Classic American Buttercream is a sweet, fluffy frosting that is very stable and pairs amazingly well with the funfetti cake, chocolate cake, and more. 
This recipe is incredibly easy, only uses 5 simple ingredients, and takes less than 15 minutes to make. Follow this recipe for tricks on how to get your buttercream smooth and bubble-free, and how to avoid grainy, separated frosting.
I have tested so many frostings to combat the summer heat, and American buttercream is the most stable. Many of my go-to recipes, like easy buttercream, Swiss meringue buttercream, or Italian meringue buttercream, use egg whites, so if you are vegan or unable to eat eggs, American buttercream is a great option.
Table of contents
American Buttercream Ingredients
Butter is, of course, a key ingredient for "butter"-cream, so using high-quality butter is important. I like using Plugra or Irish butter, but Darigold is also a great option when butter is expensive! You can also use dairy-free butter if you need dairy-free buttercream. If you need stable buttercream for hot and humid climates, replace half of the butter with shortening. High-ratio shortening works best, but Crisco will work too.
Heavy cream is important to help thin out your frosting and make it fluffy, but you can also use water, milk, or non-dairy creamer.
How to Make American Buttercream
- First, bring your butter to room temperature. If your butter is not at room temperature, you will get lumps of butter.
- Place the room temperature butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or an electric hand mixer) with the whisk attachment and mix together on medium speed until smooth. Don't forget to scrape the bottom of the bowl often. Pro-Tip: If you need more stable buttercream, replace half of the butter with high-ratio shortening.
- Add in your powdered sugar one cup at a time while mixing on low speed until smooth.
- Add in your salt, clear vanilla extract, and cream. If your buttercream looks too dry, you can add more cream until you reach the right consistency.
- Whip on high speed for 2-3 minutes until the buttercream is smooth and fluffy.
- Optional: If it looks curdled and separated, remove about 1 cup of buttercream and melt it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Pour it back into the mixing buttercream to bring it all together.
- Optional: To remove bubbles, mix on low with a paddle attachment for 10 to 15 minutes until smooth.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap until you're ready to use it. This frosting can stay out for a few hours but should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer if you don't need it for a few days. Bring it to room temperature and mix on low before each use.
- This is enough buttercream to frost and fill three 8"x2" layers, or 24 cupcakes.
What are the different types of buttercream?
- American buttercream (ABC) is made with powdered sugar, butter, and liquid. It's very sweet, creamy, and the most stable in warm temperatures due to the high amount of sugar.
- Swiss meringue buttercream (SMBC) is made by combining meringue with whipped butter and extracts. This buttercream is light, soft, and not very sweet. My Easy buttercream is an easy mock-Swiss buttercream recipe.
- Italian meringue buttercream (IMBC) is made by pouring boiled sugar into whipping meringue. This produces a very stable and light buttercream frosting that's not very sweet, but it is a little bit trickier to make.
- French buttercream is made with egg yolks or whole eggs in a meringue base. It's similar to a custard or pastry cream, is not as sweet, and has a richer flavor compared to some of the other buttercreams.
- German buttercream is made by combining pastry cream, butter, and powdered sugar. It's very rich, silky, and not too sweet.
- Flour buttercream or boiled milk frosting like Ermine frosting is an old-fashioned type of buttercream. It's made by cooking flour and sugar with milk to make a sweet vanilla bean paste, then whipping that with butter and extracts.
FAQ
ABC is the most stable buttercream in high heat and humidity. The combination of butter, shortening, and a lot of powdered sugar creates a crusting buttercream that prevents the butter from melting. White chocolate ganache and whipped dark chocolate ganache are also great options for high heat.
American buttercream is one of type of the many buttercreams out there. Vanilla buttercream frosting could be made with butter, shortening, meringue, boiling sugar, or other variations. People often use the terms "buttercream" and "frosting" interchangeably, but true frosting recipes do not contain butter as an ingredient.
Many vanilla buttercream recipes use just butter, powdered sugar, milk, salt, and vanilla. This frosting recipe has some variations with heavy cream, water, and vegetable shortening.
It all depends on your preference and what you're using it for, but I find that easy buttercream, Swiss meringue buttercream, or American buttercream works best for wedding cakes. If you live in a hot and humid area, you can always fill your cake with a less stable frosting like cream cheese or whipped cream, and then frost the outside with American.
