American Buttercream Frosting

American Buttercream Frosting is a quick and simple frosting to top your next batch of cupcakes. Four ingredients are all you need to make this creamy, sweet, and rich vanilla frosting. 

American Buttercream Frosting is a quick and simple frosting recipe. American buttercream is made using butter and confectioner’s sugar, and there is no cooking involved.

This means you can whip up a batch of frosting in minutes with just a few, simple ingredients. No more of the canned, store-bought cake frosting. Make your own – it tastes infinitely better and takes very little effort.

Try this buttercream frosting on my Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes or Homemade Classic Yellow Cupcakes. These are my two favorite cupcake recipes.

Frosting sweetness

American buttercream can be extremely sweet. Because of this, I like to add heavy cream. The cream helps tone down the sweetness, and it helps the frosting whip up into a light and fluffy consistency.

I also use slightly less confectioner’s sugar than a standard recipe, because I don’t care for the overly sweet taste of frosting. Keep in mind, this frosting will still be sweet, just not overwhelmingly so.

Room temperature butter

For this recipe, you’ll need room temperature butter. You’ll want to set out your butter 1 to 2 hours beforehand so it’s softened when you’re ready to make your frosting. 

If you forget to take out your butter beforehand, slice it into small pieces and set it out on the counter. This will help it warm up to room temperature faster.

Melted butter or cold butter will not work for this recipe.

Ingredients

For this recipe, you’ll need room temperature butter, confectioner’s sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract.

Making your frosting

In a large bowl, add your room temperature butter. Whip until creamy.

Then, add your confectioner’s sugar and starting slowly, mix until incorporated. Turn up the speed and whip until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Last, add your vanilla extract and heavy cream, then whip another 1 to 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

Frosting troubleshooting

If needed, adding more confectioner’s sugar will thicken your frosting and make it easier to pipe and hold its shape. If your frosting is too thick, adding more heavy cream will thin your frosting.

Keep in mind, buttercream frosting will begin to melt between 90 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, because it is made mainly of butter. If your home is hot or you are serving a cake outdoors in the summer, bring the cake out just before serving.

How much frosting do I need?

I’ve included a few common cake sizes below – keep in mind that if you want to add additional decorations or make a very high, dramatic cupcake frosting, I suggest making extra!

• 12 cupcakes = 6 inch round layer cake
• 18 cupcakes = 8-9 inch round cake
• 24 cupcakes = 10 inch round layer cake
• A 9×13 pan cake will fall somewhere between 12 and 18 cupcakes. If you’d like to decorate your pan cake or have a thick frosting, make frosting for 18 cupcakes.

In the recipe card below, hover over the serving size. Use the sliding bar to change the serving size and measurements.

Frosting recipes

• Easy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
• Whipped Buttercream Frosting
• Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
• Strawberry Filled Cupcakes
• Applesauce Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting