American Buttercream
- Level: Easy
- Total: 20 min
- Active: 20 min
- Yield: 4 2/3 cups
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 20 servings
- Calories
- 319
- Total Fat
- 18 g
- Saturated Fat
- 12 g
- Carbohydrates
- 40 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 0 g
- Sugar
- 39 g
- Protein
- 0 g
- Cholesterol
- 49 mg
- Sodium
- 34 mg
- Level: Easy
- Total: 20 min
- Active: 20 min
- Yield: 4 2/3 cups
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 20 servings
- Calories
- 319
- Total Fat
- 18 g
- Saturated Fat
- 12 g
- Carbohydrates
- 40 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 0 g
- Sugar
- 39 g
- Protein
- 0 g
- Cholesterol
- 49 mg
- Sodium
- 34 mg
Ingredients
Directions
- Beat the butter in a stand mixer until it is creamy and slaps the sides of the bowl. Scrape your bowl. Mix the salt with the milk, and then add 3 tablespoons of the milk along with the vanilla extract and blend slowly until combined. Raise the speed to medium and beat to form a smooth butter mixture.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and blend on low until combined. Scrape the bowl, add the remaining sugar, set the mixer to low and blend for 2 to 3 minutes. Resist the urge to add more milk right away because the buttercream will thin out as it mixes. After mixing on low for 2 to 3 minutes you can choose to add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, to reach your desired consistency.
- Scrape your bowl, then set the mixture to medium-low and mix for 10 minutes. You may scrape the bowl halfway through. The frosting can be made softer with the addition of milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time. The frosting will keep for 3 days at room temp, or 2 weeks refrigerated.
- Buttercream Variations:
- Add 1/2 cup marshmallow creme to the finished buttercream.
- Stir in a generous amount of chopped chocolate sandwich cookies for a delicious cookies-and-cream filling.
- Add up to 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter to the finished buttercream.
- Add 2 to 3 ounces of melted and cooled bittersweet baking chocolate to the finished buttercream.
- Dissolve 2 to 4 teaspoons of instant espresso powder into your vanilla extract for coffee buttercream. This also works with the melted chocolate for mocha buttercream.
- Eliminate the vanilla extract and add up to 2 teaspoons of peppermint, lemon, orange, coconut or almond extract. You may choose to add a few drops of vanilla just to round off the flavor.
Cook’s Note
When making this recipe for cakes with a buttercream finish, it is best to double it. This will make a batch of icing that completely fills a 5-quart mixer bowl. A double batch should fill the bowl beyond the beater, leaving your resulting icing smooth and fairly free of air bubbles. Adding the liquids before the sugar and mixing only on a low speed prevents the formation of pesky air bubbles that cause problems when trying to frost a buttercream cake smoothly. It is important to mix the icing for the full 10 minutes in the final step. However, if you would prefer a fluffier aerated icing for cupcakes or cakes you can simply raise the mixer speed to medium and beat the icing for 4 to 5 minutes. In warm weather, when piping flowers or peaked designs, consider replacing 25 percent of the butter with a quality shortening, such as Crisco.
