Veena Azmanov

Cake Artist and Food Enthusiast

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Different Buttercream Flavors from One Buttercream Recipe

*Updated* By 45 Comments

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How to make Different Buttercream Flavors from one Buttercream Recipe

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.

Learn how to make many different buttercream flavors from one buttercream recipe.

One Buttercream Recipe Many different buttercream Flavors. How to customize buttercream recipe

 

The Basic Recipes

How many buttercream flavors have you tried? I bet many!! And yet, did you know that you can make one basic buttercream and then use that to create different flavors?

First of all, I have already given you a few of my basic Buttercream Recipes:

These are the basic buttercream recipes. And yet, often you get asked to make different flavors. While sometimes you have to start from scratch, often it’s easier to use the basic recipe and create new buttercream flavors.

You can use any of the above recipes as your base recipe to create new flavors. And yet I find that using my Stiff Buttercream Frosting for piping sugar flowers works best as a base to create more flavors. Why? The additional ingredients result in buttercream with the right consistency, and not too soft.

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The BEST Bakery Style Chocolate Frosting Recipe in just 5 minutesBakery Style Chocolate Frosting12
The BEST Bakery Style Vanilla Frosting Recipe in just 5 minutesBakery Style Vanilla Frosting4

Meringue Buttercream Recipes

So these flavors work with all types of Buttercream. In some cases, the consistency may be soft or even too soft.  Also, I often prefer to have a soft consistency meringue buttercream for my cakes.

Since you are the cake decorator, I’ll leave it for you to decide what consistency you need for your cake. Hence, you can use either my Velvet American Buttercream, Swiss Meringue Buttercream, Italian Meringue Buttercream, Classic French Buttercream or German Buttercream

An absolute classic Bakery Style Wedding cake made with all egg whites and white butter takes just 10 minutes to mix and 25 minutes to bake.White Wedding Cake Recipe29
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My velvet American buttercream is the most requested recipe from customers as well as here on the blog. It has a glossy sheen due to the unique method I use in making it. This simple, easy and effortless recipe makes a delicious velvety smooth textured buttercream that's not grainy, easy to make in minutes, and melts in the mouth.Velvet American Buttercream Recipe
A No-Fail Recipe for Classic French Buttercream using my NO-fail buttercream recipe.Classic French Buttercream Recipe22
If you plan to pipe the first thing you need is the best stiff buttercream recipe for piping flowers. One that will pipe perfect buttercream flowers for you and will taste as delicious as it looks. This recipe has been my go to for all my buttercream flowers; I think you will love it too.The Best Stiff Buttercream Frosting Recipe for Piping Flowers (3)
This is the Easiest German Buttercream Frosting Recipe using my NO-Fail method for perfect buttercream.Best German Buttercream Recipe17

One Buttercream Recipe – Many different buttercream flavors (Save/Pin)

My preferred recipe my stiff buttercream because it works best in terms of consistency. While consistency may vary from other buttercream recipes since it depends on the additional liquid ingredients needed to get the right flavor. One Buttercream Recipe – Many different flavors aka Different Buttercream flavors from one recipe.

Chocolate Buttercream – See my chocolate buttercream frosting – recipe video here

  •  200 grams of chocolate

Mocha Buttercream

  • 200 grams of chocolate
  • 2 tbsp strong Espresso coffee (liquid)

Caramel Buttercream

  •  3/4 cup caramel sauce

Salted Caramel Buttercream

  • 3/4 caramel sauce  
  •  1 tbsp rock salt

Nutella Buttercream

  • 3/4 cup Nutella

Lemon Buttercream

  • 1/4 cup lemon juice 
  •  1 tsp lemon zest

Strawberry Buttercream

  •  200 ml crushed strawberries
  •    1/2 tsp strawberry extract (optional)

Raspberry Buttercream

  • 200 ml crushed raspberries 
  • 1/2 tsp raspberry extract (optional) 

Peanut Butter Buttercream

  •  3/4 cup peanut butter

Pineapple Buttercream

  • 200 ml crushed pineapple 
  •  1/2 tsp pineapple extract

Maraschino Cherry Buttercream

  •   1/2 cup Maraschino cherries
  •  2 tsp cherry juice

Baileys Buttercream/Kahlua Buttercream

  •  1/2 cup Baileys or Kahlua

Coconut Buttercream

  • 1/2 cup coconut cream

Marzipan Buttercream

  • 1/2 cup marzipan

Boston Cream Pie

  • 3/4 cup vanilla pastry cream 

 

