Easy buttercream is one of the most useful frosting recipes every cake decorator should know. This frosting is smooth, creamy, stable enough for piping, and not nearly as sweet as traditional American buttercream. If you've struggled with overly sugary frosting in the past, this easy buttercream recipe gives you a much more balanced flavor while still being incredibly simple to make.
Quick Glance: Easy Buttercream
- Recipe Name: Easy Buttercream
- Why You'll Love It: Smooth, creamy, not too sweet, and easy to make with no heating required
- Time and Difficulty: 10 minutes • Beginner
- Main Ingredients: Pasteurized egg whites, powdered sugar, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, salt
- Method: Whip pasteurized egg whites with powdered sugar, then add softened butter and whip until light and fluffy
- Texture and Flavor: Silky, creamy, stable buttercream with a light texture similar to Swiss meringue buttercream, but easier!
- Quick Tip: If your buttercream looks curdled after adding the butter, keep mixing. It will come together.
Jump to:
- Quick Glance: Easy Buttercream
- Why This is My Go-To Recipe
- Easy Buttercream Ingredients
- How to Make Easy Buttercream Step-By-Step
- Frosting Calculator
- Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
- Cups of Batter Needed
- Cups of Frosting Needed
- Common Problems & How To Fix Them
- How Stable is Easy Buttercream Frosting?
- Final Thoughts
- Easy Buttercream FAQs
- Watch: How To Decorate A Cake Step-by-Step
- Recipe
Why This is My Go-To Recipe
The secret to this easy buttercream is using pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar as the base, then whipping in butter to create a silky frosting that has a texture very similar to Swiss meringue buttercream but without heating the egg whites. It pipes beautifully, spreads easily, and works perfectly for cakes, vanilla cupcakes, and even under fondant covered cakes.
This frosting is my go-to for my easy chocolate cake recipe - simple, reliable, and always a crowd-pleaser.
When I first started decorating cakes professionally, I used the traditional super-sweet American buttercream that most beginner decorators learn first. It was easy to make, but I always felt like it tasted way too sugary and heavy on my cakes. Plus, it was really hard to get smooth!
I came across this buttercream recipe from Lauren Kitchens, and it revolutionized how I make buttercream. I realized there was a way to get the smooth, silky texture of Swiss meringue buttercream without having to cook egg whites or deal with a complicated meringue process. Start with pasteurized egg whites, which are already (pre-cooked), add in the sugar, butter, salt, and vanilla, and boom! Done!
I tweaked the original recipe because I thought it was too buttery, but that's where this easy buttercream recipe came from. It's become my go-to frosting for cakes because it's simple, pipes buttercream flowers, cupcake flower bouquets, rosettes, and vintage piping beautifully.
Easy Buttercream Ingredients
This easy buttercream frosting uses just a few ingredients, but each one plays an important role in creating the smooth, creamy texture. Always make sure your cold ingredients, like the egg whites and butter, are at room temperature.
Pasteurized Egg Whites create the base for this easy buttercream. When whipped together with powdered sugar, they form a light and stable mixture that helps give the buttercream its silky texture. You can find pasteurized egg whites in the refrigerated section with the eggs.
Powdered Sugar is used in this recipe for sweetness and structure. Make sure you are using powdered sugar from cane sugar, not from beets. Beet sugar can sometimes end up tasting gritty.
Unsalted Butter is needed for this recipe. If you only have salted butter, you can still use that, but I would use half butter and half vegetable shortening so your buttercream doesn't end up being too salty. You can also replace the butter with any type of vegan butter that you like.
Vanilla Extract adds classic buttercream flavor and rounds out the sweetness of the powdered sugar. You can pretty much use any kind of extract flavor you like instead of vanilla. Just keep in mind some extracts like almond or peppermint are stronger than vanilla, so decrease or increase amounts as needed. My favorite vanilla is Nielsen Massey.
Salt balances the sweetness and enhances the overall flavor without making the frosting taste salty.
How to Make Easy Buttercream Step-By-Step
- Combine pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip the mixture on medium speed until it becomes thick and glossy.
This creates the base for the easy buttercream.
- Begin adding softened butter one piece at a time while mixing on medium speed.