Yes, this American buttercream can last for up to 2 weeks in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer. Bring it to room temperature and mix it on low to make it smooth again. You can also add a little bit of extra milk to thin it out if needed.
Mixing on low and using room-temperature butter are the first steps to smooth, bubble-free buttercream. If it still has air bubbles, remove about 1 cup of buttercream and melt it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Pour it back into the mixing buttercream to bring it all together.
Room-temperature butter makes a huge difference in the texture of your buttercream. If it is too cold, it will make the shortening form clumps and lead to a grainy buttercream. The type of powdered sugar you're using could also be leading to grainy buttercream. Sifting the sugar can help avoid lumps.
Buttercream tends to have a yellow tinge from the butter. Adding a tiny drop of purple food coloring can counteract the yellow in the frosting and make your buttercream whiter.
To color American buttercream, I prefer to use Americolor or Chef Master gels because they are very bright and help you achieve vivid color with not a lot of food coloring. The colors will darken overnight, but you can also remove about 1 cup of the colored buttercream and melt it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Then pour it back into the mixing buttercream for a darker color.
Related Recipes
Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Stand mixer with the paddle attachment
Ingredients
American Buttercream Ingredients
- 24 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- 40 ounces powdered sugar
- 5 ounces heavy whipping cream
- 3 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
American Buttercream Instructions
- First, bring your butter to room temperature. If your butter is not at room temperature, you will get lumps of butter.
- Place the room temperature butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or an electric hand mixer) with the whisk attachment and mix together on medium speed until smooth. Don't forget to scrape the bottom of the bowl often. Pro-Tip: If you need more stable buttercream, replace half of the butter with high-ratio shortening.
- Add in your powdered sugar one cup at a time while mixing on low speed until smooth.
- Add in your salt, clear vanilla extract, and cream.
- Whip on high speed for 2-3 minutes until the buttercream is smooth and fluffy.
- Optional: If it looks curdled and separated, remove about 1 cup of buttercream and melt it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Pour it back into the mixing buttercream to bring it all together.
- Optional: To remove bubbles, mix on low with a paddle attachment for 10 to 15 minutes until smooth.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap until you're ready to use it. This frosting can stay out for a few hours but should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer if you don't need it for a few days. Bring it to room temperature and mix on low before each use.
- This is enough buttercream to frost and fill three 8"x2" layers, or 24 cupcakes.
Notes
- Butter is, of course, a key ingredient for "butter"-cream, so using high-quality butter is important. I like using Plugra or Irish butter, but Darigold is also a great option when butter is expensive! You can also use dairy-free butter if you need dairy-free buttercream.
- Heavy cream is important to help thin out your frosting and make it fluffy, but you can also use water, heavy cream, or non-dairy creamer.
Bianca C says
If i dont get a non diary creamer, is there another substitute i can use?
The Sugar Geek Show says
You can just use regular cream but it won't be shelf stable
Carie says
I stumbled on this recipe a couple of months ago and haven't used anything else since - so many compliments about how fluffy it is, and not too sweet 🙂
The Sugar Geek Show says
Thank you so much!! It's my favorite too <3
Shani says
I have a kitchen aid 6 quart mixer. What would my measurements be?
The Sugar Geek Show says
I'm not sure what you mean 😀
Kimm says
How much does this make? Would it frost a 2 tier wedding cake? 8in (2 layers) and 6in (3 layers) Which brand of high ratio shortening do you recommend? And the non dairy creamer....is that unflavored (I’m assuming)? I’m excited to try a test batch before I make it for the wedding cake. It’s safe to leave out for a wedding?
The Sugar Geek Show says
It just depends on how much frosting you use. I would make a double batch for two tiers. I use regular shortening (crisco) non-dairy creamer can be flavored or not flavored. Yes it can be left out for a wedding. Thats what buttercream is for hehe sorry couldn't resist 😉 Have fun!
Bee says
I attempted this recipe this weekend and it was a disaster. I obviously did something wrong. For one, I was using a hand mixer and that certainly didn't help. But the main issue was it was too much sugar. By the time I had gotten 2lbs of it in, the consistency was like wet cement. If I had put the remaining 2lbs in it would have been dough. Can someone please tell me where I went wrong. I'm in desperate need of a good, easy, crusting buttercream and this recipe was my solution.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Perhaps it's the mixer not being able to make it fluffy enough
Lori says
Is the non-dairy creamer in liquid form or powdered/dry?