A moist strawberry cake can be an absolute treat eaten on its own or frosted with whipped cream or buttercream. This simple, easy and effortless recipe makes the most decadently rich, moist and light strawberry cake that melts in the mouth. Serve it on its own unfrosted as a coffee cake, frost it with whipped cream for a light dessert or with rich decadent buttercream for a more indulgent treat. Moist Strawberry Cake
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This moist carrot cake is my simple, easy and effortless one bowl recipe that you will enjoy making over and over again. It taste delicious on it's own but can be dressed with my luscious cream cheese frosting to create an exotic dessert.Moist Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

More buttercream recipes from scratch

 

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Butterscotch has a distinct rich flavor that's hard to resist.  This simple, easy and effortless recipe makes the most decadent butterscotch cake with a moist texture and a soft crumb. The batter is flavored with butterscotch sauce, dark brown sugar and sour cream. Decorated with luxurious Swiss Meringue buttercream that just melts in the mouth and dripped with more butterscotch sauce.Butterscotch Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Butterscot
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This red velvet cake has a classic sponge texture that's light and airy, moist cake with a tender crumb and deep red color in contrast to the white cream cheese frosting. This simple, easy and effortless recipe is a must-have recipe for anyone who loves to bake cakes whether you are a novice or a seasoned baker. Moist Red Velvet Cake
Buttercream Basic or Buttercream 101 - recipes, tips, trouble shooting buttercream problems. All questions answered.
Buttercream Basics - Buttercream 101
Buttercream frosting can be tricky sometimes so knowing some buttercream basics is always a good idea. Today, in this buttercream 101 I'm going to share some tips, tricks and ways to understand and troubleshoot any buttercream frosting not matter what type or flavor of buttercream.

 

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Learn how to make many different buttercream flavors from one buttercream recipe.

One Buttercream Recipe Many different buttercream Flavors. How to customize buttercream recipe

Learn how to make many different buttercream flavors from one buttercream recipe.

Different Buttercream Flavors from One Recipe

Author: Veena Azmanov
4.91 from 30 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 10 mins
Calories: 399kcal
Adjust Servings Here: 12 servings

Description

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.

Ingredients

4 to 6 Cups - any one of these Basic Buttercream Recipes

Chocolate Buttercream

  • 200 grams (7.05 oz) chocolate

Mocha Buttercream

  • 200 grams (7.05 oz) chocolate
  • 2 tbsp (2 tbsp ) strong Espresso coffee (liquid)

Caramel Buttercream

Salted Caramel Buttercream

Nutella Buttercream

  • 3/4 cup (0.75 cup ) Nutella

Lemon Buttercream

  • 1/4 cup (0.25 cup ) lemon juice
  • 1 tsp (1 tsp ) lemon zest

Strawberry Buttercream

  • 200 ml (7.05 oz) crushed strawberries
  • 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp ) strawberry extract (optional)

Raspberry Buttercream

  • 200 ml (7.05 oz) crushed raspberries
  • 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) raspberry extract (optional)

Peanut Butter Buttercream

  • 3/4 cup (0.75 cup ) peanut butter

Pineapple Buttercream

  • 200 ml (200 ml ) crushed pineapple
  • 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp ) pineapple extract (optional)

Marshino Cherry Buttercream

  • 1/2 cup (0.5 cup) maraschino cherries
  • 2 tsp (2 tsp ) cherry juice

Baileys Buttercream/Kahlua Buttercream

  • 1/2 cup (0.5 cup) Baileys or Kahlua

Coconut Buttercream

  • 1/2 cup (0.5 cup ) Coconut cream

Marzipan Buttercream

  • 1/2 cup (0.5 cup ) marzipan

Boston Cream Pie

ADJUST SERVINGS HERE - 12 servings

Instructions

Chocolate Buttercream

  • Add melted cooled chocolate to the buttercream.

Mocha Buttercream

  • Add melted cool chocolate and espresso to the buttercream.

Caramel  Buttercream

  • Add caramel to the buttercream.

Salted Caramel Buttercream

  • Combine thick caramel to the buttercream - mix well. 
  • Sprinkle over the rock salt and barely mix. 

Nutella  Buttercream

  • Add Nutella to the buttercream - stir well. 

Lemon Buttercream 

  • Add lemon juice and zest to the buttercream.

Strawberry / Raspberry/ Pineapple Buttercream

  • Stir in the crushed fruit and extract to the buttercream.

Peanut Butter  Buttercream

  • Combine the peanut butter to the buttercream - stir well.

Baileys Buttercream / Kahlua Buttercream

  • Stir in the Baileys or Kahlua to the buttercream.

Cherry Buttercream 

  • Add a few tbsp. canned MC juice + chopped cherries.

