American butter cream is One of the most popular Frosting’s amongst bakers. It is one of the sweetest frostings to add to cakes, cupcakes, macarons, and other desserts in comparison to Swiss meringue, Italian cream and French buttercream. It is very sweet yet soft, creamy, and delicious.
You’ve found it! The BEST American buttercream for icing your cakes and perfect for piping cupcakes. We can all agree that American buttercream is very sweet, but you can cut the sweetness with salt (I’ll show you how!) Also, it is very versatile. Even people that don’t like American butter cream enjoy this recipe. It is super simple and easy to make. Perfect for beginner and seasoned cake decorators alike.
Tools Needed
- Stand Mixer
or
- Handheld Mixer *
Ingredients for American Buttercream frosting
Butter: Of course, we have to start off our butter cream with butter! You’ll want to make sure your butter is room temperature, so you want to leave out at least 30 minutes (I leave mine out for a minimum of 3 hours) Another important note to add here is that you can use half unsalted 1/2 salted butter if you do not want to use salt. I find that this Balances the sweetness perfectly.
Confectioners’ (powdered) sugar: When it comes to confectioners’ sugar, you can definitely opt for less sugar, but keep in mind that the sugar adds volume and more stiffness, So I always do one pound per half a cup of butter.
Heavy whipping cream or coffee creamer: I honestly do not use heavy cream in my butter cream often, instead I opt for something more flavorful such as Italian cream flavored coffee cream, (I know, I know! Italian cream is not American, but you will have to trust me on this!) to add some extra flavor.
Extracts: Now, some people like creme Brule because it gives buttercream that classic bakery flavor. But the 3 flavors that make up creme Brulé is just butter, vanilla, and almond flavoring. Since we already have butter in our butter cream (duh!) I just ought to use half vanilla 1/2 almond extract to achieve the same or similar result.
*Salt: If you are opting to use salt instead of salted butter, about ¼ teaspoon is what I suggest per batch. You can most certainly adjust to your taste.
How To Make American Buttercream
Beat buttercream: You will want to beat the butter cream on medium I for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the butter starts to become fluffy and turns lighter in color.
Add the Confectioners’ sugar: Turn your mixer to the lowest speed and slowly add powdered sugar about 1/3 of the bag at a time. Gradually increase the speed As the powder becomes more incorporated and there’s less chance for the sugar to plop out of the bowl. Do this until you have incorporated MOST of the sugar and save the remaining until after the next step. (You will know when to stop adding the sugar when the butter cream becomes a lot less smooth and VERY thick) This applies if adding the entire bag. See notes.
Add your Cream: If your butter cream is too thick (and mine usually is after adding the sugar) You will want to go ahead and slowly start adding your cream in right before you finish adding the rest of the powdered sugar. I don’t know about you guys but stand mixers are pretty expensive and I want to put the least strain as possible on it. So, when your butter cream starts to become super thick you can go ahead and add your liquid and then finish
Adding the remainder powdered sugar.
) Add your extracts: Once all of your powdered sugar is incorporated, continue to beat your buttercream while adding your vanilla and almond (if using) extract to the bowl. You may want to turn your mixer speed down a bit, so the liquid doesn’t splash too much.
- *Add salt: If you decided not to use salted butter with your unsalted butter but you still want to cut the sweetness, add your salt at this stage. You can use the recommended or amount or you can adjust to taste. You do not have to add salt to your butter cream, but it will add a little bit of saltiness and balance out the flavor a bit.
Coloring Your Buttercream
Add 2-5 Drops of desired food color depending on how deep of a color you want your buttercream to be.
If you wish to color your buttercream I recommend using gel food color. You can use liquid as well but it may change the consistency of your buttercream depending on how much you add. I do not recommend oil based food coloring as it is more likely to separate.
Using Buttercream for Cupcakes
Now, you can definitely just spread the butter crew over the cupcakes, and it will be just as delicious, but that’s no fun! Ifyou want to get a little fancier and have people think that your cupcakes came straight from a bakery you’ll want to invest in some piping tips. The best piping tips I recommend for piping cupcakes are the following:
- Wilton 1a: This is my all-time favorite tip to use! It is a classic and my signature piping technique for my brand when I sold cupcakes.
Wilton 2d: Is another favorite of mine, when making and piping Is simple swirl roses.
