Today, my friends, I’m going to teach you a secret that will revolutionize your buttercream frosting for good. Once you taste this irresistibly smooth vanilla buttercream goodness there’s really no going back.
I’ve been baking for many years now and my go to favorite treat is always cupcakes. I have yet to meet a person who doesn’t love cupcakes.
I mastered the cupcake ages ago with the famous Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcake Recipe. Download it, save it, pin it, print it. It’s really the only vanilla cupcake recipe you will ever need. I use it to make vanilla cake too.
There was just one thing I could never get right – the frosting. Until now!
It seems like it would be the most simple part to the cupcake but that was far from the case.
In the past I struggled with it being too sweet, too buttery, too dry, too grainy, not firm enough. No matter what I did I just couldn’t get it right.
If you have been experiencing the same issues you have come to the right place!
This year something just clicked which made all the difference. The secret is not in the ingredients – it’s in the method!
Now this didn’t just happen to be a one hit wonder success. Since figuring out this trick I have made it multiple times and it has been a raging success every. single. time.
So let’s get started!
What you need
- Electric stand mixer with whisk attachment
- 1 cup (227g) butter at room temperature
- 300g powder sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 1 tub (250g) cold, full fat cream cheese (optional)
Method
- Place your room temperature butter into the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
- Start mixing on low at first until all the butter is mixing nicely then increase the speed to medium high (I use speed 8 on my KitchenAid).
- Here is the magic trick. Allow the mixer to run for at least 20 minutes, probably longer. Just when you think you are good to go, you probably still need to mix for another 5 minutes. Mix until the butter loses all of its color and turns completely white. It should look similar to whipped cream. This is the most important step because the mixing incorporates air which increases the volume and stability of the butter. This means you don’t need to add as much sugar which prevents the frosting from being too sweet. All the extra air takes away that distinct butter flavor and makes it more subtle.
- Once you are confident that your butter is at the correct consistency, add the vanilla paste and powdered sugar and mix together until smooth. You don’t want to over mix at this point. As soon as the frosting is smooth you are good to go!
- If you would like to turn it into a cream cheese frosting, right at the end add the tub of cream cheese and mix it together until smooth. With cream cheese frosting it’s extremely important that you DO NOT over mix. Don’t walk away from your mixer at this point. As soon as the cream cheese is incorporated, stop the mixer, your frosting is ready! If you over mix cream cheese frosting it will become runny and you won’t be able to pipe it. It also only works with full fat cream cheese, so now is not the time to try and cut calories.
So there you have it! Can you believe it was that simple? All you need to do is whip the butter for 20 minutes to half an hour and that makes ALL the difference!
Use 20 – 30 minutes as a guideline and not a rule. It’s best not to look at the clock and rather pay attention to the color and consistency of the butter. It really needs to be completely white.
I hope that this tip helps you get your frosting perfect every single time!
Let me know in the comments or tag me on Instagram if you try it out. I’d love to see your cupcake creations!
If you are looking for some more sweet inspiration, checkout some of these posts!
Sincerely,