Boston Cream Pie

  • Stir vanilla pastry cream to the stiff buttercream frosting recipe.

Coconut Buttercream

  • Add coconut cream to the buttercream.
  • You can add either toasted coconut flakes or toasted desiccated chocolate to add texture.

Marzipan Buttercream

  • Soften one cup  Marzipan with a few drops of water. Add it to the buttercream.

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Nutrition Information
Nutrition Facts
Different Buttercream Flavors from One Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 399 Calories from Fat 153
% Daily Value*
Fat 17g26%
Saturated Fat 5g25%
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 141mg6%
Potassium 73mg2%
Carbohydrates 61g20%
Fiber 0g0%
Sugar 56g62%
Protein 0g0%
Calcium 6mg1%
Iron 0.6mg3%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you

Keywords - Buttercream, customize, flavors, One recipe many buttercream flavors
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Author – Veena Azmanov

About Veena Azmanov

I’ve always loved cooking, baking, and cake decorating but couldn’t afford to attend culinary schools. So, I had to learn my way through trials and errors.
Here you can find my delicious, often healthy, and practical recipes, along with instructional videos and tutorials. In addition, I provide cake decorating recipes, tutorials, and tips on how to start your own cake decorating business.
I am also a contributor to two other websites – Cake Decorating Tutorials and East Indian Recipes.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sonia

    This is such a great post! You have explained it so well :).even an amateur like me can think of doing it . Saving it for later❤️

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Thank you, Sonia.

      Reply

  2. Christie

    I fail at buttercream all the time. It’s the one thing I just cannot seem to master for macaron. I’ll be putting yours to the test, for sure! Especially with all those flavors. Perfect for macaron.

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Oh.. Christie. I have many step by step and videos that might be just what you need. For both Macarons and Buttercream. You must check them out.

      Reply

  3. Tara

    Yum! I love all these flavors. I definitely need to try the mocha and the Kahlua buttercream sometime.

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Thank you Tara. Yes the Kahlua is my favorite too.

      Reply

  4. Tayler Ross

    I have tried a few of these and have loved them all! I can’t wait to try the rest!

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Thank you, Tayler. So happy you enjoyed these. Love to hear which you tried and enjoyed. Thanks

      Reply

  5. Lisa | Garlic & Zest

    OMG — Veena — I had no idea there were so many styles of buttercream! I want to try them all to determine my favorite — and then I’ll get to the different flavorings. I have some passion fruit simple syrup — and I’m thinking that would be excellent in one of your buttercream recipes.

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Absolutely Lisa. Make a passion fruit buttercream with it. These are so amazing.

      Reply

  6. RDW

    Hi. Please forgive me, I am new to all of this. I would like to make lemon flavored buttercream. Do I make the original buttercream with the vanilla and almond plus the lemon extras, or replace it with the lemon juice and zest? Thank you.

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Hey RDW. Welcome.
      For lemon buttercream – you can make any on of these buttercream recipe – Velvet American buttercream or Vanilla Buttercream frosting
      But by replacing some of the liquid in the recipe with Lemon juice. Ideally, 1/4 cup lemon juice is plenty. For a light flavor reduce the lemon. You can always add more later.
      Add the vanilla extract in the recipe and additional lemon extract (1/4 tsp)
      You can omit the lemon extract as well but it does enhance the flavor.
      If you want you can add 1/4 tsp lemon zest (if you don’t mind the little zest all over your icing)
      Feel free to ask any questions.
      XX

      Reply

  7. Janice

    How many cups of swiss meringue buttercream will be needed to frost 30 cupcakes, with a decent size swirl? Also, is one batch, a 6 egg quantity equivalent to 4 cups?

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Hey Janice. A 6 eggs batch of SMBC will make about 5 to 6 cups frosting depending on how you whip and that should be good for 24 cupcakes. I like to use more frosting on my cupcake so I tend to use more. Hope this helps.

      Reply

  8. Francesca

    Hello, does the raspberry or strawberry buttercream need to be refrigerated?

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Any time you use fresh fruits in frosting you need to refrigerate it. If you use freezer dry fruit powder you can keep them out depending on the other ingredients of course.

      Reply

  9. Pam

    I just stumbled on your site. I am making 200 mini cupcakes and need to make black frosting to use for piping decorations on top of the mini cups. I have tried 3 different recipes one using dark and black cocoa and one with melted chocolate. So far the taste isn’t there and the AMC buttercream are gritty. I’m using Americolor Super Black Gel Paste. I see a black frosted cake picture but I can’t find a recipe for how you achieved it. Can you please help me with this. I have spent way too much time and money on ingredients.
    Thank you.

