Perfect Buttercream Frosting is a rich, smooth, and incredibly delicious traditional icing that is the best choice to decorate cakes and cupcakes.
This is the same kind of buttercream frosting that you’ll find on many wedding cakes. Its silky texture is unlike any other frosting or icing recipe that you’ll ever find, it is gorgeous when piped, and can be flavored and colored in countless ways. While it takes a little time to make and boiling sugar can be intimidating, this Perfect Buttercream Frosting freezes quite well, so you can make it ahead of time and always have some on hand.
Perfect Buttercream Frosting was a first in my kitchen. I’ve always been a cream cheese frosting or butter frosting kind of girl and I probably always will be, like my brown butter vanilla bean frosting or my blueberry cream cheese frosting. Yum! I’ll admit, I had never made a traditional Italian buttercream frosting before. This was the first time I had made frosting with a hot sugar syrup.
What are the different types of buttercream frosting?
- AMERICAN: Powdered sugar + softened butter + milk + vanilla
- SWISS: Egg whites + light corn syrup + white sugar + softened butter
- FRENCH: Egg yolks + homemade sugar syrup + butter
- ITALIAN: Homemade sugar syrup + egg whites + white sugar + softened butter
When you consider how perfectly smooth, rich, creamy, and heavenly this buttercream frosting is and how incredibly easy it is to use for decorating, it will soon be one of your favorites. Whether you use it for a dry crumb frosting base only before adding fondant and fancy decorations, or you cover the entire cake in buttercream frosting, it truly is one of the most gorgeous things you can put on a cake.
How to make Perfect Buttercream Frosting:
- You must get your sugar to the soft-ball stage which is 235 degrees F. I live close to sea level, so this is the temperature I go by. At high altitudes, water boils at a lower temperature. For example, at 4500 feet above sea level, water boils at 204° F. If candy is cooked until it reaches the soft-ball stage on a candy thermometer, it will have cooked too long.
- I add a bit of corn syrup because it adds a beautiful sheen, but this can be omitted if you want to make a pure Italian buttercream recipe.
- When you whip your egg whites, you want them to have a lot of air and a beautiful sheen, but do not let them get to the stiff peak stage.
- Remember to be patient. I’ve had a lot of readers who had this recipe turn out perfectly and others who couldn’t get it to work. Once you start adding the butter, it will look awful, but you just have to keep mix and just like magic, you will end up with the best buttercream frosting.
I’ve talked before about my fear of boiling sugar. I’ve since gotten over that fear because I’ve found making homemade marshmallows is worth it, and am so proud that I’m not longer afraid to face boiling sugar because that’s how you make this buttercream. If you follow the directions exactly, you’ll watch magic happen right before your eyes. To think, whisking in melted sugar at the exact right temperature into whipped egg whites and then adding an obscene amount of butter yields absolute perfection – its like a chemistry class right in your kitchen!
What else you can make with boiling sugar besides buttercream icing?
- Raspberry Marshmallows – can you imagine how wonderful these are roasted and sandwiched between graham crackers and dark chocolate?
- Salted Caramel Sauce – put it on ice cream, put it on pie, put it on a brownie
- Marshmallow Creme – the homemade version is roughly 1000x better than any pre-made kind you’ll find at the store
- Chocolate Marshmallows – outstanding on hot chocolate
- Salted Mocha Caramels – probably the best caramels I’ve ever had
- Peppermint Marshmallows – these make fantastic Christmas gifts
Some of the tools I used to make this Perfect Buttercream Frosting:
Stand mixer: This is a kitchen must-have. I use mine almost any time I bake. It’s one of the few appliances I will allow to always remain on the counter rather than be put away.
Silicone spatula: Any time you’re working with a frosting, you’ll need a good quality scraper. These are the ones I use because they do the job right and don’t leave a nasty silicone taste when I like the batter off at the end!
Icing decorating set: You can always use the old snip-the-corner-off-the-ziplock-bag method, but using a real bag and an official frosting tip makes it oh-so-pretty. I know it’s wasteful, but I prefer the disposable bags for easy clean up.
Watch me make this amazing recipe in the video below!
Be sure to check out my layered pumpkin cake where I fold hazelnut butter into this amazing buttercream frosting!
