The best Vanilla Buttercream you will ever make! Four simple ingredients are all you need to make this classic American buttercream recipe.
I made my own birthday cake. I think this is pretty standard for bakers, and I’m totally ok with it. I was actually notgoing to make a cake at all, since I was knee-deep in Pastry School at the time, but my husband insisted that we needed one, even if that meant buying one from the grocery store.
This is harder and harder for me to do these days. Buying a grocery store birthday cake used to be a thing (I know they are gross to some, but I love the sickly sweetness – I’m sorry!). These days I know I can (and have) made better, so I can’t bring myself to buy them.
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It helped that I still had a couple cake layers in the freezer from when I baked them for my Flat Top Cakes post. The recipe I used there was my Almost Scratch Cake. It is such a simple and delicious recipe and goes perfectly with this easy vanilla buttercream recipe.
So with the cake layers already done, all I had to do was defrost them, make the frosting, and decorate. I decided to go for an American Buttercream for ease.
What is American Buttercream Frosting?
I’ve actually had a hard time nailing down a good, simple vanilla buttercream recipe – what some would call American Buttercream – that uses mainly butter and powdered sugar.
I usually make Swiss meringue buttercream, which I love but takes a bit more effort, and I was most certainly looking for something with very little effort.
The BEST vanilla frosting I’d ever had was on my wedding cake, a cake we commissioned fromGannon’s,the restaurant we had our reception at. We didn’t do any tastings or see any samples, we just sent them a picture of what we wanted it to look like and chose our flavors.
This cake was unbelievable, the buttercream so smooth and delicious. We had a ton of leftovers, which we happily took back to our condo and devoured over the next few days.
I’d mentioned multiple times to Ryan that I wondered how they made it. I assumed it was a meringue-based one because it was so silky smooth, but it was less buttery than ones I’d made before. Powdered sugar-based buttercreams always feel so gritty… so it couldn’t be that.
Unbeknownst to me, Ryan had emailed Gannon’s and asked them for the recipe. He should probably get some kind of award, right?! I would never do this. I honestly did not think they would divulge their secrets, but they sent over a recipe!
How to make American Buttercream
This American buttercream consists of four simple ingredients — butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream. But there are a few key things you can do to make sure your buttercream is nice and smooth with as little grit as possible.
The first step is to really whip the butter on its own, before adding any powdered sugar.
Sift your powdered sugar! This is a bit of a pain, but really helps to break out those clumps
Add your powdered sugar slowly — 1/2 cup to 1 cup at a time to the buttercream and whip well in between additions.
Once all the sugar is added, give it a good whip for at least 3 mins, more if needed.
Add only as much cream as needed to reach the consistency that you want and whip some more until completely smooth.
Help ensure a super smooth American buttercream by sifting that powdered sugar first to get rid of any clumps!
Now, I’m not convinced this is the exact same vanilla buttercream that was on our cake (it still felt a little gritty when I made it, notasgritty as others before), but it was delicious. I am super happy with the end result and will definitely be making this buttercream again!
How to make a rosette cake
For the decorating, I wanted to try something new (to me) and a rosette cake. I’ve seen this done before and it looked amazing, so I wanted to give it a try.
I had done rosettes before, but usually just as decoration on top of the cakes or on cupcakes, not something that would cover the whole cake. I could have winged it, but I’m glad I checked out a couple of video tutorials first. I wouldn’t have thought to offset each row of roses to fill in the gaps.
I stacked and iced the cakes and did a crumb coat layer on the outside – thicker than just a crumb coat, but not too thick, as the rosettes would add a lot of icing already.
For this rosette cake, I started at the bottom and worked my way around, then the next layer, then the top.
All in all, the rosette part was really easy and probably took less than 10mins. I’m surprised at how easy it was, really. It’s a simple way to decorate your cakes and make them look stunning!
This particular vanilla buttercream is a bit less sweet than most you’ll find. I don’t like mine super-sweet, so I just added less powdered sugar. You can adjust this to your liking though — just use more/less if you prefer, but be sure to adjust the cream as needed!
