I know there are lots of recipes out there for a delicious Buttercream frosting. Frosting is one thing I am very particular about. I always feel like I can get away with a box cake or cupcake mix as long as the frosting is excellent.
I think homemade frosting is always worth the extra trouble because the taste difference is really something. And it is nice to have a quick and easy basic buttercream recipe that you can fall back on and so far this one has never let me down.
I have used this buttercream recipe with caramel cupcakes, lemon cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes… it is really versatile and so quick! You can add cocoa powder, citrus juice, caramel sauce… any little extras you might like and it still turns out to be eat by the spoonful delish.
I personally prefer to use butter instead of shortening for buttercream and what I often find is that some buttercream recipes call for so much butter… I find many recipes are just greasy and like a big bite of butter. (Blech!)
So this recipe calls for just four ingredients- cream cheese, butter, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Simple and fast and hopefully you think it is a home run too!
- 1½ cups unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
- 4oz cream cheese, cubed and chilled
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Add butter to your stand mixer and beat with paddle attachment until smooth and creamy.
- Add cream cheese and mix until well incorporated.
- Add confectioner's sugar ½ cup at a time- scraping the bowl down after each addition with a spatula.
- Once you hit 2 cups of confectioner's sugar you might start tasting the frosting to see if you need more sugar. I usually like about 2½ cups to 3 cups of sugar.
- Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and mix.
- Done!
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This should easily frost 12 good size cupcakes. If you are making a layer cake or something you might consider doubling the recipe.
This makes a nice thick frosting for me but if you want a little more creaminess to yours, you can add one to two tablespoons of heavy cream along with the vanilla.
And again you might stop at 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar and see if that works for you. I find this frosting needs about 2 1/2 cups to get to the proper thickness for me but you might taste as you go and adapt to your preference.
And there you have a super simple and very fast basic cream cheese Buttercream frosting recipe! How cute are these with just some simple sprinkles for a child’s birthday party?
You might also like these recipes:
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting– seriously this is heavenly!
Fun Lemonade Cupcakes– triple lemon flavor and so fun for summer!
Salted Caramel Starbucks Cupcakes– so fun! Perfect for bake sales and parties!