Perfect Buttercream Frosting is a rich, smooth, and incredibly delicious traditional icing that is the best choice to decorate cakes and cupcakes.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons corn syrup
- 5 (I used 185g) egg whites
- 1 lb unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Portion the sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan, drizzle a few tablespoons of water over the sugar, and stir together until the sugar is all moistened, it will have a wet sand feeling about it. Cook the sugar to the softball stage of 235 F using a candy thermometer, use a pastry brush to lightly water down the inner sides of the sauce pan to prevent crystallization. When the sugar is done, turn off the burner (if gas), or move the pan off the burner (if electric).
- Begin to whip your egg whites with a whip attachment in a stand mixer. When the meringue begins to look opaque, but is not to any sort of 'peak' stage yet, slowly pour the cooked sugar syrup down the side of the mixing bowl, as the mixture is whipping on a medium speed. Allow the mixture to whip until glossy medium peaks form and the meringue is cool to the touch.
- Turn the mixer on a low speed, and add the butter, one stick at a time. Mix until the mixture comes together, don't be scared! The mixture will separate and look terrible before it comes together again, which It will- I promise. Be patient.
- Once the mixture is smooth and wonderful-looking, add the vanilla and whip just until combined.
This is known in the professional baking world as Italian buttercream!
Couple of questions: how many cups does this recipe make? How do you store it/can you store it? How stable is it at room temperature? Does it crust? Is it easy to color and use for figure piping (flowers)?
Thanks.
Hi Becki, I didn’t measure, but it looked like at least 4 cups. It was enough to frost a 4 layer 9″ round cake in between layers with a dirty crumb frosting and then a final outer layer. I would store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temp before spreading or piping. Its very stable at room temp and it does not crust like royal icing. It is easy to color as well as to add additional flavor (i.e. I added hazelnut butter for my pumpkin cake). Hope that helps! Krissy
Can we leave out the corn syrup?
Hi Melissa, I actually don’t know. This is the first time I’ve made it. If you make it and omit the corn syrup, will you let me know how it turns out? Thanks! Krissy
Yes leave out the corn syrup. I make the Italian merengue buttercream from the CakeLove cookbook. Is pretty much the same just without the corn syrup. Also, for chocolate, melt 1/2 cup 60%cocoa chocolate cups and pour in before adding butter. It’s sooooo God and not to sweet.
Is this granulated sugar or confectioners sugar?
Granulated sugar. Will update recipe to reflect. Thanks! -Krissy
Looks fabulous! But I’m wondering if this buttercream has another name, because it’s nothing like buttercream we’ve always made with powdered sugar and butter/shortening.
Hi Cindy, This is a Swiss meringue buttercream. Thanks! Krissy
This is not a Swiss meringue. Swiss meringue is made by adding the sugar to the egg whites and then tempering that in a double boiler BEFORE whipping to peak. That would be cooking the egg first. Your recipe is an Italian meringue buttercream. You are using a raw egg white meringue and drizzling hot syrup intro the mix.
Okay, thank you for the clarification! -Krissy
This is actually an Italian buttercream because with Swiss buttercream, you heat the egg whites. Never tried it but I’ll have to because I’m not a huge fan of American buttercream due to the sweetness. Thanks for the recipe!
It’s called Italian buttercream. They have different type of buttercreams for each country. Americans prefer the American butter cream with shortening, butter, poweder sugar, vanilla,etc. if I’m not mistaken the American version always has shortening in it.
In the video this is Italian Buttercream. It’s very good and not as dense and sweet as American.
Nope. Many, if not most, of us make buttercream using only butter, powdered sugar, Vanilla Extract, and a couple spoons of milk or cream to reach desired consistency. I prefer unsalted butter, Land O Lakes makes the best buttercream frosting. There’s not enough money on this earth to convince me to add shortening of any kind to my frostings.
Totally agree with Cheryl 🙂 Land of the Lakes is very good here in the States, but also to. I have found that Challenge Butter is little bit less in price but taste the same. But, I use them both. Sister In Law works for Milk Plant, and believe it or not most all the butter they produce is pretty much the same and the taste, just labeled differently…go figure, huh?
Raw egg whites could be a problem. Is there any alternative??
not for this version.