At first, the mixture may look curdled or separated. This is completely normal.
- Mix in the vanilla extract and salt. Then whip on high until light, fluffy, and no longer tastes like butter.
- Optional: Switch to the paddle attachment. Mix the easy buttercream on low for several minutes to remove air bubbles and achieve the smoothest possible texture.
Frosting Calculator
This recipe makes about 6 cups of frosting, which is enough to fill, frost, and pipe a 3-layer 8-inch cake with a little extra for decorating. If you're working with a different pan size or need more (or less), use the calculator below to figure out how much frosting you need, then adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to scale the recipe up or down.
Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
Select an option below to calculate how much batter or frosting you need. Adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to change the amounts the recipe makes.
Choose a pan type
Choose a cake pan size
(based on 2" tall cake pan)
Choose a cake pan size
(based on 2" tall cake pan)
Cupcake Tin Size
Choose number of pans
Cups of Batter Needed
8 cups
Cups of Frosting Needed
5 cups
Note: measurements are estimated based off the vanilla cake recipe using standard US cake pans and sizes. Measurements used are for 2" tall cake pans only. Your results may vary. Do not overfill cake pans above manufacturer's recommended guidelines.
BONUS TIP:
If your buttercream looks curdled and is sticking to the sides of the bowl after adding the butter and whipping, don't panic. Remove 1 cup of the frosting and heat it in the microwave until just melted but not hot. Mix it back into the frosting. The extra warmth helps the buttercream become smooth.
Common Problems & How To Fix Them
Buttercream looks curdled: This usually happens right after adding the butter. Keep mixing, and the frosting will smooth out. If it's taking a long time, the butter or the egg whites could have been too cold. Remove 1 cup of the buttercream, melt it, and mix it back in.
Buttercream is too soft: Chill the buttercream for 10-15 minutes in the fridge. Mix before using to make it smooth.
Buttercream is too stiff: Remove 1 cup of the buttercream, melt it, and mix it back in, or you can use a heat gun or blow torch on the metal mixing bowl while mixing on low to warm the buttercream up slightly.
How Stable is Easy Buttercream Frosting?
Easy buttercream frosting will not crust, but is stable enough to pipe buttercream decorations and will last at room temperature for 2 days.
It is ok at temperatures up to 85ºF but will melt in direct sunlight in about 20 minutes, so keep it in the shade! You can replace half the butter with shortening to make it more stable in high temperatures.
Easy buttercream is not as stable as American or Italian buttercream, but it is more stable than cream cheese frosting or whipped cream.
You can also make a white chocolate buttercream frosting by adding melted white chocolate to the buttercream frosting. This makes a SUPER stable buttercream frosting that is a combination of buttercream and white chocolate ganache.
Final Thoughts
Easy buttercream is one of the best frosting recipes to learn if you decorate cakes regularly. It has a silky texture similar to Swiss meringue buttercream but skips the complicated steps, making it perfect for beginner cake decorators.
Once you master this easy buttercream recipe, you'll have a reliable frosting that works for cakes, cupcakes, and piping decorations. Pairs perfectly with my easy drip cake recipe
Easy Buttercream FAQs
Easy buttercream is a frosting made from pasteurized egg whites, powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt that creates a smooth buttercream similar to Swiss meringue buttercream but without cooking the egg whites.
Yes. Easy buttercream tastes less sweet than traditional American buttercream because the egg whites and butter balance the powdered sugar.
Yes. Easy buttercream is excellent for piping decorations like rosettes, borders, and flowers.
Yes! Pasteurized egg whites are heat-treated (like milk), so they are safe to eat. They usually come in a box carton in the egg aisle. If you don't have pasteurized egg whites, then you can use my SMBC recipe instead. Note: undercooked egg whites are not recommended for pregnant women, just to be on the safe side.
This recipe is not very sweet, especially if you're used to American buttercream. You can add more powdered sugar if you want it to be sweeter, but you cannot reduce the sugar, or the buttercream will be too soft.
The buttercream splits because it's too cold. Take out 1 cup of the buttercream and melt it in the microwave until it's just melted, and then whip it back in. That little bit of warm butter helps it all come together again.
