Whipped Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
This is the lightest and fluffiest vanilla buttercream frosting. It’s perfect for frosting just about anything— cakes, cupcakes, cookies and more!
Are you a frosting person? I’m totally a frosting person. What’s under the frosting is important too, of course, but I definitely can appreciate a big pile of billowy frosting.
And for me that’s exactly what frosting should be like— light, creamy and cloud-like.
I’ve developed this vanilla buttercream frosting recipe over several years and too many cakes, cupcakes and cookies to count, and I feel pretty confident calling it the very best. Because it is!
Table of Contents
- Ingredients you'll need
- What's the secret?
- How to use this whipped vanilla frosting
- Whipped Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe
Ingredients you’ll need
- Butter— you can use salted or unsalted, but if you use salted butter omit the salt in the recipe
- Powdered or confectioner’s sugar
- Heavy whipping cream
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- Salt
What’s the secret?
There are two ingredients that really help make this frosting what it is— heavy whipping cream and just a touch of almond extract.
Using heavy whipping cream instead of milk, and then whipping it on high speed for several minutes really gives this frosting its light and fluffy texture. Turn your mixer on low for just a few moments until the ingredients come together, then turn it up to high and walk away for about 3 minutes. Come back, scrape down the bowl and whip it for another 1-2 minutes. It turns out perfectly whipped every time.
Almond extract is my other secret. I add a small amount, only 1/4 teaspoon. It’s not enough that the almond flavor comes through, but it gives the frosting a little something extra, and helps it taste kinda fancy.
How to use this whipped vanilla frosting
One recipe yields enough frosting for:
- Filling and frosting a double-layer 8 or 9-inch layer cake. If you have 3 or more cake layers, or want to do a lot of piping decoration, you may want to double this recipe or use another filling option for the cake.
- Frosting 24 regular cupcakes with a moderate amount of frosting per cupcake, or 12-15 cupcakes with a generous amount of frosting (as shown in this post).
- Frosting 24-36 sugar cookies.
Feel free to add food coloring as desired. You can also use other flavorings and other extracts.
This frosting is great for piping and decorating cakes and cupcakes. If the frosting starts getting too soft as you work with it, chill it in the fridge for about 15 minutes to firm it up.
If you’d like to make this frosting in advance, it can be stored in the fridge for at least 1 week and in the freezer for at least 1 month. Let it come back to room temperature, then beat for 1-2 minutes until fluffy again.
baking tip:How to frost like a pro
I am not an expert when it comes to decorating with icing, I know my limitations. But I also know how to fake it and make it look like I know what I’m doing! Here are some tips to easily elevate your frosting:
- Sift powdered sugar before making the frosting, ensuring it’s smooth and lump-free.
- Use gel food coloring instead of liquid, which results in more vivid colors without adding moisture. Look for gel food coloring in a craft or baking supply store, or buy online.
- Use a piping bag with plain and star tips, which go a long way to make my decorations looks professional.
Whipped Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe
Whipped Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 4 cups powdered sugar (1 lb, 455 grams), sifted after measuring
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks, 226 grams), at room temperature
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract , optional, but highly recommended!
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, mix all of the ingredients on low speed until it starts to come together.
- Increase speed to high and beat for 4-5 minutes until frosting is fluffy, pausing once or twice to scrape the bowl down.
- (Optional Step) The frosting will be very airy with lots of bubbles. To achieve a smooth frosting, beat it with a wooden spoon by hand for 2-3 minutes. This will push all of those air bubbles out.
- Use frosting as desired to cover cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc. This is enough frosting for a double layer 8 or 9-inch cake, 2 dozen cupcakes, or 2 dozen 4-inch cookies.
- Store frosting at room temperature for 1-2 days, in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to several months.
This post was originally published April 2016.
I followed the recipe precisely, but this turned out to be shockingly sweet. Very cloyingly sweet for our taste. It was overly sweet to the point of being inedible and vanilla was overpowering. Thanks for sharing but this did not work out for us. Ended up discarding it. I could find no other way to salvage it to make it work.
I’m sorry this wasn’t what you expected! This is a classic American buttercream recipe, which is made from a whole lot of powdered sugar and butter. If you’re looking for something lighter, I recommend my chantilly cream frosting recipe.
Consider 2 cups of butter, 2 1/2 cups of icing sugar and 2 or 3 tbsp of whipping cream to make this less sickly sweet. Even at these proportions it’s sweet but a little less than what’s proposed
This is a good, standard frosting that doesn’t call for such a high ratio of sugar to butter. I made half batch recently to go with Graham crackers for my son and froze the rest. I’m thawing now and making more for cutout cookies. It’s very sweet but will balance out perfectly. Idk what others are complaining about, adjust the recipe for your needs but then don’t leave a negative review if you have drastically altered the recipe from what was written. 5 stars!
Followed recipe to the T apart from the powdered sugar. I used just 1/4 the amount of sugar directed. And it was way too sweet with way too much vanilla.
Hi Jane! This is an American buttercream and it’s meant to be sweet! If you’re looking for something less sweet I recommend my chantilly cream frosting. This recipe will not work with only 1 cup of powdered sugar.
Not as whipped and fluffy as I would have thought. I added 2 more tbls of heavy cream and add’l tsp vanilla. It was really sweet, tell all will be when we cut it tonight at a church function.
Overall, recipe is GREAT! This is better than Wilton’s version. It is my husband’s favorite by far. However, this last time I tried adding melted chocolate like you suggested. I added about 4 oz. of good quality milk chocolate. Blending it in was very difficult, and it yielded a frosting that was very pale and had only a faint chocolate flavor. I added about 6 TBS of cocoa with marked improvement, although it still looked a bit pale. Flavor was adequate but mild. Thanks for the recipe!
Tried it , it was a hit at the party!
This is thee best cream cheese frosting I have ever had. And I am cook/ baker. So a big KUDOS to you!!! Thank you for sharing
Made this as per the dir3ctions including the almond. The taste is excellent. One thing is I had to add some extra cream as it was a little stiff and too dry. Other than that this is so easy to make and very delicious.
Was sceptical in this recipe at first as being a new Baker. I needed not to have worried as its absolutely gorgeous. If you do make this the almond essence is a must.