Wilton #12: Simple and smooth similar to 1A but half the size, so you will get smaller and more swirls.
Wilton 1m: This tip can also be used to pipe swirl roses, but the roses will be a lot more open and less fluffy
- Wilton 6b: This pipe can be used If you want to achieve a swirl but still have
texture with lines and ridges
- Wilton2F: Is similar to 2D but has a much funkier design
For example: The top two photo below are cupcakes I piped with a Wilton 2D piping tip, and the photo directly below those are some cupcakes I piped with a Wilton 1A tip, my signature design!
Smoothing Buttercream for Cakes
If you want your butter cream extra smooth, You can take all the steps to making your butter cream smoother with the tips below.
Do not overbeat: This is hard for me since I like my buttercream extra fluffy, plus I love to use the whisk because I like it to be light and airy. BUT This is not ideal for actually decorating cakes and cupcakes, so you will want to make sure that you do not overbeat or you can follow the next steps.
Use the Paddle Attachment: If you want to avoid as many air bubbles as possible while mixing, you can use the paddle attachment instead, or you can use the paddle attachment for about 2 minutes on low after using the whisk attachment. This creates less air bubbles in your Butter cream and makes it a lot smoother.
Sift your Powdered sugar: This will get rid of any tiny lumps that the powdered sugar may leave behind in the butter cream. I usually skip this step unless I want an extra smooth finish on my cakes.
Use a food processor to smooth out your butter cream: This may seem like a lot but after you are finished making your butter cream to achieve a super smooth finish you can put your butter cream in a food processor for a minute or 2 on low speed. This will remove almost all the air bubbles. It will also make the butter cream a little less sturdy though so just be careful not to overdo it.
The Best American Buttercream
Ingredients
- ½ C Unsalted butter 115g
- ½ C salted butter 115g
- 2 lbs powdered sugar* (about 907 grams)
- ¼ cup Italian coffee creamer**
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- ¼ tsp salt optional*** SEE NOTE!
Instructions
- Place butter into a glass or metal bowl if using a handheld mixer or in a bowl of a stand mixer and begin Beating on medium speed For about 2 to 3 minutes Until the butter starts to become fluffy and turn lighter in color.
- Turn your mixer to low and begin slowly adding the confectioner sugar About 1 to 2 cups at a time. When your frosting starts to become really thick Stop adding the powdered sugar and save the reminder until after the next step.
- Begin slowly adding your cream to
- the frosting, you can gradually increase the speed at this point. Once all your cream is added you can add the reminder powdered sugar to your bowl.
- Once all of your powdered sugar is incorporated, add your extracts to the bowl while continuing to mix your butter cream on medium to medium high. Be careful not to let your liquid splash out of the bowl.
- If using add your salt to taste
- That's it! Your butter cream is ready to use! Be sure to use immediately or cover with plastic wrap making sure Your buttercream isn't exposed to air at all so you'll want to make sure the wrap touches the butter cream. Because this buttercream contains dairy, you will want to refrigerate Until up to 30 minutes before use and then beat In your stand mixer or with the handheld mixer to bring back to original consistency.
Notes
That’s it! Your butter cream is ready to use! Let me know how this recipe worked for you and any adjustments you’ve made below!
Notes:
- *You can use a handheld mixer but it will take longer to achieve the same consistency.
- ** The amount of powdered sugar you add is dependant on how sweet you like your butter cream; start with 4 1/2 cups and add one cup at a time until you reach the perfect sweetnes (when icing cakes I usually add 6-7 cups up to 2 lbs of sugar’ for cupcakes I usually add only 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups)
- ***If you use half salted butter which I suggest, you do not need to add salt to your buttercream
Step by step with pictures
Step 1
Add butter to mixing bowl and beat for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and lighter in color.
Step 2 & 3
Add powdered sugar, starting with one cup at a time. After a few additions or when the buttercream begins to thick, slowly start to pour the cream into the bowl on lowest speed. ( you can gradually increase speed once cream is full incorporated)
Step 4 & 5
Add remainder of powdered sugar (again, gradually increasing speed afer each addition). Add Vanilla on medium low speed.
Step 6 & 7
Add almond extract if using. Add food coloring if using on medium low speed or with spatula. (I added white food coloring to this batch).
Step 8
Enjoy your super smooth and delicious buttercream! enough to pipe about 24 to 30 standard sized cupcakes or a small 6 inch cake.
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