Buttercream is soft or firm depending on how warm it is. If it's too soft, it could be that your butter was too soft when you added it in, or the mixer warmed it up. Put the buttercream in the fridge for 20 minutes, then whip it again, and it should firm back up.
Yes. Easy buttercream is stable enough to use under fondant when properly chilled.
Watch: How To Decorate A Cake Step-by-Step
Before you start decorating, watch the video below where I show you every step of decorating a cake from start to finish. Seeing the process in action makes it much easier to follow along
- Liz Marek.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 oz pasteurized egg whites room temperature
- 24 oz powdered sugar sifted if not from a bag
- 24 oz unsalted butter room temperature. You can use salted butter but it will affect the taste and you need to leave out additional salt
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 TINY drop purple food coloring (optional) for whiter frosting
Instructions
- Place egg whites and powdered sugar in a stand mixer bowl. Attach the whisk and combine ingredients on low and then whip on high for 1 minute to dissolve the powdered sugar
- Add in your salt and vanilla extract
- Add in your butter in chunks and whip with the whisk attachment to combine. It will look curdled at first. This is normal. It will also look pretty yellow. Keep whipping.
- If your buttercream looks curdled, remove about ⅓ cup of buttercream and melt it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds until JUST barely melted. Pour it back into the whipping buttercream to bring it all together.
- (Optional) Add your drop of purple food coloring. Whip on high with the whisk attachment for 8-10 minutes until it's very white, light and shiny. Taste the buttercream, if it tastes like sweet ice cream then it's ready!
- Switch to a paddle attachment and mix on low for 15-20 minutes to make the buttercream very smooth and remove air bubbles. This isn't required but if you want really creamy frosting, you don't want to skip it.
Lisa says
Hi there, how much is 8oz in litres? Or how many egg whites is equeal to 8oz? We are metric here in NZ 🙂 Thanks!
The Sugar Geek Show says
1 egg white is 1 oz
Amber says
I wanted to try to incorporate raspberry jam in this recipe was wondering if it is possible
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes you can, just mix it in 🙂 So yummy
Rhea says
Hi Liz. I am new to your website. I am so inspired. I made your white cake, the vanilla cake and the easy butter cream. Thanks for making things so simple. I followed the directions for the buttercream allowing it to mix for the extra 15 to 20 minutes with the paddle. I must say that it looks beautiful. Can’t wait to decorate my cake. Next I plan to take a look at your decorating your first cake video. Oh and all of this was done in the last two days.
Lea Wofford says
Hey Liz, I have used this icing a lot since I found it here, and I love it. I also use another one that uses unflavored whey protein powder in place of the eggs. The protein powder one uses 6 sticks of butter, your recipe uses 8. When I make your recipe, and get 6 sticks in, the texture looks the same as it does with 8 sticks. I guess my question is do we really need to use 8 sticks of butter or would 6 suffice?
Tracy says
Can this be colored using gel icing colors?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes that's what I use
Jessica says
This is THE best icing recipe ever. I halved it so I didn’t have so much and it came out perfect!!! Would def not skip out in the paddle attachment mixing on low for 15 mins because it makes a huge difference. Don’t think I’ll use another buttercream again!!!
Robin says
Hi Liz. I’d like to try this recipe for Easy Buttercream for my sister’s small top tier wedding cake but am a bit nervous with some of the comments saying it came out “soupy”. Could it be because their mixing bowl could have residue? (Soap or grease) I know it could be an issue with meringue. Also. I’ll be using 3-6” pans with a lemon curd filling. Would there be enough frosting with half the recipe?
The Sugar Geek Show says
It's either because their buttercream was too warm or they just aren't used to a soft buttercream. This is not stiff like ABC. Its very creamy, like whipped cream. This doesn't use a meringue so there's no worry about that. Just put it all in a bowl and mix. Half batch should be enough. Don't forget a damn to hold in your lemon curd
Sheryl McElwee says
Hi Liz. I made this buttercream and love it but had a wee bit of a disaster this last weekend. I damned the cake to add raspberry reduction. It all looked grand til the next day and the cake bulged and buttercream beaded weirdly. I’ve a wedding cake this weekend and am worried it’ll happen again as it’s exactly the same cake. Any ideas?