I’ve used Pasteurized Egg Whites. But…make sure you buy the ones that have nothing added to them. The carton should only contain egg whites and absolutely nothing else. I also use them for making homemade angel food cakes with great results.
I know this is an older comment, but the sugar going into the egg whites is 235F/112C. The eggs are not going to survive that uncooked.
The hot sugar syrup cooks the eggs enough to be out of the danger zone 😄 The corn syrup is added for extra shine, it can be eliminated. Hope this helps everyone
Looks like a delicious recipe but a little concerned about the raw egg whites
Use fresh eggst and with the hot syrup is everything fine. You cook the eggwhites with the syrup.
Is there a chocolate version?
I haven’t made one yet. Stay tuned! Krissy
At the bottom of the recipe there was a comment ~ for choc add 1/2 cup of 60% cacao choc. and whip into mixture before adding butter . I haven’t tried it but did read that above. See ” J says” in the earlier comments
Is it safe to eat being the egg whites are raw and not cooked.
Hi Heather, I think its fine as long as you use high quality eggs, plus the hot syrup helps cook them. Krissy
This looks amazing, I can’t wait to try it! Can you please elaborate on the part about wetting the sides with a pastry brush? I’d love to give this a try and thanks so much for sharing! 🙂 Shelley
Hi Shelley, you just need to keep the crystals off the side of the pot. That’s all. Hope that helps! Krissy
Can you please give me the measurements in grams. Thank you.
How many tablespoons of water do you consider a few? It seems to vary with everyone!
2-3. It doesn’t matter that much because the water will evaporate. Hope that helps! Krissy
Hi, how much water do you add to the sugar and corn syrup mixture?
Thank you!
Hi Mari, It doesn’t matter because it evaporates in the cooking process. The water is just to keep the crystals off the side of the pot. Thanks, Krissy
If this recipe makes 4 cups. Isn’t that too much for the 12 cupcakes?
It’s a lot of frosting. If you make a mountain on each cupcake, its the right amount. 🙂
May I make some flowers with this recipe?
Think you!
Yes! It holds its shape well.
Mine never broke apart. It acted to liquid. Was the candy suppose to cool for a certain time.
Shoot. Sorry it didn’t work. The sugar syrup needs to be added while its hot. It takes awhile for it to come together. It never worked? Krissy
Hi there!
I just made this and the taste is great… however, fot some readon it is not thick enough 🙁
What can I do?
Keep mixing!
Would love to know how great it is under fondant? Reaction if any? Crumbing the cake? Thanks in advance.
It’s perfect for use with fondant, especially after the crumb coat has been refrigerated. -Krissy
Would love to know if it works well as a crumb coat? Any reactions with fondant? Much appreciated
This is perfect as a crumb coat. Because of all the butter, it gets very hard/solid once refrigerated (which is why it tastes best at room temp). Anyway, when its cold, fondant rolls out perfectly on top. -Krissy
The recipe looks great. i just have one question, is there a substitute for Corn syrup that will work for this recipe?
You can omit if needed. It just gives it extra shine.
Hello,
I am just curious, why add the corn syrup? Does it affect the consistency? I can’t wait to try this recipe, it reminds of of Italian Meringue except there is no corn syrup.
it gives it nice shine
The corn syrup also helps prevent crystallization because of the molecular structure. You do still need to wash down the sides of the pan, but it isn’t as much of a problem with the addition of the corn syrup. Hope this helps!
Your recipes are awesome..Please tell the cup(sugar) measurement and water measurement for this recipe. Thanks in advance
Thanks! The sugar amount is listed in the recipe.
I’m so bummed–I got to the stage where you add the butter and at that point it was smooth, creamy and tasty (It would not have held a shape well) but when I added the butter I only had one stick of real butter and the rest of it was margarine. Word of advice-Don’t use margarine. 🙁 It tasted gross. My question is-can you skip the butter part and just whip the egg white sugar mixture? I am so disappointed-I had stupidly even doubled the recipe b/c I wanted lots of frosting and just threw it all in the garbage.
Noooooo. Never use margarine! Like, for anything! And you can totally omit the butter, but then it wouldn’t be buttercream. It would just be meringue. 🙂
Margarine was originally invented to fatten up turkeys! It used to come with a packet of yellow coloring that you kneaded into it to make it look like butter. Nasty chemicals is all it is!
