting and I have kept it simple and straightforward for years now:
- Salted butter – a good quality, tastes-good-off-the-spoon butter is important!
- Vanilla – You need that classic vanilla taste
- Icing sugar – This is also known as powdered sugar or confectioners sugar
- Coffee cream – This is literally called coffee cream here in Canada but what it is is a cream that is 18% milk fat and up
Commonly Asked Frosting/Icing Questions and Answers
Do I have to refrigerate a cake with buttercream?
This buttercream has butter and it has whipping cream in it. I personally leave it out all day and it’s fine ( butter is always fine at room temperature) but the whipping cream? That’s a personal call for you. I have left it out overnight, but I honestly have to tell you to refrigerate it instead of leaving it out. But it’s really a personal decision. Apparently because of all the sugar you can leave a cake with buttercream frosting out for 2-3 days.
How long can you leave a cake with buttercream icing out?
I leave mine out for a day, not in the hot sun at all and it’s fine. According to the US food and inspection agency, you can leave a cake with buttercream frosting out for 2-3 days.
What is the best butter to use?
Salted and organic butter is literally the best butter that you can use. It is the salt that really makes this the best buttercream frosting ever. It’s actually a myth that salted butter is an inferior quality – it’s not. It’s the same quality.
How do I make the frosting stiffer?
You will want to use less cream in order to make the frosting stiffer. Start out with only a small amount of cream and add it until you get the consistency that you want.
How do you thicken up frosting?
This buttercream frosting is thick to start without adding in the cream! To start, beat in the icing sugar and see what the thickness of the frosting is. Then you can add a little bit of cream, a little at a time, until you reach the desired consistency. IF you go too far, you then can add more icing sugar/powdered sugar to thicken it back up.
How do you soften buttercream?
This one is easy, leave it out on the counter at room temperature for 45-60 minutes and it will be soft! If that doesn’t work and your frosting is too thick, then you might have to beat it again and add some more cream.
Can you store butter based frostings in the refrigerator?
You bet! Buttercream frosting/icing can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or two, as long as the whipping cream that you use wasn’t going to expire soon.
Can you freeze butter based icings?
I freeze it all the time! Simply defrost, mix and use as normal.
Tips and Tricks for the Best Buttercream Frosting
- Always use salted butter. When I first wrote this recipe in 2010 there weren’t many people that were food blogging compared to today, so I literally couldn’t find a SINGLE buttercream frosting recipe on the internet that used salted butter! Now I am sure that if I looked there would be tons of recipes similar to this one. Oh, how times have changed! So I had discovered that salt and sweet are a match made in heaven for icing and I never looked back. You can also read about the difference between salted and unsalted butter.
- Whip that butter, with a paddle beater if you have it, if not, don’t worry. You can also use the beaters on your handheld mixer just fine to beat the buttercream frosting! You want the butter to be smooth and creamy before you add the icing sugar.
- Fresh icing sugar makes all the difference. Icing sugar/powdered sugar/confectioners sugar goes stale, and you can sure taste it when it does! Crack open a fresh bag for icings, you won’t be sorry! Over the years many people have agreed that this is another trick to making great buttercream frosting.
- You can make this frosting as light or as heavy as you want by adjusting the amount of heavy cream that you use.
- Read this if you are looking for piping techniques.
Some More Frosting Recipes:
- Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- Chocolate Buttercream Icing
- Pistachio Pudding Buttercream Icing
- Vegan Buttercream Icing
- Candy Bar Buttercream Icing
Happy baking everyone!
Love,
Karlynn
The Best Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup of salted butter
- 3 teaspoons of vanilla
- 4 cups of icing sugar
- 4-5 tablespoons of coffee cream 18% and up
Instructions
- Get out the salted butter! Trust me and use salted butter, it’s the secret ingredient!
- Beat the butter until it is light and creamy. This is important as you are adding the icing sugar next. If the butter isn’t creamy you can get lumps in the icing.
- Add in the icing sugar. Again, if you are like me and can taste stale icing sugar, you will need a fresh bag.
- Add in the cream.. I used 4 tablespoons for my preference, you adjust to what you want.
- Stiffer icing = less cream. Lighter icing = more cream. Adjust the amount to your liking by adding one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
- Add the vanilla then keep mixing it until fluffy and thoroughly combined.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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jacqueline says
Well everyone, I used to do exclusive wedding cakes, and this is very close to my version. However, a few extra tips would be if you are going to be using it for decorating I would suggest that you sift the powdered sugar first before adding it into the butter. That way no lumps (especially bad when using small tips) while you are decorating or spreading. Also, if you are decorating I used to use about 1/2 cup of shortening in it to help with the smoothness of the icing and drying out. My family and all my customers were always saying how much they loved the icing. My other tip was that I used a little dab of almond along with the vanilla. There are a few other recipes out there that also use Karo syrup in them for extra gloss and texture. Hope these tips will help everyone out. I made a lot of good money with my cake business.
