Throughout the year, I make cake.
Nothing fancy, just something sweet to enjoy at home or share with family and friends.
I frost about half of these cakes.
Once a year, for my daughter’s birthday party, I make a fancy cake. That is, as fancy as my non-professional cake decorating abilities permit.
I definitely frost that cake.
For all of these cakes, from the fancy birthday cakes to the lazy at home cakes (like my red velvet cake and pumpkin cake), I use this classic Buttercream Frosting.
Classic Buttercream Frosting
It’s no overstatement to say that this buttercream frosting is easy to make. So easy, in fact, that it’s fool-proof.
Add some food coloring or keep the buttercream’s natural white color. Add some fun spices or enjoy the buttercream’s classic taste as is.
Make this Buttercream Frosting
Use this buttercream to frost only the top of a cake, or use it to coat a multi-layer cake.
No matter what cake you make, this buttercream frosting is the perfect match.
A Few Things!
Before you start mixing together the buttercream frosting ingredients, make sure the butter is room temperature.
Butter that’s too cold or too warm will mess with the final consistency of the frosting. But room temperature butter will result in a buttercream that’s the perfect consistency for spreading onto any cake.
I’m not a professional cake decorator. But I’ve learned a thing or two as I try to make my daughter’s dream birthday cake blueprints into realities each year.
Yes, she literally makes a blueprint for me to follow. Every year. It’s absolutely adorable.
Here’s my favorite food coloring set, offset spatula, cake turntable, cake leveler, and cake scraper [aff. links] on Amazon. These are all lifesavers for the home cake decorator.
You can also find all of these items in my Amazon store here.
Classic Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract, the real stuff!
- 2 Tbsp almond milk, or milk of choice
- Food coloring of choice, optional
Instructions
- Add the butter, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and 1 Tbsp almond milk to a large mixing bowl. With a handheld mixer, mix everything together until smooth. The frosting will be very thick at this point.
- Now add the remaining 1 Tbsp of almond milk, along with the food coloring of your choice, if using. Mix again until the color has incorporated and that last Tbsp of almond milk has thinned the frosting out a bit.
- Buttercream frosting is done. Use it to frost cookies, cakes, etc.
This has been my go to frosting for years. Works everytime!
Thanks Jill! That’s awesome.
Easy and yummy! Used this recipe for last year’s Valentine cupcakes and a couple more times since then. Much, much better than the canned stuff. Friends are impressed that it’s homemade. Back again to frost another batch of Valentines Day cupcakes!
I’m so happy to hear this frosting is a repeat recipe Jess! It’s amazing how much better homemade frosting is than canned. I’m sure your Valentine’s Day cupcakes were amazing 😋. Thanks for making the recipe, and for commenting!