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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
Millions Have Enjoyed this RecipeThis 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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Brenda says
This is my first time at making cake frosting. I am soooo glad I used this recipe. However, I added my own little twist. I used french vanilla flavor and french vanilla coffee cream. It is so good. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Sandra says
I am really looking forward to trying your recipe! My daughters bday is this weekend and I will make her a Barbie cake. I will use a real barbie and make her dress with cake. Will this icing work to decorate the cake? I will do as you mentioned above to make the cake in three stages. You said you thaw on the third day. Do you leave it on the counter? Do you let it thaw in the fridge? How long should the cake thaw for?
Susanna K. says
I’m trying this today! Usually, I use water instead of milk in my icing because my husband and my sons’ best friends are lactose-intolerant. Also, using water keeps the frosting from getting that off, sour taste. Perhaps that’s why my frosting is always so stiff!
I will try using cream today because the cake I’m making isn’t for my family. If this works, I’ll try a creamier non-milk substitute next time I make cake or cupcakes at home.
Trudy says
I used Kerrygold Irish butter by mistake (its expensive) when I was making icing (i use your exact recipe, and have for a long time). And using the Irish butter (lightly salted, OF COURSE) made it even more delicious! when I want to make a chocolate of choc mocha icing, i use two or three tbs unsweetened cocoa powder in a small cup, add hottest tap water to moisten enough to make a paste cream by stirring. then add directly to the white icing. for choc mocha, i add a tsp and a smidge of instant coffee to the cocoa powder and just add enough hot water to stir into a paste. Everybody wants me to make the cake because they love my icing. if you like the taste of lemon, I use real lemon curd as the filling between the two layers only. then ice the whole cake. (usually a white cake). it’s a refreshing mix of sweet and tart.
Amy says
This looks so good, I was looking for a recipe to make some cupcakes for valentines
Day tomorrow. This interested me, then as I read your reviews and saw you live in Edmonton as well
I’m definately going to use it! Knowing its local lol I feel more confident attempting it!
Bonnie says
I am a frosting fanatic. In other words, I like a little cake with my frosting. This was so easy and so great tasting. My husband who is NOT a frosting fanatic loved it. My cup cakes were a hit, and my recipe book has a new recipe! This frosted 24 cup cakes, and 3 of them were LOADED with frosting! Thanks!
Ronit says
Can this work with a food processor or an old mixer?
Shantalle @ lifestylesofthestayathomemom.com says
Ok, it says the best so I’m going to give it a go. However, I have never made my own icing before, so I’m sure no matter what I do, it is far going to succeed the canned version. Making cupcakes for the besties birthday…here we go, wish me luck 😉
Leslie Gilbert says
Hi i was wondering what is coffee cream….is it coffee creamer like coffee mate? or like the hazelnut coffee cream? Thank you.
Roger Boss says
Your recipe sounds great. Since out mother passed away, we (MY sister and me) have been trying to read our mother’s notes covering a bakery recipe for butter cream frosting that was scribbled in margin of a magazine picture of a wedding cake. All that I can remember about her making it was that she made it, put it in frig, then took it out and mixed it again before applying it to the cake. It was so, so, so good. But you know how it goes when you are young, all I was interested in was how soon can we start eating the cake with that delicious icing on it. I will get my wife to try your recipe on our next cake baking. It sounds great,,,,,,
Bonnie says
I was about to try another recipe (that called for unsalted butter) and found this only because I googled a question about buttercream, which you answered in your blog! Thanks. Now I’ll be using THIS recipe. Because I am NOT a baker I have to be a To-The-T recipe follower. How long am I whipping the butter, and do I add the cream when the sugar is blended?
Karlynn says
Whip the butter until it’s light and fluffy and then yes, the cream at the very end!
Christine Smith says
I just want to say THANK YOU for this recipe……….MAGNIFICENT!!!!! I had to bake and decorate two cakes for a surprise birthday party this weekend for my boyfriends Aunt and this is by far the best icing I have EVER tasted!!! Thanks again!!!!
Marisa says
I just came across your recipe and I’ve never thought of using cream… great idea! But for those with dairy issues: I have used earth balance in the place of butter and used Almond milk and it gives it a slight almond flavor which I thought was wonderful. If you want something with more fat content, you can try coconut milk! YUM!
One thing I do different is I sift the sugar before adding it.