The Sugar Geek Show says
liquid
Heather says
Hello I absolutely love all your recipes and just had a question, when I made this it was very grainy. Did i not let it mix enough between each addition of powder sugar? Any help is greatly appreciated.
The Sugar Geek Show says
What kind of powdered sugar did you use? Make sure its 100% cane sugar
Kim says
This recipe is delicious and a perfect crusting buttercream. For me it yielded more than 6 cups of frosting though (it was closer to 8 cups total when measured in my glass Kitchen Aid mixer bowl). Has anybody else experienced this?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Thank you for the feedback. It can vary depending on how fluffy you make your buttercream (not a bad thing!) you can freeze the leftovers so you have some when you need it 🙂
HEATHER DEITZ says
Do you weigh the shortening or measuring cup portion it out?
The Sugar Geek Show says
I use a cup because it's easy for me to scoop and go
Corinne says
I have a 6 quart mixer what measurements would I need to use
The Sugar Geek Show says
I do a 1 1/2 batch in my 6 qt
Jen says
Is the shortening really important or could I use all butter?
The Sugar Geek Show says
The shortening just adds more stability, you can definitely do all butter.
Bev says
Hello, happy to find this website 🙂 I am new to cake decorating, but not to basic baking. My question is, do you think I could substitute an organic shortening such as palm oil that is firm at room temperature in place of Crisco type products? Thanks much for any feedback.
The Sugar Geek Show says
I don't see why not 🙂 Buttercream is pretty forgiving
Aya says
Can I do the half of the Recipe u did
I want to Try it
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes you can half the recipe
Sue says
I recently made a cake and it was nice and smooth when I went to bed. A few hours later I checked it and had a big blowout. I used a paper towel and smoothed it down as best I could. When I got up this morning the cake wasn't smooth...wrinkled. Will this help with the blowouts and the wrinkles? I love the decorating but am about to just give up. I'm a nervous wreck because of the constant worry about blowouts. Love you and you're the best help we could every ask for.
Beck says
To try to avoid 'blowouts' I do as follows : bit of icing on cake board, add first layer, add icing/filling (buttercream etc) and then next layer of cake, now take something flat and larger than the cake layer and place it on top of your cake layer, press down gently, evenly and firmly, repeat until all your layers are done, this should help to settle your cake. Also avoid using really cold cakes because as they warm up to room temp the air in them expands which can also cause air pocket blow outs. Make sure your icing is stiff enough to avoid it being crushed and squeezed out other wise this can cause sagging fondant, if your filling is too soft but it's the way you like it you can use a stiffer icing dam to prevent the cake layers crushing the filling.
Katie says
I've never heard of a blowout (unless talking about a tire or one of my patients having problems "down there") in baking! This is interesting info! Thanks!!
Nani says
Can this same recipe be used for cupcakes?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes of course, any frosting can be interchanged with cupcakes
Kim Burnham says
What brand of shortening do you use?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Just crisco 🙂
Danielle G says
Hi Liz,
Is this recipe good for hot and humid climates? I recently asked on the facebook page, and ganache seemed to be the answer, but I am not sure I want to go that route just yet.
Cassie says
Is this recipe good to use to pipe buttercream flowers?
Julie B says
I know it's okay to be left out, but will it hurt the buttercream to be refrigerated after the cake has been decorated? I'm planning to use for flower decorations, but don't want them to wilt.
The Sugar Geek Show says
I always refrigerate my cakes after decorating 🙂 Just leave them at room temp for an hour or two before eating otherwise the cake will be very hard from being cold.
Paige says
Is this the type of buttercream that you can smooth using that "Viva Paper Towel Method"? Thanks for all of the wonderful information and recipes that you so generously offer to the "caking community", you're terrific!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes it is
Ramona says
What are you using now that high ratio shortening is no longer available?
The Sugar Geek Show says
I have never used high-ratio shortening, only crisco.
Marcia B says
I Love this recipe so yummy! My question is how long can it be frozen? Thank you in advance ?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes for 6 months
Marcia B says
I was wondering after you have froze and thawed your buttercream how many days is it good for? Thank you in advance?
Melissa Modisette says
Have you ever used almond extract in the frosting to make it have the more wedding cake flavor?
The Sugar Geek Show says
You can if you want to.
Kstef says
How would I make this into chocolate American BC? Would I replace some of the powdered sugar with unsweetened cocoa powder? how much would I replace in this recipe? Thanks!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Just add in cocoa powder as you desire, I use about 1/4 cup of dutched cocoa powder