This American Buttercream recipe uses only 4 simple ingredients and is one of the easiest buttercreams to make, even for beginner bakers. It is fluffy, sweet, and comes together in just minutes. If you’re looking for a traditional American bakery frosting, this is the recipe for you.
The combination of butter, sugar, and cream is absolutely magical and I love that you can change the consistency based on how you would like to decorate by using more or less cream. Because it’s the easiest recipe, we use it often when decorating cakes, but switch things up for different flavors. It is slightly sweeter than a Swiss Meringue buttercream or Italian Meringue buttercream and is popular for kids’ birthday parties and large crowds.
Use this fluffy frosting to decorate funfetti cake, chocolate cupcakes, or vanilla cupcakes. Really, you could add homemade buttercream to just about any cake and it tastes delicious, so the flavor variations are endless. This recipe has a nice firm consistency and works well for piping details. It will not harden like royal icing, but it does form a bit of a crust and can sit out at room temperature for an hour or so.
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🧁 Ingredients:
- salted butter – soften at room temperature first. Cold butter doesn’t mix as well.
- vanilla extract – clear vanilla extract will make the frosting have less of a tint, but you will get a slight ivory color from the butter regardless, so I almost always choose real vanilla extract for its flavor.
- powdered sugar – sweetens and thickens the frosting.
- heavy whipping cream – thins the frosting to the right consistency and adds rich creaminess. You can use milk here instead, which would require less.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Optional Garnish:
This is the perfect buttercream frosting recipe and goes great with all different flavors of cake and cupcakes. Use it to pipe details on top of cakes and cupcakes, or add sprinkles and nonpareils for quick color.
Substitutions and Variations
- Strawberry Buttercream: Use up to 1 cup of freeze dried strawberries. Blend them in a food processor or blender until crumbs then add to the powdered sugar and butter. You may need to use more cream. Mix at medium speed until the desired consistency is reached. This method makes a pretty color without using food coloring.
- Chocolate Buttercream: Reduce the confectioners sugar by ½ and use up to ½ of cocoa powder.
- Cherry Buttercream: goes great on chocolate cake. Add 1-2 teaspoons of cherry extract.
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream: has a glossy finish that is elegant enough for a wedding cake, but is not as sweet as American buttercream because it has less sugar. It’s also not shelf stable, so do not leave frosted goods out at room temperature longer than 2 days or in warm temperatures.
- Italian Meringue Buttercream: uses egg whites and cream of tartar, is the most shelf stable buttercream, and great for intricate details.
- Cream Cheese Buttercream: a classic frosting that is perfect for carrot cake and red velvet.
- Shortening: can be used in place of the butter for a pure white look, but it will change the taste. This will give you a close approximation to a grocery store buttercream.
- Tint the buttercream using gel-based food coloring. Beat in the food coloring after the other ingredients have all been combined and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then re-beat for even color distribution.
🔪 Instructions:
Step 1: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the vanilla and butter together using the paddle attachment at medium-high speed until creamy and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Step 2: Add the confectioner’s sugar mixing on low speed at first so it doesn’t make a mess. Beat until fully mixed, it will look like coarse crumbles.
Step 3: Pour one tablespoon of cream in at a time with the mixer running until you get the right consistency.
Step 4: Transfer to a bag with a piping tip and start frosting cakes or store the classic buttercream frosting in the refrigerator for later.
Pro Tip – Room temperature butter mixes better and makes a smoother frosting, so don’t skip the softening process.
Decorate: Pipe swirls onto cakes and cupcakes using this easy recipe!
Recipe Tips for American Buttercream Frosting
- Do not over whip the frosting. This will cause air bubbles and while it doesn’t effect the taste, the texture is not as great when spreading onto a cake.
- Use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer because vanilla buttercream recipes are so thick it will make it easier than trying to do it by hand. This will also give the fluffiest results.
- If using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt.
- This classic American buttercream recipe makes 3 cups of frosting which will cover and fill a two layer, 6-inch cake or 24 piped swirled cupcakes.
Fun Fact
French Buttercream is made with egg yolks, so while that’s the main difference, it’s extremely yellow compared to all of the other buttercream frostings.
Recipe FAQs
The frosting will stay fresh when refrigerated for up 1 week. Before using, let is set at room temperature for 20-30 minutes, then rewhip so it gets fluffy again.
Italian meringue buttercream since the sugar syrup is cooked before being added to the butter.
More Homemade Frosting Recipes
If you tried this American Buttercream Frosting Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
American Buttercream Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Beat together butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy.
- Add powdered sugar and beat until fully mixed (mixture will appear like coarse crumbles).
- While the mixer is still running, pour heavy cream – one tablespoon at a time – into the frosting mixture until desired spreading consistency is achieved. Keep covered until ready to use.
- Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
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