As far as the lemon, that sounds DIVINE.. have you tried it yet?
Christine says
This is my first review on this site and the first time I made frosting. I made it today and it was so easy and so DELICIOUS. Thank you for sharing. I dont think I will ever go back to can frosting again. Can’t wait to try it again with added flavors!
Krista says
I make a similar icing but I always always add lemon extract as my secret ingredient and it is so yummy and makes a difference 🙂
Wendy says
Thanks! I can’t wait to try this buttercream recipe. Thanks for sharing. And I love your hair, too. I may take a picture of it (well, you!) to my hairstylist. I lived in Quebec for a year and since then I adore you Canadians (although I know French Canadians are their own breed).
sandy says
How do you make this butter cream frosting less sweet.
Karlynn says
Less icing sugar, you will have to play with it. It has been pointed out to me that it’s not as sweet once you put it on a dense chocolate cake, and correctly so. A good cocoa cake will balance out the sweet topping perfectly.
Wendy says
Hi, I was just wondering what color your mixer is? I am debating colors and I love how yours seems metallic in one of the photos. Thanks!
Karlynn says
It’s the candy apple red, the 90th anniversary edition. It IS a little metallic. I adore it!
Angie says
I have been messing around with frosting recipes for a long time trying to find the right one, and when I tried this one, I knew my search was over! Hands down the best icing EVER!!!!!
Karlynn says
Aw thanks!! I am so glad you loved it!
mindy says
So, I am new to this page & I will admit I did not read all the comments, so if this is a repeat I apologize in advance! I just bought 3lbs of unsalted butter and cannot resist trying this recipe, so the question is, can I add a pinch of salt or will it be be to grainy? I was thinking of dissolving it in the cream. Thoughts? I made my very first batch of buttercream tonight, good but not what I think this one will be! I need something extra special as it is my first time to bake a birthday cake for my son’s birthday. We have a great local baker, but I need to know I can do it too! Thanks!
Karlynn says
Hi Mindy, dissolving it in the cream would be the best to avoid any graininess, absolutely! Good luck!
Adrienne Gelbart says
I just made this and it so the best ever icing I ever made.
Jennifer says
I have never made any kind of icing EVER in my life! I just made this icing and I used hazelnut coffee creamer. It is THE most delicious hazelnut buttercream icing I have ever tasted! Very smooth and light! My husband is impressed even. I think he thinks someone swapped his wife out for one who knows how to bake/cook things! Thanks for your help!!!!
Karlynn says
Jennifer that’s awesome, I laughed out loud! I am sure you are a fabulous cook just waiting to emerge! Welcome!
Shari says
Unbelievably delicious and wonderful!!! Thank you for the fabulous recipe. Wow!!!
Karlynn says
Glad you liked it!! Welcome to my site!
kirstie says
i can make good buttercream ive tried loads of different ways but my only problem is i can never get my icing pure white in colour any ideas on which would be the best butter to use or best recipes plz help thanks
Karlynn says
White buttter and clear vanilla does the trick every time.
Anna says
Hello 🙂 Could you substitue coffee cream for something else? Milk? Water?
Erm, sorry but ive never made buttercream frosting before
Karlynn says
Milk is fine, but the fat content of cream is what makes this more decadent!
DOUG says
what icing would you reccomend for a fruit cake thanks doug
Karlynn says
A marzipan topping is what is most common Doug, hope that helps!
Gina says
I am so glad I found this recipe! I struggled with trying to find a good tasting buttercream! This is absolutely the best tasting I have found! Thank you so much for sharing! The buttercream alone is amazing but I used this and added 1/3 cup of strawberry preserves and it was amazing layered with french vanilla cake!!! YUMMY!
Karlynn says
I bet that was AMAZING!! Sounds delish! Thanks for stopping by my site!
David Caron says
Yum! I love frosting. Thanks for the tip on not eating it all before it goes on the cake!
Marissa says
Greetings from Nova Scotia! This is delicious!! Growing up this is what my mom always made (but used milk) but I can never remember even though it is so simple and the cream just makes it that much better! Thanks so much and I can’t wait to try it with lemon….love lemon:)
Karlynn says
Welcome! The lemon one is amazing too, but I love anything lemon so I am biased.
Angel says
This caught my attention, because I was just sure I have the best buttercream icing recipe. My secret ingredient is salt. I call it salty frosting. It was funny to see that you said the same thing!