Have you ever had to make a cake and then wonder which buttercream frosting would work best? Wondering if you should make or buy your own frosting? Well, I have it all here for you. 30 plus homemade buttercream frosting recipes in one place. These are all my recipes and you will be surprised at how simple and easy they are to make, some take as little as five minutes to make.
Did you know that I have shared more than 30 homemade buttercream recipes with you already? And I not done yet.
The more you have the more confusing it can get. right? While I do have them all listed out in a category I often have people ask me which frosting they should try. Or where can they find that buttercream recipe? So I thought why not make a round-up post so you can see them all here.
How many different types of buttercream frosting are there?
The number of frosting recipes can be overwhelming and sometimes confusing. In general, we can categories these as
- Butter-based buttercream - simple all-purpose buttercreams like my velvet American buttercream, Vanilla buttercream (eggless)
- Decorators buttercream - often with all or some vegetable shortening to prevent the frosting from melting easily like my Bakery style frostings - Vanilla and Chocolate frosting
- Cream Cheese based - made with cream cheese often with or without butter like my classic cream cheese is made with butter which adds more stability and my no-butter cream cheese frosting when you want a more luxurious dessert type frosting.
- Meringue buttercream - made with the addition of whipped egg whites. Less sweet than the classic butter-based buttercream like my Swiss Meringue or Italian Meringue
- Egg-based buttercream - like the French Buttercream and German buttercream made with egg yolks then whipped to make a light and fluffy frosting with the addition of butter.
- Whipped Cream Frosting - the lightest of them all is, of course, simple whipped cream. I shared 5 different methods to make whipped cream at home. As well as a whipped cream buttercream frosting.
30 plus buttercream frosting recipes (pin)
Best Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe - Just 5 minutes
Bakery Style Vanilla Frosting Recipe
Bakery Style Chocolate Frosting Recipe
Velvet American Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Swiss Meringue Buttercream SMBC
Swiss Meringue Buttercream with Meringue Powder
Italian Meringue Buttercream Recipe
Italian Meringue Buttercream with Meringue Powder
Classic French Buttercream NO-Fail Recipe
German Buttercream Recipe No-Fail Recipe
The Best Stiff Buttercream frosting for cake decorating Pipping Buttercream Flowers
Homemade Whipped Cream 4 Methods
How to Stabilize Whipped Cream 5 Methods
Cream Cheese Frosting
No Butter Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
The Best Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
Pink Champagne Buttercream
Caramel Buttercream Frosting
The Ultimate Coffee Buttercream Frosting
Eggnog Buttercream Frosting
Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting - 2 Methods
Dark Nutella Buttercream Frosting
Best Kahlua Buttercream Frosting
Whipped cream buttercream frosting
Brown Butter Cake
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe
Maple Buttercream Frosting
Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake with Maple Buttercream Frosting
Chocolate Ganache - frost, drip, glaze or pipe
Cake Decorators Chocolate Ganache Recipe
White Chocolate Ganache
Cake Decorators White Chocolate Ganache Recipe
Whipped Espresso Chocolate Ganache
Espresso Cake with Whipped Chocolate Ganache
How to flavor Ganache aka Ganache Flavor variations
One buttercream recipe - many different flavor variations
Why have just one buttercream flavor when you can try so many more. These simple, easy and effortless variations to create different buttercream flavors from one recipe will open new and wonderful possibilities for your cake projects. From strawberry to caramel, marzipan or Kahlua, you can use a basic American buttercream, meringue-based buttercream. Lemon Buttercream Mocha Buttercream Salted Caramel Buttercream Raspberry Buttercream Frosting Peanut Butter Frosting Pineapple Buttercream Frosting Maraschino Cherry Buttercream Frosting Bailey’s Buttercream Frosting Coconut Buttercream Frosting Marzipan Buttercream frosting Boston Cream Pie Frosting
Frosting recipe for cookie decorating
Royal Icing Recipe - 5 Recipes
Royal Icing Recipe with Meringue Powder or Egg White Powder
Frequently asked questions
Icings are those simple glazes you make to pour over a pound cake, pastries. Sometimes made with just powdered sugar and milk and sometimes make with melted chocolate too. The icing is usually pouring consistency while frosting is thick, light and fluffy that can be spread over a cake or piped over cupcakes.
