The best Vanilla Buttercream you will ever make! You only need four simple ingredients to make this classic buttercream recipe.

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I made my own birthday cake, which is pretty common for bakers, and I’m totally fine with it. At first, I wasn’t planning to make a cake at all since I was busy with Pastry School. However, my husband insisted we needed one, even if it meant buying one from the store.

These days, it’s harder for me to buy a grocery store birthday cake. I used to enjoy them despite their overly sweet taste, but now that I know I can make better cakes myself, I just can’t bring myself to buy one.

It helped that I had some cake layers in the freezer from a previous baking session for my Flat Top Cakes post. The recipe I used was my Almost Scratch Cake. It’s a simple and delicious recipe that pairs perfectly with this easy vanilla buttercream.

With the cake layers already prepared, all I needed to do was defrost them, make the frosting, and decorate. I decided to go with Perfect Buttercream for simplicity.

What is American Buttercream Frosting?

I’ve struggled to find a good, simple vanilla buttercream recipe, often called American Buttercream, which mainly uses butter and powdered sugar.
I usually make Swiss meringue buttercream, which I love but requires more effort. This time, I wanted something easier.

The best vanilla frosting I ever had was on my wedding cake, which we ordered from Gannon’s, the restaurant where we had our reception. We didn’t do any tastings or see any samples; we just sent them a picture of what we wanted and chose our flavors.
The cake was incredible, with a buttercream so smooth and delicious. We had lots of leftovers, which we happily took home and enjoyed over the next few days.

I often wondered how they made it. I assumed it was a meringue-based buttercream because it was so silky smooth but less buttery than others I’d tried. Powdered sugar-based buttercreams usually feel gritty, so I thought it couldn’t be that.

How To Make Perfect Buttercream

This perfect buttercream uses four simple ingredients: butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream. Here are a few tips to ensure your buttercream is smooth with minimal grit:

Start by whipping the butter on its own before adding any powdered sugar.
Sift your powdered sugar to break up any clumps.
Add the powdered sugar slowly, about 1/2 cup to 1 cup at a time, and whip well between additions.
Once all the sugar is added, whip the mixture for at least 3 minutes, or more if needed.
Add only as much cream as needed to reach your desired consistency, then whip until completely smooth.

While this may not be the exact vanilla buttercream from our wedding cake (it still felt a bit gritty when I made it, but not as much as others), it was delicious. I’m very happy with the result and will definitely make this buttercream again!

How to make a rosette cake

For decorating, I wanted to try something new to me: a rosette cake. I had seen this done before and thought it looked amazing so I decided to give it a try.

I had made rosettes before, usually as decorations on top of cakes or cupcakes, but never to cover an entire cake. Instead of guessing, I watched a few video tutorials first. I learned to balance each row of roses to fill in the gaps.

I stacked and iced the cakes and applied a crumb coat layer – thicker than just a crumb coat but not too thick, as the rosettes would add a lot of icing.
The rosette part was surprisingly easy and took less than 10 minutes. It’s an easy way to decorate your cakes and make them look amazing!

This vanilla buttercream is not as sweet as most others. I don’t like mine super sweet, so I used less powdered sugar. You can adjust this to your liking by using more or less sugar, but be sure to adjust the cream as needed!

If you want a simple and tasty vanilla buttercream recipe, this is the one for you!

Frequently Asked Questions

How much buttercream does this recipe make?

This recipe makes enough to frost an 8″ two-layer cake or one three-layer 6″ cake.
It can also frost 18-24 cupcakes, depending on how much frosting you use.

How can i flavor this buttercream?

For a citrus flavor, add 1-2 tablespoons of zest or curd. If adding curd, skip the cream and only add it if needed.

For other fruit flavors, use freeze-dried berry powders. Add 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired flavor.

For peanut butter frosting, use peanut butter powder. Add 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired flavor.

Tips for making this vanilla buttercream

Add cream 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency, making sure it’s at room temperature.

For the rosettes, it’s best to practice a few on parchment paper first. When you’re ready, pipe the bottom row of rosettes, then stagger them for the next row.