Yes….margarine is only one molecule apart from that of plastic…..never use it! Butter or organic coconut oil….much better choices.
Hi Krissy,
how many days ahead can i make this buttercream?
Thanks
Rutu
I think you can make ahead a good 4-5 days. It keeps well.
Will not use this recipe again. Icing does crust and because of the butter, does not do well at room temp either. On top of that, it isn’t very tasty. Waste of ingredients.
Sorry to hear that! The icing definitely does not crust and I didn’t say that it did in the recipe, so I hope I didn’t make you think it would. Buttercream is actually not my favorite as far as taste goes, but if its made correctly, it is very easy to work with, especially for decorating.
I was really excited to find this recipe, I’ve made caramels, and fudge successfully. Now, I’ve just wasted all those ingredients. Especially the butter! This just tastes like straight butter.
I won’t deny there’s a lot of butter in this recipe. Its all about personal preference. Sorry you didn’t like it.
Absolutely amazing…taste like butter, texture of whipped cream, pipes like buttercream! What more could you ask?
What size star tip did you use in these pictures?
I can’t remember. I never pay attention to the listed size. Sorry!!!
My family can’t do dairy. Has anyone tried this with some other than butter? I have butter flavored coconut oil but not sure it would whip the same. Any suggestions?
Hi if you don’t have corn syrup what substitute can I used. I am not in US
and here where I am in Spain I don’t think I am going to find it.
You can just omit. It only adds shine.
THE best recipe ever! It’s As soft as whipped cream frosting but perfect for the Indian summer when whipped cream frosting becomes runny very fast. Thanks for the recipe! 😃
Hello, how many tablespoon does 185g of egg white equal
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+tablespoon+does+185g+of+egg+white+equal&oq=how+many+tablespoon+does+185g+of+egg+white+equal&aqs=chrome..69i57.1453j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=how+many+tablespoons+is+185g+of+egg+white+equal
what happens if i used salted butter? It’s all i have… would it taste weird?
I never think salted butter tastes weird. Just different. But, because it’s sweet, I’m sure it will work!
I wonder if I could make this with coconut sugar?
I typically don’t mess with the ingredients when its something like this because its more of a chemistry experiment and you have to be pretty exact.
Hi! This recipe looks yummy and perfect but I messed up on the 1st try… when melting the sugar it turned brown, it did not stay clear as shown.. what did I do wrong???? When pouring into the egg mix it turned into hard rock candy :/ thanks
You must have heated it too much. You have to be exact with the temp.
Temperature for the sugar mixture also depends on your altitude above sea level. If you live a few thousand feet or more above sea level, you have to adjust the temperatures for cooking any kind of sugars/sugar mixtures. I live at 6,000 feet or so above sea level & my adjustment is 12° less than the temp listed (so I would bring my sugar mixture to 223°F instead of 235°F). I would say if you’re at 3,000 ft. or above to start adjusting temps. The adjustment is down 1° for every 500 feet above sea level or down 2° for every 1,000 feet above sea level (that’s why I adjust down 12°). Hope this helps for anyone who had problems with sugar mixture cooking too much/overcooking!
Thank you for the info!
How well would this transport? Like in a car in the middle of summer???
It can’t get too hot. I’d say the frosting needs to stay under 72F.
It IS primarily butter, right? So, I’d be cautious about putting it in the car, in the middle of summer. But maybe that’s just me. Maybe a cooler, with ice packs might work.
Can this be colored? or would you need to use a special medium to add to the color then to the frosting?
I would us a gel instead of a liquid
You make this look so easy =)
Tried this. Still clumpy and not coming together. Did I do something wrong??
keep mixing!
This worked amazingly!! 👌👍 Thank you for posting this recipe this is such an amazing one!
Hi, thanks for sharing this fantastic buttercream recipe. Can you use this buttercream for a wedding cake instead of the traditional buttercream?
Of course!
Italian meringue(which this recipe actually is) is all that oI pretty much use for my wedding cakes. Because it is butter only it will not hold up so well in the heat so I do substitute some shortening in place of butter for the stability wAnd does not change the light flavor
First off let me just say AMAZING!!! Now that I’ve made it how best to store for use a few days later???