Absolutely, If the frosting is thick, add a few tablespoons of milk, cream or water. Then microwave for 10 seconds. The powdered sugar and butter will melt into a pouring consistency.
Often people are surprised that homemade frosting can take as little as 5 minutes to make. Yes, that's all it needs. Which actually is less than the time you probably spend driving to the store to buy ready frosting.
The basic formula for a good homemade frosting is just two main ingredients. Butter and powdered sugar. We often add liquid such as water, milk or cream to bring it to consistency. The rest of the additions are optional such as vanilla for flavor.
As a rule of thump one part butter with two parts, powdered sugar will give you a good frosting already. Add a tablespoon of liquid to bring to consistency. That's it!
What is the best kind of frosting for cupcakes?
Cupcakes can be served with any frosting from simple vanilla to cream cheese or meringue. What is important to think through is - how am I going to store these cupcakes and how long are they going to be out?
For example, if your cupcakes are going to be sitting out for a long time then cream cheese frosting or perishable frosting is not the way to go. If your cupcakes are going to be out in hot humid conditions then you probably want to avoid meringue or butter-based frostings too.
How do I decide which buttercream frosting to use?
There will always be many options to choose from but the only one that's usually just right for you. Here are a few questions to consider. Often you will have to take all four into consideration when making this decision.
- What cake flavor do I want?
- Where is the cake going to be displayed - inside vs outside? The inside allows you to use perishable fillings while outside depends on the weather.
- What is the weather at the time the cake is going to be displayed? Is it cold winter or hot humid summer. Hot summers need more caution with perishable frostings.
- How far does the cake have to travel? long travels in cold weather are not an issue if you pack things well. Hot summers can be a nightmare, so carry ice packs.
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Pauletta
Hi Veena,
What do you do now that there is no trans fats in shortening? I tried the sweetex icing shortening without trans fats and is doesn't taste as good as the old one. I had to add a lot more flavoring. How can I get it to taste better? I really used to like my frosting and now, not so much.
Veena Azmanov
Hey Pauletta. I am an all-butter buttercream person. I never liked frosting with vegetable shortening.
There are very few of my frosting recipes (maybe 2 or 3 our of almost 50 variations) that actually call for vegetable shortening.
As for your question, the only thing possible is to add more flavor as you already do.
Or you can try half butter and half shortening.
Add some pudding mixes - these add a nice flavor and help stabilize the buttercreams.
Use whipping cream (if possible) for the liquid.
Thanks
Pauletta
Thank you for your reply. I may have to try the butter buttercream. Or maybe try mixing butter with the shortening I never thought about adding pudding. That might be good to try too. Thank you again. I can’t wait to try your buttercream icing.
Veena Azmanov
Thank you Pauletta
TRICIA HERGG
HI I LOVE YOUR RECEIPES & TIPS. I HAVE SO MUCH PAPER FROM ALL MY PRINTOUTS. DO YOU HAVE A BOOK WITH YOUR RECEIPES IN ??? IF SO HOW & WHERE CAN I GET IT
THANKS
TRISH
Veena Azmanov
Hey Tricia
Thank you, so happy you are enjoying my recipes and find my tips useful. I don't have an ebook. I use to have an online shop with recipes but now they have all been added to the free section.
You can bookmark these on your browser for future reference that way you will always have them.
Thanks
Helen
Who knew that there were so many different recipes for making frosting!? This is a great list and very helpful for finding the right kind for your needs.
Veena Azmanov
Thanks Helen, yes, so many!!