This silky, stable frosting smooths beautifully over cake and can take any number of flavorings, from vanilla to chocolate to espresso. Use this buttercream recipe to make Black Forest Layer Cake with Cherry Preserves, Tiramisù Layer Cake with Mascarpone Mousse, or Vanilla Layer Cake with Mango Curd.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes about 4 cups
Ingredients
1
5
½
1
1
½
1
Preparation
Step 1
Combine granulated sugar and egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and set over a medium saucepan filled with 1" of gently simmering water (do not let bowl touch water). Heat, whisking constantly, until sugar is dissolved and an instant-read thermometer registers 115°, about 5 minutes.
Step 2
Fit bowl onto stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment and beat on medium-high speed until meringue is stiff, glossy, and dense, about 5 minutes. Turn off mixer, add powdered sugar, and mix on low speed until incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until the bowl is cool to the touch, about 2 minutes.
Step 3
With the motor running, add butter a piece at a time, incorporating fully before adding the next piece, 8–10 minutes. If mixture starts to look chunky or liquidy, just keep beating; it will come back together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add vanilla extract and salt. Beat until buttercream looks glossy and smooth. Scrape in vanilla seeds (discard pod) or add chocolate or espresso, depending on desired flavor. Beat until smooth.
Step 4
Do Ahead: Buttercream can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature, then beat until smooth before using.
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Reviews (18)
Back to TopNot really crazy about this buttercream, but it will hold its shape for decorating. I would use it for piping, but not for an all over cake frosting.
Anonymous
NorCal
2/12/2024
I’ve tried hundreds of frosting recipes. Found this one last week. It is by far the easiest, fluffiest, best tasting frosting I’ve ever made. It is now the only one ( 12 cakes now ) I use. Try it for yourself. You will not be disappointed.
Brenda
Belleville, Michigan
10/28/2021
I’m not a very experienced baker, but wanted to make a 7 inch, 3-layer cake for my anniversary. For the batter, I made the “no mixer vanilla cake” recipe that is also on this website. I didn’t follow the icing recipe for that and used this one instead. It’s a very forgiving and luxurious icing. Easier to apply than others I have tried in past. It was fluffy and not gooey. It didn’t pick up many crumbs like I was worried about (although I did chill the layers prior to frosting). I probably used too much egg white due to jumbo eggs, but it was still silky and delicious. I mixed a cup of the icing with some strawberry jam for between the layers. The icing held up well, structurally, tasted delicious and looked pretty too. I used some flowers and berries covered in caster sugar as decoration. A perfect frosting.
Anonymous
10/11/2021
What a fantastic frosting! I had tried making an italian meringue buttercream from another site once, and didn't like many things about how it came out... this recipe, however, was ideal for me. I didn't find the butter taste too strong at all (remember, though, to use a butter you actually like! I used european-style and I think that extra creaminess was good). The frosting was so silky—YET held its shape without being too firm/like solidified butter in texture when re-chilled. I've always been a person to scrape off most frostings on cakes out there in the world, but this is one of the only ones I'd eat straight with a spoon. Damn! Never thought I'd see the day tbh. Advice notes: It is helpful to lay out all of your ingredients and bowls before beginning—this does save some scrambling and anxiety that can be associated with more complex processes like this one. Like another commenter said, I also reduced mixer speed some while adding the butter and then increased it again to do the flavor incorporation and final smoothing-out.
Anonymous
NJ
9/23/2021
So good! When I first tried this recipe, it paired so well with the cake I made. However it did taste like sweet butter like some other commenters mentioned. This time I halved the recipe, feeling confident 3 eggs would balance out the butter better. I chose to do a matcha buttercream with a little lemon zest and it is lovely. It is fluffier than my first attempt but the flavor is so good. This is now my go to frosting recipe, thank you :).
Matcha
5/1/2021
No matter how many recipes I try for American Buttercream, I end up tossing it because no matter how many adjustments I make to it by adding salt, vinegar, lemon juice, etc. it is so cloyingly sweet that I just can't eat it so I always end up making cream cheese frosting instead but sometimes cream cheese frosting doesn't pair well with certain types of cakes so was looking for a vanilla one that wasn't so sweet. I finally found the recipe I was looking for! This is silky, smooth and just perfect amount of sweetness to pair with any cake. It is nice because it doesn't taste eggy nor does the butter overpower the taste. It is just perfect! I should mention that I like to weigh my ingredients and noticed that my 5 egg whites weighed 154g which was more than what the recipe said for 5 egg whites. I still kept all the egg whites but did weigh the sugar and all other ingredients as per recipe and it still worked well so it appears you don't need to be too worried about removing some the egg whites if the 5th egg provides more weight than what is noted. I can't wait to try the coffee and chocolate variations too. This is a dream to pipe as well.
Nancy A
Danville, CA
5/1/2021
Beautiful consistency, not too sweet, as others have mentioned. Surprisingly easy to make, despite being more time-consuming than other frostings. However, I made some mistakes: first, I used it for cupcakes. In large quantities, the frosting tastes a bit too much like sweetened butter. I might try it again for cupcakes but use about 50g less butter and dial up the sugar a bit as well (yet to see how this will affect consistency). Second, I used vanilla extract rather than vanilla bean; this also made the frosting taste much too plain. Because it isn't very sweet, you really do need a stronger flavour addition. I can see why chocolate or espresso were the other suggestions. Will definitely make again, but will correct the errors above.
Anonymous
Saskatoon, SK
11/16/2019