Different Buttercream Flavors from One Buttercream Recipe
Why have just one buttercream flavor when you can try so many more. These simple and easy 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.
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:
- Stiff Buttercream Frosting for piping sugar flowers
- Best Buttercream Frosting (eggless)
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (eggless)
- Velvet American Buttercream (ABC) (contains meringue powder)
- Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC) (with raw egg whites)
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC) (white raw egg whites)
- Classic French Buttercream (FBC) (with whole eggs)
- German Buttercream (GBC) (with vanilla pastry cream)
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.
And, you can also 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? Because, the additional ingredients result in buttercream with the right consistency, and not too soft.
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Meringue buttercream recipes
So these flavors work with all types of buttercream. And, 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
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Buttercream frosting recipes
My preferred recipe is my stiff buttercream because it works best in terms of consistency. And, consistency may vary from other buttercream recipes, since it depends on the additional liquid ingredients needed to get the right flavor.
More buttercream recipes from scratch
- Best Buttercream Frosting Recipe – Vanilla Buttercream
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Bakery Style Vanilla Frosting
- Bakery Style Chocolate Frosting
- Velvet American Buttercream Frosting
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Italian Meringue Buttercream
- Meringue Buttercream From Meringue Powder
- Stiff Buttercream Frosting for piping buttercream flowers
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- No-Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Best Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- Perfect Pink Champagne Buttercream
- Coffee Buttercream Frosting
- Eggnog Buttercream Frosting
- Caramel Buttercream
- Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting
- Rich Dark Nutella Buttercream Frosting
- Kahlua Buttercream Frosting
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Different Buttercream Flavors from One 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.
Ingredients
- 8 oz (225 g) chocolate
- 8 oz (225 g) chocolate
- 2 tbsp strong Espresso coffee (liquid)
- ¾ cup (0.75 cup ) caramel sauce
- ¾ cup (0.75 cup) caramel sauce
- 1 tbsp ( ) rock salt
- ¾ cup (0.75 cup ) Nutella
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 200 ml (7 oz) crushed strawberries
- ½ tsp strawberry extract (optional)
- 8 oz (7 oz) crushed raspberries
- ½ tsp raspberry extract (optional)
- ¾ cup (0.75 cup ) peanut butter
- 8 oz (200 ml ) crushed pineapple
- ½ tsp pineapple extract (optional)
- ½ cup maraschino cherries
- 2 tsp cherry juice
- ½ cup (120 ml) Baileys or Kahlua
- ½ cup (120 g) Coconut cream
- ½ cup (110 g) marzipan
- ¾ cup (180 ml) vanilla pastry cream
Method
- Add melted cooled chocolate to the buttercream.
- Add melted cool chocolate and espresso to the buttercream.
- Add caramel to the buttercream.
- Combine thick caramel to the buttercream – mix well.
- Sprinkle over the rock salt and barely mix.
- Add Nutella to the buttercream – stir well.
- Add lemon juice and zest to the buttercream.
- Stir in the crushed fruit and extract to the buttercream.
- Combine the peanut butter to the buttercream – stir well.
- Stir in the Baileys or Kahlua to the buttercream.
- Add a few tbsp. canned MC juice + chopped cherries.
- Stir vanilla pastry cream to the stiff buttercream frosting recipe.
- Add coconut cream to the buttercream.
- You can add either toasted coconut flakes or toasted desiccated chocolate to add texture.
- Soften one cup Marzipan with a few drops of water. Add it to the buttercream.
Week 2 day 3 done
I love these recipes although being new to this I am stuck as to what flavour icing to use with which flavoured cakes !!! For a lemon cake would I just use lemon icing ?
Emma. You may find this post the cake flavor combinations useful
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❤️
Thank you, Sonia.
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.
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.
Yum! I love all these flavors. I definitely need to try the mocha and the Kahlua buttercream sometime.
Thank you Tara. Yes the Kahlua is my favorite too.
I have tried a few of these and have loved them all! I can’t wait to try the rest!
Thank you, Tayler. So happy you enjoyed these. Love to hear which you tried and enjoyed. Thanks
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.
Absolutely Lisa. Make a passion fruit buttercream with it. These are so amazing.
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.
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
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?
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.
Hello, does the raspberry or strawberry buttercream need to be refrigerated?
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.