Frosting Recipes

Frost your way to better baked goods with these foolproof recipes for buttercream, icing and whipped cream frostings.

Related To:

Photo By: Renee Comet ©Renee Comet

Photo By: Tara Donne ©Tara Donne

Vanilla American Buttercream

This is one of the simplest frostings around. It is made by beating butter and confectioners’ sugar together and loosening the mixture with a little bit of liquid until it becomes spreadable. It is rich, dense and sweet, and it melts easily in heat.

Get the Recipe: Vanilla American Buttercream

Chocolate American Buttercream

Buttercream takes flavor like a champ. Add chocolate, coffee, coloring, flavored liqueur, fruit concentrates, citrus or extracts at the very end of beating.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate American Buttercream

Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

This classic vanilla-flavored buttercream frosting takes just 12 minutes to prepare; it can be used to top cakes, cupcakes and cookies in any flavor.

Get the Recipe: Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Royal Icing

Royal icing is most commonly used for decorating cookies and has a hard, dry finish. Alton Brown uses pasteurized egg whites to whip up his simple version. It is easy to color and can be made a day in advance.

Get the Recipe: Royal Icing

Swiss Buttercream

This buttercream is stable, light-textured and less sweet than the American version. It's made by whipping sugar and egg whites in a double boiler until light and fluffy, then beating room-temperature butter into the cooled meringue until glossy and smooth. While you're incorporating the butter, the frosting often appears to curdle; keep whipping and it will fix itself.

Get the Recipe: Swiss Buttercream

Cocoa Whipped Cream

Alton's indulgent whipped cream frosting comes together with the help of one surprising ingredient: a pinch of cayenne to complement the rich cocoa powder and balance out the sugar.

Get the Recipe: Cocoa Whipped Cream

Italian Buttercream

Similar to the Swiss version, this stable, fluffy buttercream is perfect for piping. It's made with an Italian meringue base in which heated sugar syrup is beaten into egg whites until stiff peaks form; small pieces of butter are then mixed in to make the frosting rich and smooth.

Get the Recipe: Italian Buttercream

French Buttercream

This rich, silky frosting is made by adding sugar syrup to whole eggs and egg yolks, then beating in butter for a very rich — yet light — texture. A high fat content and a beautiful pale-yellow color make this a superb buttercream for frosting and filling cakes.

Get the Recipe: French Buttercream

Cream Cheese Frosting

Keep this classic recipe ready for icing red velvet cupcakes, carrot cake or anywhere else you like a little savory tang with your sweets.

Get the Recipe: Cream Cheese Frosting

BBQ Beef Brisket

Crunchy Lemonade Drumsticks

The Best Ratatouille

Yakitori Negima

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Bars

On Tonight

Restaurant: Impossible

Buddy vs. Duff

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

The Pioneer Woman

The Kitchen

Girl Meets Farm

Kardea Brown

Ree Drummond

Ina Garten

Sunny Anderson

Bobby Flay

Valerie Bertinelli

Guy Fieri

Giada De Laurentiis

Molly Yeh

Step-by-Step Tutorials

Browse Meal Plans

Encore: Tres Leches French Toast

Encore: Crustless Mini Quiches with Mushrooms and Swiss Chard

Poha

Éclair Sundaes

Crispy Air Fryer Okra with Creole Seasoning

Encore: Alfredo Shrimp Scampi Dump Dinner

Try Premium

This Week's Dinners

Summer Date Night