Easy Vanilla Buttercream (American Buttercream Recipe)

The perfect Vanilla Buttercream you’ll ever make! 4 easy components are all it’s good to make this basic American buttercream recipe.

I made my very own birthday cake. I believe that is fairly commonplace for bakers, and I’m completely happy with it. I used to be really not going to make a cake in any respect, since I used to be knee-deep in Pastry College on the time, however my husband insisted that we wanted one, even when that meant shopping for one from the grocery retailer.

That is more durable and more durable for me to do nowadays. Shopping for a grocery retailer birthday cake was a factor (I do know they’re gross to some, however I really like the sickly sweetness – I’m sorry!). As of late I do know I can (and have) made higher, so I can’t convey myself to purchase them.

It helped that I nonetheless had a pair cake layers within the freezer from once I baked them for my Flat High Muffins put up. The recipe I used there was my Virtually Scratch Cake. It’s such a easy and scrumptious recipe and goes completely with this straightforward vanilla buttercream recipe.

So with the cake layers already completed, all I needed to do was defrost them, make the frosting, and adorn. I made a decision to go for an American Buttercream for ease.

What’s American Buttercream Frosting?

I’ve really had a tough time nailing down an excellent, easy vanilla buttercream recipe – what some would name American Buttercream – that makes use of primarily butter and powdered sugar.

I normally make Swiss meringue buttercream, which I really like however takes a bit extra effort, and I used to be most actually in search of one thing with little or no effort.

The BEST vanilla frosting I’d ever had was on my marriage ceremony cake, a cake we commissioned from Gannon’s, the restaurant we had our reception at. We didn’t do any tastings or see any samples, we simply despatched them an image of what we wished it to appear to be and selected our flavors.

This cake was unbelievable, the buttercream so easy and scrumptious. We had a ton of leftovers, which we fortunately took again to our apartment and devoured over the subsequent few days.

I’d talked about a number of instances to Ryan that I puzzled how they made it. I assumed it was a meringue-based one as a result of it was so silky easy, however it was much less buttery than ones I’d made earlier than. Powdered sugar-based buttercreams all the time really feel so gritty… so it couldn’t be that.

Unbeknownst to me, Ryan had emailed Gannon’s and requested them for the recipe. He ought to most likely get some sort of award, proper?! I might by no means do that. I actually didn’t assume they might disclose their secrets and techniques, however they despatched over a recipe!

The right way to make American Buttercream

This American buttercream consists of 4 easy components — butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream. However there are a number of key issues you are able to do to verify your buttercream is good and easy with as little grit as attainable.

1. Step one is to essentially whip the butter by itself, earlier than including any powdered sugar.
2. Sift your powdered sugar! This can be a little bit of a ache, however actually helps to interrupt out these clumps
3. Add your powdered sugar slowly — 1/2 cup to 1 cup at a time to the buttercream and whip nicely in between additions.
4. As soon as all of the sugar is added, give it an excellent whip for at the very least 3 minutes, extra if wanted.
5. Add solely as a lot cream as wanted to succeed in the consistency that you really want and whip some extra till fully easy.

Now, I’m not satisfied that is the very same vanilla buttercream that was on our cake (it nonetheless felt just a little gritty once I made it, not as gritty as others earlier than), however it was scrumptious. I’m tremendous proud of the tip end result and will certainly be making this buttercream once more!

The right way to make a rosette cake

For the adorning, I wished to attempt one thing new (to me) and a rosette cake. I’ve seen this completed earlier than and it appeared wonderful, so I wished to provide it a attempt.

I had completed rosettes earlier than, however normally simply as ornament on high of the muffins or on cupcakes, not one thing that might cowl the entire cake. I may have winged it, however I’m glad I checked out a few video tutorials first. I wouldn’t have thought to offset every row of roses to fill within the gaps.

I stacked and iced the muffins and did a crumb coat layer on the skin – thicker than only a crumb coat, however not too thick, because the rosettes would add plenty of icing already.

For this rosette cake, I began on the backside and labored my method round, then the subsequent layer, then the highest.

All in all, the rosette half was very easy and doubtless took lower than 10mins. I’m stunned at how straightforward it was, actually. It’s a easy approach to adorn your muffins and make them look gorgeous!

This explicit vanilla buttercream is a bit much less candy than most you’ll discover. I don’t like mine super-sweet, so I simply added much less powdered sugar. You may regulate this to your liking although — simply use extra/much less in case you want, however remember to regulate the cream as wanted!

When you’re in search of a straightforward and scrumptious vanilla buttercream recipe, this one is for you!

This recipe was initially printed on Jan 4th, 2015. It was up to date with new content material on Jan twelfth, 2023.