Buttercream icing
- Caroline Hire – Food writer
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Makes enough to ice 12 cupcakes/fill and cover a 20cm cake
Easy
Prep: 10 mins
A star rating of 4 out of 5.103 ratingsRate
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Foolproof cake frosting requires just butter and icing sugar – try out different flavourings and use our guide for quantities
Freezable
Vegetarian
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Caroline's tips for making the perfect buttercream icing:
- If you’d like a lighter, fluffier texture, I recommend beating the butter for a few extra minutes before adding the icing sugar. This makes the buttercream beautifully smooth and easy to spread.
- A ratio of equal quantities of icing sugar and butter works well unless you’re adding a significant quantity of a liquid (e.g. juice of an orange or lemon). If you are, you can increase the quantities of icing sugar, though this will change the consistency of your icing. Add the extra gradually, and make sure it is sifted, to get the consistency you want.
- If you’re not using the icing straightaway, you can cover it and refrigerate it for up to a week. Allow it to come back up to room temperature and beat again if necessary before using.
- When choosing butter, I think unsalted is best, as the salt content can vary.
Ingredients
Nutrition
Units:
MetricUS
-
600g icing sugar
sifted
-
300g unsalted or salted butter
softened
Optional extras
-
finely grated lemon zest
-
finely grated orange zest
-
a dash of vanilla extract
-
few drops food colouring
-
cocoa powder
to taste
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Nutrition: per serving (12)
-
kcal386
-
fat21.08g
-
saturates13g
-
carbs50.09g
-
sugars49g
-
fibre0g
-
protein0.2g
-
salt0.2g
low
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Method
-
step 1
Beat 600g sifted icing sugar and 300g butter together with your chosen flavouring and colouring if using, add 2-3 tbsp of boiling water to loosen and beat until smooth.
-
step 2
Fill a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe onto cupcakes or smear in the middle and over the top of a 20cm cake using a palette knife.
CELEBRATION CAKE RATIOS
10cm (4 inch) cake: 150g buttercream 13cm (5 inch) cake: 225g buttercream 15cm (6 inch) cake: 300g buttercream 18cm (7 inch) cake: 450g buttercream 20cm (8 inch) cake: 600g buttercream 23cm (9 inch) cake: 750g buttercream 25cm ((10 inch) cake: 900g buttercream 28cm (11 inch) cake: 1.2kg buttercream 30cm (12 inch) cake: 1.5kg buttercream
Caroline Hire
Caroline's passion for food has taken her from working as a chef in Scottish hotels and catering for McLaren's Formula One team to creating high-end events with Absolute Taste. She later joined Good Food as the Digital Editor and is now a regular contributor. She specialises in practical, accessible recipes, from family meals and weaning ideas to product reviews that make everyday cooking easier. See more of Caroline's recipes
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A star rating of 4 out of 5.103 ratings
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