Hi Krissy, I have been looking for a new buttercream to try as the traditional icing is just too sweet especially when covering your cake with fondant, most people will peel off the fondant before diving into a peice of cake then only having a few bites, so I’m eager to see if this is less sweet. I’m going to be making my moms birthday cake in the next few days and it’s going to be fairly tall but only 8-9 inches round as I’m going to be painting a picture of her on it. I was going to make a raspberry buttercream for the filling and crumb coating now I’m wondering if I could adapt this buttercream with the raspberry purée afterwards? Do you think it would hold well together? Also, would you be able to paint on the buttercream or do you think adding a thin layer of fondant would be nescessary for the art work? I know this is a long post and I’m sorry for taking up soooo much room! Oh, last one I promise! I have to travel about 7-8hrs on the road to get to my moms how well do you think it would hold up in a car, and do you have any suggestions on the best way to transport it that distance? Thanks again for sharing this recipe, I will for sure let you know how it turns out if you think I should go for it with the raspberry purée!
Well, I totally suck for letting my comments build up without responding to them. I’m super sorry for the delay, esp since you were asking about a specific event. I was gonna recommend adding freeze dried raspberries. Also, this frosting holds up great for travel with or without fondant if its refrigerated.
A whole POUND of butter? I can hardly believe this! I want to try it, but I’m not a real baker, I just love to bake.
I just made my parents the most amazing annversary cake ever!!!! I have never made a buttercream like this. It came out perfect and I LOVE the taste. So light and airy!!! TThank you so much!!! This buttercream is diffently a keeper!
Turned out just like the picture. Definitely taste like butter with a slightly sweet taste. It frosted 36 cupcakes. I live at 4600 feet above sea level so I took it to 225 degrees.
The frosting looks really beautiful n smooth, must da iced cake be refrigerated? When the cream made a head of time, must you store it in the fridge or can just keep at the counter untill use?
I like to refrigerate but make sure its at room temp before using/eating.
Do You think this icing could be made ahead of time and frozen for easy use later on?”?? Thank you for you help. Can’t wait to try this!
I’ve never frozen it. If you try it, will you come back and let me know if it works? thanks!
Hello ! Does this recipe yield enough buttercream to decorate 30 cup cakes ? Thanks in advance.
Yep!
I am making a cupcake wedding dress for a shower the nite before and won’t have the space to refridgerate it. Do you think it will hold its shape for about 14 hrs at room temp? Thinking about chilling the indiv cupcakes before frosting them may help? Cranking the A/C in the car for transporting?
Hi Cathey, I think if the temp isn’t above 72 you should be fine. Let me know how it works! -Krissy
Okay, so I am obviously impatient. The first time I made this frosting I was disappointed because it was runny like thin cream. I live in Australia, and I assumed I had too many things different to those in your recipe: I used white sugar (should I have used raw??), I used glucose syrup instead of corn syrup (corn syrup isn’t widely available in Australia, as in, I’ve never seen it in the shops!), and I used my Thermomix instead of a bench mixer. HOWEVER! I was determined to not give up, so I gave it another go, then when it was the same consistency as last time, I just left the Thermomix running. After about 10-15 minutes of mixing on speed 3, it separated, then BOOM! PERFECT BUTTERCREAM!! So light and fluffy – I can’t wait to decorate my cake tomorrow! Thank you so much, and thanks for telling everyone in the comments to KEEP MIXING! It does work 😊
Awesome Stephanie. Thank you so much for trying it again and THANK YOU for coming back to let me know!!! -Krissy
KRISSY, CAN YOU USE A MERINGUE POWDER INSTEAD OF RAW EGGS. TO MAKE THE ITALIAN BUTTERCREAM?
Hi Deanna, I’ve never tried but I’m pretty sure you can. If you try, will you come back to let me know if it worked? Thanks, Krissy
Love the out come of this recipe.looks great , tastes great and very easy to whipp…
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful reciepe!!
Can this be made with a butter substitute? We have to be dairy free due to allergies, and I’m hoping to make a “fake butter” buttercream but American buttercream is way too sweet (though it does work with Country crock)
Hi Heather, I have no idea if it would work. Maybe you want to try to make a half batch? Either way, will you let me know? thanks, Krissy