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Hi Pam. Yes black buttercream can be tricky. The best way I achieve black frosting is I use half dark chocolate ganache and half chocolate buttercream frosting. I make sure my chocolate buttercream is fairly stiff consistency. Then I add black food color. I have to use much less gel color with this method.
      The other thing I always do is, I make the frosting a few days ahead of time. That way the black color intensifies more.
      I hope this helps.

      Reply

  10. Siob Hans

    Oh these are such a treat. Every time I need a buttercream recipe I come back to this post. I have tried a few of them with your Velvet Buttercream. Love the lemon and Strawberry. The Baileys is a treat and the pineapple is to die for. Thank you so much for always sharing all your tried and tested recipes. Your blog is my go to place for recipes

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Thank you so much Siob!! So happy to hear that you enjoy my recipes! And thank you so much for coming to leave this feedback. Appreciate it very much

      Reply

  11. Cindy

    I’m a little lost can you send me step by step on how to make chocolate frosting. I need to make chocolate butter cream for some cupcakes .

    Reply

      • Angelina Check

        Is it baking chocolate?

        Reply

        • Veena Azmanov

          NO I use good quality eating chocolate. Thanks.

          Reply

  12. Fred

    I am making French buttercream and I want to flavor it with caramel. How might I do that? Love all your recipes. This one is amazing

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      I usually add less liquid in the buttercream and then add the caramel later so it won’t be too soft in consistency. I’d go with 1 cup caramel for every 4 to 5 cups buttercream – more or less.

      Reply

  13. Abdul Rasid

    Tq good tips. I really enjoy reading all your post on Facebook ! THank you for your kindness

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Thank you so much Abdul

      Reply

  14. Ana Gabriela

    minha querida sempre e maravilhozo ler suas receitas, porque vc sempre faz maravilhas e maravilhozas tortas que sao uma preciozuras em obra de arte, obrigada por compartir esses tips com a gente. obrigada querida

    Reply

  15. magy maxy

    I tried the buttercream, it was really tasty but i could still feel a bit of the sugar. Although i didn’t use all the 250 ml liquid since i wanted to pipe with it. But everyone loved the taste and it was so easy to make. Thanks

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Check the sugar you are using. some brand sugars tend to leave a gritty taste.
      The liquid helps melt the sugar too..

      Reply

  16. Dee

    I am anxious to try your buttercream recipe. Am wondering if the non-dairy creamer adds a taste, so will make a batch. My family are great taste testers.

    Reply

    • Veena Azmanov

      Taste? NO!! Unless you use one that is flavored lol!!

      Reply

  17. Jamex Japos

    thanks, love it, i've learned a lot. You make everthing look so easy. I love trying your recipes they always work for me.

    Reply

  18. Ruth Markley Tanner

    wonderful , <3 thanks for the recipes. love this site. You are truly appreciated. Thank you so much

    Reply

  19. Ruth Markley Tanner

    wonderful , <3 thanks for the recipes. love this site

    Reply

  20. Ruth Markley Tanner

    wonderful , <3 thanks for the recipes. love this site

    Reply

  21. Kathryn Marshall-Streeter

    Thanks for sharing. I already try your recipes. Your buttercream recipe is the best!! Can’t wait to try these flavors.

    Reply

  22. Kimberly Burns

    I love your site. It has been extremely helpful. I love trying different buttercreams. My all time favorite is French buttercream. The process is a bit lengthy, but the end result is well worth it. You have things posted on your site, that I've had to pay for on tutorials, so again, thank you!!

    Reply

  23. Magda Shand

    baie dankie

    Reply

  24. Barbara Traylor

    Veena, your buttercream recipe is fantastic. Taste very much like Swiss Meringue Buttercream. My family loved it. Made two cakes this past weekend with your buttercream recipe.

    Reply

  25. Debbie Cannon Kelly

    Love your tips and all your info your share. Glad I found you..you are awesome!

    Reply

  26. Adriana Tovar

    Maravilloso todo lo que acabo de descubrir en esta pagina, felicitaciones!!!!!!!!

    Reply

  27. Adriana Tovar

    Maravilloso todo lo que acabo de descubrir en esta pagina, felicitaciones!!!!!!!!

    Reply

  28. Tinni Espiritu

    I <3 Veena's Art of Cakes because of her tips every Thursday. These tips make baking and decorating cakes easier than going though some mistakes that I wouldve made if not for these gems. Thank you for your blog, and for having a facebook page too. You are awesome. Keep leaving your fantastic gifts online for the whole world to see!

    Reply

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