Decadent brown butter frosting brings both a rich and caramelized flavor together that pairs beautifully with almost any sweet treat! It’s hard to believe you can pack so much flavor and the nutty aroma into frosting using 4 basic ingredients.
This brown butter buttercream frosting is an easy way to jazz up a plain white cupcake recipe without them being overly sweet. It would also be delicious on my spiced banana cake, while adding an extra punch of flavor.
The nutty flavor of the browned butter goes well with most spiced flavors such as carrot cake (try it in this carrot cake roll,) apple cinnamon, or pumpkin. Because it has a caramel like flavor, it can be drizzled over mini cinnamon rolls or pumpkin cinnamon rolls as long as you put it on the rolls warm or thin it out a tad, and then its more like a brown butter icing. Don’t forget that the nuttiness of brown butter itself can be substituted for most recipes that call for regular butter.
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🧁 Ingredients:
- salted butter – unsalted butter can be used. We recommend to add a pinch of salt for balance.
- vanilla extract – adds a subtle vanilla undertone.
- confectioner’s sugar – increase the sugar for thicker frosting or use half of the powdered sugar for a thinner consistency.
- heavy whipping cream – creates the right consistency, but you could also use milk, especially if you want a more spreadable frosting.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Optional Garnish:
Brown buttercream is the easiest way to take plain cakes and vanilla cupcakes to the next level with just one little added step of browning the butter.
Substitutions and Variations
- Milk: use in place of the heavy cream if desired.
- Brown butter Cream Cheese Frosting: Add 8 ounces of room temperature cream cheese in a bowl with the solidified brown butter and continue with the recipe.
- Maple syrup: replace the vanilla extract with 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup. Perfect for fall sweet treats.
- Regular Brown butter: simply use my brown butter recipe. You can also see how to switch things up for savory meals.
🔪 Instructions:
Step 1: Melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet until liquid. Continue cooking while stirring or swirling the pan continuously until the butter starts to simmer.
Step 2: Through the cooking process, the bubbles will get smaller, and there will be foam over top of the melted butter. Once the butter foams, cook a few more seconds, until the butter caramelizes – turning a golden brown color.
Step 3: Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl to cool. Let it cool until solidified (the texture of softened butter). This will take about an hour at room temperature.
Step 4: Transfer butter to the bowl of a stand mixer or to a large mixing bowl. Use the whisk attachment (or a hand mixer) to whip butter until smooth and creamy.
Pro Tip: You can also place butter in the refrigerator for 30 minutes after the browning process to speed up the time it takes to solidify. However, if it gets too hard, you will need to let it set out to soften again before making the frosting.)
Step 5: Add powdered sugar, beating on low speed. Gradually increase to medium speed until the butter is mixed into the sugar (mixture will be crumbly). Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Step 6: Add in the vanilla extract and TWO tablespoons of the heavy cream and beat to combine.
Step 7: Then, while the mixer is running on medium speed, drizzle in the remaining whipping cream until it reaches the right consistency. Whip for a couple more minutes until ultra fluffy.
SERVE: Transfer the frosting to a piping bag and decorate.
Recipe Tips for Browned Butter Frosting
- It takes about 5-8 minutes for the butter to reach a deep golden color during the browning process.
- Using a larger pan versus a small saucepan will speed up the process because the butter can melt in a thin layer. (Be extra careful that it doesn’t heat too quickly and burn.)
- It also helps to use a light colored pan so you can tell exactly when the butter browns, to avoid it being burned.
- Remove the brown butter from the heat quickly; it will burn if left too long on the heat. Do not cook above medium-low heat.
- All of the little solid bits in the pan are the toasted milk solids and they are where the flavor is at. You mix EVERYTHING in for your frosting.
- Milk can be substituted for heavy cream. The frosting will require less milk to thin out.
- If you want more control of the salt content you can use unsalted butter. Add in a pinch or two of salt to the mixture.
- Our delicious brown butter frosting recipe makes 2 cups which is enough to decorate 24 cupcakes or a small sheet cake. To pipe taller swirls, double the recipe.
Fun Fact
The technical term for the browning process is called the Maillard Reaction.
Recipe FAQs
Keep leftover frosting in an airtight container or one tightly wrapped with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Before using to decorate, rewhip if needed.
Yes, you can! Frosting stores really well in the freezer and can last 2-3 months.
Unlike regular butter, margarine does not have the milk solids that turn to the little brown bits, so we advise not to use. The brown bits sink to the bottom of the pan and are filled with flavor.
More Tasty Frosting Recipes
If you tried this Brown Butter 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.
Brown Butter Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar 1 lb.
- 4-5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- In a large saucepan or skillet, heat butter over medium heat until fully melted.
- Stirring constantly or swirling the pan, continue heating until butter begins to simmer. The bubbles will gradually become smaller until a foam covers the top of the melted butter. Once the butter foams, cook just a few seconds longer until you see the butter caramelizing in the pan – turning a golden brown color.
- Remove from heat and transfer brown butter to a bowl to cool.
- Leave butter to cool until it solidifies. This will take about an hour at room temperature. You can also place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so. Solidified brown butter should be soft (just like if you were bringing sticks of butter to room temperature.)
- Transfer butter to the bowl of a standing mixer.
- Use the whisk attachment to ship butter until smooth and creamy.
- Add powdered sugar, beating on low speed and gradually increasing speed until the butter is fully incorporated into the sugar (mixture will be crumbly).
- Add vanilla extract and two tablespoons of the cream, beating and scraping the bowl to combine fully.
- With the mixer on medium high speed, continue to drizzle in additional 2-3 tablespoons of heavy cream until desired consistency is achieved.
- Whip on high 1-2 minutes more for an extra fluffy frosting.
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Notes
Storage: Store leftover frosting in an airtight container in the fridge for up 7 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Notes: It takes about 5-8 minutes for the butter to reach a deep golden color. Using a larger pan versus a small saucepan will speed up the process because the butter can melt in a thin layer. It also helps to use a light colored pan so you can tell exactly when the butter browns, to avoid it being burned. Remove the brown butter from the heat quickly; it will burn if left too long. Do not cook above medium-low heat. Milk can be substituted for heavy cream. The frosting will require less milk to thin out. If you want more control of the salt content, you can use unsalted butter. Add in a pinch or two of salt to the mixture. Our delicious brown butter frosting recipe makes 2 cups which is enough to decorate 24 cupcakes or small sheet cake. To pipe taller swirls, double the recipe.
Nutrition
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