If you’re looking for an easy and delicious vanilla buttercream recipe, this one is for you!
Frequently Asked Questions
How much buttercream does this recipe make?
This recipe makes enough to frost an 8″ two-layer cake or one three-layer 6″ cake.
It should be enough to frost 18-24 cupcakes depending on how much frosting is used.
The nutritional information and metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this is important to you, please verify with your favorite nutrition calculator and/or metric conversion tool.
This recipe was originally published on Jan 4th, 2015. It was updated with new content on Jan 12th, 2023.
American buttercream has a pale ivory color and is a bit firmer than most other buttercreams, because it has a very high butter content. I hate to break it to you, but American buttercream really is just fat and sugar. (That's why it's so good.)
Beat together butter, shortening, and vanilla with an electric mixer in a large bowl until creamy. Blend in confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in milk; continue mixing until icing is light and fluffy. Store icing covered until ready to use.
One easy fix is to re-whip the frosting, preferably with the paddle attachment, on medium speed until it becomes smoother. (You can let it go for quite a bit!) If the buttercream is still grainy, you can try warming it up over a double boiler or adding a little bit of heavy cream.
American buttercream (ABC) is one of the easiest and most commonly made frostings, but the biggest problem that most people have with it is that it often has a 'gritty' or grainy feel to it. This is because of undissolved icing sugar (also known as powdered/confectioners sugar).
This gives a super stable meringue because the sugar syrup is cooked to such a high temperature that it causes the sugar syrup to solidify slightly within the whipped meringue.
Buttercream is a sweet and fluffy frosting made by creaming butter and sugar. Other common ingredients include milk (to create the perfect texture) and vanilla (for simple, crowd-pleasing flavor).
American-style buttercream frosting is made of butter and powdered sugar, whipped together with a little cream and some flavoring (such as vanilla extract). Some American buttercream recipes will contain shortening or a combination of butter and shortening, but I use an all-butter mixture.
Yes, this is absolutely correct. The longer you beat, the more air you incorporate in your buttercream, thus, it will have lots of holes or air-pockets, it will also make the colour lighter. If you will use your buttercream primarily for filling or maybe as simple swirls, then this is ok.
Also known as simple buttercream, American buttercream is the sweetest and easiest type of buttercream to whip up. All you have to do is beat butter until it's light and fluffy, then mix in powdered sugar (a 1:2 ratio is a safe bet), maybe some vanilla, and a splash of milk or cream.
You are also running the risk of overmixing your frosting by having to add even more powdered sugar at the end which can only lead to more separation. The other reason your buttercream may appear too thin could also be a temperature issue.
A buttercream that has separated is also sometimes referred to as “broken.” The buttercream will often have unattractive lumps and curds, an indication that the butter in your buttercream is too cold.
Either, the mixture is too cold, or that it has been 'shocked' with too much liquid (e.g. cream, milk, flavouring) too soon. In both cases, it usually needs warming up (either with a hair dryer, a lukewarm water bath, or a warm towel wrapped around the bowl).
If your buttercream looks like it's falling off the cake or your piped decorations begin to droop, it's very likely the temperature in the room is too hot, causing your buttercream to melt.
Soft and fluffy, this buttercream is great for filling layers or frosting cakes. Hints & Tips: Since Swiss buttercream is so soft, it's better used for frosting cakes rather than piping or decorating.
There are three types of buttercreams that are most often used: American Buttercream, Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and Italian Meringue Buttercream. There are a few other types of buttercream that are less commonly used like French Buttercream, German Buttercream, and a very new style of buttercream called G.G.
Generally speaking American buttercream is the most forgiving to use for roses and peonies. You'll need to reserve part of your buttercream batch for the bases and thicken it with more sugar. Orchids are easier to make with a meringue-based buttercream.
Introduction: My name is Jeremiah Abshire, I am a outstanding, kind, clever, hilarious, curious, hilarious, outstanding person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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