Corey Day says
Wow! The perfect balance of sweet, salty, buttery and creamy! Perfect! Just made this recipe for the 2nd time and I've decided this is my go to buttercream frosting from now on! I tried your Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe but found it to be a little more time consuming and not quite the sweetness I was looking for.... this easy buttercream recipe is superior in my book! I happened to find pasteurized egg whites in a container at my local grocery store and I'm geeked! I'm going to try the chocolate buttercream tomorrow for some chocolate cupcakes.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Woohoo! So glad you liked the buttercream frosting as much as I do!
Kim Oborne says
Hi Liz, I love this buttercream, unfortunately I live in Florida. I am making a lot of cupcakes for a wedding this weekend and would love to make this icing for them. They are picking up the cupcakes on Friday am and the wedding is on Saturday, and there coming from about an hour away to pick up. Do you think this recipe will hold up? Im hoping you see this cause its for this weekend!?Thanks for all you share with us!!❤️
Corey Day says
Encourage them to pump their A/C in the car (and keep out of the sun) and keep them in the coolest place of their house overnight. They may get misshapen and melt a little if not. Good luck!
Jewel B says
I made this buttercream last week and it was delicious, creamy and not too sweet, just right.
Kristen says
Hello! I have tried this recipe based on your video and your recipe states 2lbs of butter, but in your video, you use 2 boxes, which is 4lbs of butter. Needless to say, I followed the recipe based on your video tutorial and it remained a soupy mess after whisking and paddling just as the recipe directed. After the mess of the first try, I decided to try the written recipe and it remained a soupy mess as well. What am I doing wrong? I had everyone in my house watching and making sure I followed the recipe the 2nd time to the letter and still a soupy mess was beyond frustrating, and might I say, expensive as well. Please help me! I so wanted this recipe to work, but it isn’t working for me and I ended up giving a top client of designers a cake without your yummy sounding buttercream ????.
The Sugar Geek Show says
2 boxes is 1 lb of butter. 1 stick of butter is 4oz. There are 16 oz of butter in 1 lb. It sounds like you are not measuring correctly. Try using a scale if you're second guessing yourself.
Kristen Johnson says
Thank you so much! Scales are something you mention often and something I will be incorporating in my recipes for buttercream. I use them for cake recipes and distribution into pans, as well as French Macs, RI, and other recipes, so why I never thought of measuring for buttercream is beyond me. I also did not realize the butter measurements were so different.
Thank you again Liz for clarifying this for me and for making yourself to available to answer questions and be such an active part of sharing your teaching experience with us.
The Sugar Geek Show says
You're so welcome!
Mary says
for Liz:
oops, maybe there is a typo here, in your March 10 reply? “2 boxes is 1 pound of butter”. I think you meant to say: “1 box is 1 pound of butter”. Boxes of US butter, of course, contain *one* pound of butter and are labelled right on the front ‘Net Wt 16oz (454g)’, and ‘4 Sticks’ (each 4 oz, of course). So, just as your recipe states: use 2 lbs (2 boxes; 8 sticks) of butter.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes you are right!
Jessica Branco says
Hi Liz,
Can we half this recipe and make less buttercream or is it better to do the whole recipe and maybe just freeze what we don't use?
Thanks!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Either one of those options will work
Jewel B says
Hello, I use your crusted buttercream recipe a lot - I'd like to try this one under fondant cakes as well - does it hold up for a while if the cake is sitting out at a party - or will it start to get soft faster than crusted buttercream and make the cake start sinking? ( maybe not the word I'm looking for? Basically does it function under fondant the same as crusting buttercream?
Thank you
The Sugar Geek Show says
Buttercream should not be in a hot room above 85º no matter if it's crusting or easy buttercream. It's butter. It will melt but if the room is not hot, it holds up just fine. That's all I use.
Lyssa says
So just made a batch of this and O.M.G!! Tastes amazing and in half the time it would usually take me to cook and cool egg whites with regular SMB!!! Thank you soooo much for sharing this shortcut!! ???
The Sugar Geek Show says
You're very welcome!
Melissa Barisic says
Can u use liquid egg whites that come in a milk container? Is there a specific brand you like? I can't wait to try this!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes, pasteurized egg whites come in a container. It doesn't matter the brand. Shake the box before using.