Stephanie says
Girl, you nailed this recipe! This is actually the recipe I have been using for years except I always used milk. What a huge difference cream makes! I also added just a few drops of almond extract. I got so many compliments on this frosting and actually won my husband over. He never really cared for my other recipe and preferred the can stuff, yuck. So just by switching to cream, it made all the difference and he practically ate the whole bowl of frosting! thanks for sharing!
Lorinda says
Unsalted butter is RIGHT next to the salted. Just thought you should know, so you don’t accidently pick up the wrong one. It may be fine to use salted in this instance, but when doing other baking that calls for salt and you add that along with salted butter when the recipe doesn’t call for it, you could then end up with too much salt.
Geri says
Made an R2D2 cake for my grandson’s birthday today. Took my time, and your cake was my inspiration. And, made the frosting too. The cake was a hit, and the frosting was delicious, not overly sweet, and piped great. I do NOT generally like to decorate cakes; but thoroughly enjoyed doing this. It was a hit with the birthday boy and his guests. BTW, I did sift my powdered sugar, did not take long; but worth it because it came out nice and smoothQ
Karlynn says
Aw! What a wonderful grandparent you are! It was a really fun cake to make, if you have pics feel free to share them on my Facebook page! Nothing we like better than looking at pictures of yummy food!
candy says
just want to know the icing sugar it is powder sugar ?
Karlynn says
Indeed, it sure is!
Eryn says
You may have answered this already, but I didn’t come across it. My question is: Do you sift the powdered sugar before adding it? Or can you add it straight from the bag? I made butter cream icing for my Moms birthday about a month ago and vowed to never do it again because it took FOREVER to sift it. Please tell me this doesn’t require sifting. lol I REALLY want to make it.
Karlynn says
Hey Eryn! In answer to your question, good lord NO! Powdered sugar is so fine and delicate I can’t see any reason why you would sift it for an icing? It is as light as air to start. That sounds like far too much work for no reason at all. Hope you enjoy the icing! Let me know how it goes!
Bonnie says
Try adding Crystal Light Lemonade (dry) to your frosting. SO VERY YUMMY!!!!
Maxine says
Try replacing some of your plain cream w/ flavored coffee creamer (if you’re not opposed to them). A friend who is a pro cake maker had to do that out of necessity a couple months ago (she used caramel creamer) and it was a huge hit!! Just an idea for something different!
Trisha says
Do yourself a favor and use vanilla bean paste instead of regular vanilla. It is awesome! Your icing will never be the same. I have been using it about a year and a half and people are begging me to make vanilla bean frosted cupcakes all the time.
Karlynn says
That would be delicious too! Good idea!
Kristen says
I LOVE buttercream! I’ve tried a lot of recipes and I love them all (soo much better than store-bought, or even the grocery store bakery!)! I always tell my mom that there is just no excuse for a can because homemade is so easy!
I can’t wait to try this recipe with my fav red velvet cake that I make! The frosting you are supposed to use is good, but too much work (you cook flour with milk and then add butter and sugar, but there are always tiny flour clumps). Yum!
Karlynn says
If you don’t love it I will be shocked. I can eat this stuff off a spoon! But then, I am slightly odd…let me know what you think! Pictures are ALWAYS welcomed and wanted on my Facebook page! Everyone loves seeing the creations made!
Norma says
Great recipe thanks for posting it.
I wanted to sorta answer a few of the questions, if your ok with it. Yes this icing can be kept at room tempature for hours even over night, as long as the temp isn’t over 80. then it kinda gets over soft and then once you try and cut the cake it looks like it sliding off the cake. keep it no warmer then room temp. if its a outside part keep it in the house till just before your ready to cut it. 🙂
Karlynn says
Thanks for answering, the more tips the better!
Debbiemullins says
I think buttercream frosting is a bit on the sweet side too. I have fixed the problem by adding about 2-3 T of soft cream cheese. U dont really taste it but it makes it a bit less sweet and creamier too!
Kim says
Do you happen to know if this icing decorates well…as in for piping the icing onto the cake? I just finished taking a cake decorating course and they were very specific about the type of icing that you need to use for this type of decorating, but I have to tell you the icing that they recommend tastes disgusting! So I have been in search of an icing that actually tastes good, but can also be used for fine decorating detail.
Kim says
Do you happen to know if this icing decorates well…as in for piping the icing onto the cake? I just finished taking a cake decorating course and they were very specific about the type of icing that you need to use for this type of decorating, but I have to tell you the icing that they recommend tastes disgusting! So I have been in search of an icing that actually tastes good, but can also be used for fine decorating detail.
Karlynn Johnston says
Depends on what you are making, but this R2D2 cake https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/how-to-make-an-r2d2-birthday-cake is ALL my buttercream. That crud they use in courses is nasty, I don’t care what shape you need to hold! The key is to chill the icing in the bag when your hands heat it up too much, then do your stars and piping etc. I use it on all the Wilton cake pans and it’s perfect.
Samantha says
Thanks so much for such an amazing icing recipe! I used it on my husband’s birthday carrot cake (he doesnt like cream cheese icing) and it was just to die for! It gets better, too, as it sits. So yummy!
Samantha says
Thanks so much for such an amazing icing recipe! I used it on my husband’s birthday carrot cake (he doesnt like cream cheese icing) and it was just to die for! It gets better, too, as it sits. So yummy!
Karlynn Johnston says
Oh good, so glad you liked it!
kjkjmommie says
Yum, this is very much like the icing I make. I have found a new favorite flavoring…. I use Bailey’s Carmel in mine when I am serving brownies to my adult friends. I have cooked the Bailey’s to remove the alcohol when I new children would be there. All my friends ask me to bring these now.
kjkjmommie says
Yum, this is very much like the icing I make. I have found a new favorite flavoring…. I use Bailey’s Carmel in mine when I am serving brownies to my adult friends. I have cooked the Bailey’s to remove the alcohol when I new children would be there. All my friends ask me to bring these now.
Karlynn Johnston says
Bailey’s makes EVERYTHING better!
Meagan says
thanks for the advice! i am making cup cakes though, not a cake…..see picture below and let me know what you think!
Aschmidt87 says
Is there a way to make this chocolate buttercream? It looks amazing, but my dad wants choc for his birthday!
Aschmidt87 says
Is there a way to make this chocolate buttercream? It looks amazing, but my dad wants choc for his birthday!
Karlynn Johnston says
I have a new recipe for chocolate buttercream! https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/chocolate-buttercream-icing Deeelish!!
Meagan says
i am making these cupcakes for my daugthers care bear bday party, and i am trying to figure out how to make the BLUE icing……you icing recipe sounds delicious, but i am not sure how to get it blue. also do you think it will make the white clouds if i have the right tip?
Meagan says
i am making these cupcakes for my daugthers care bear bday party, and i am trying to figure out how to make the BLUE icing……you icing recipe sounds delicious, but i am not sure how to get it blue. also do you think it will make the white clouds if i have the right tip?
Karlynn Johnston says
I use Wilton’s icing color gels, every shade you could possibly think of. They can be found almost anywhere! I have made that care bear cake, if it’s the OLD Wilton cake pan, and the cloud I smooth out and then write the birthday child’s name on, you do that first and smooth it out, then fill in the care bear.
Meagan says
thanks for the advice! i am making cup cakes though, not a cake…..see picture below and let me know what you think!
Karlynn Johnston says
I can’t see a pic, want to try again? Or maybe share it on the wall on my Facebook page, those always show up and everyone is allowed to post.
Laura says
Actually, I live in Ontario, Canada and here, they sell table cream too! Infact, I havent seen coffee cream sold in stores around here. I made this recipe with it, it was awesome!
Karlynn Johnston says
So happy you liked it! Yah, you easterner’s get a lot of stuff we don’t!
Tiff says
This will now be my go to recipe. Thank you! Only had milk on hand, so I’m curious to try with cream. Tried it too with some unsweetened chocolate and it was delicious!
Tiff says
This will now be my go to recipe. Thank you! Only had milk on hand, so I’m curious to try with cream. Tried it too with some unsweetened chocolate and it was delicious!
Karlynn Johnston says
It is such a tweakable (is that a word?) recipe. I am glad you liked it!
Kittypooh says
Just want to know if I can I use this icing with marshmallow fondant? Do the two taste well together & work together?
Kittypooh says
Just want to know if I can I use this icing with marshmallow fondant? Do the two taste well together & work together?
Karlynn Johnston says
I don’t use fondant, anyone else able to weigh in on this?
Pz143 says
i was glad to hear you say that about confectioners sugar. i know that sometimes i can’t stand the “raw” taste of it and i have wondered if maybe it got old.
Pz143 says
i was glad to hear you say that about confectioners sugar. i know that sometimes i can’t stand the “raw” taste of it and i have wondered if maybe it got old.
Karlynn Johnston says
Yes, AND it picks up flavors from spices in your cupboard too! Definitely need fresh for icings.