5 Minute Easy Vanilla Frosting

This vanilla frosting recipe is light and fluffy and only takes 5 minutes to make. It uses simple pantry staple ingredients and is the easiest buttercream frosting to top your favorite cakes and cupcakes! This icing has step by step instructions and is perfect for beginners. It will frost 12-15 cupcakes or fill and frost a 9″ 2 layer cake or a sheet cake.

This vanilla buttercream frosting will make you ditch the frosting in a can asap! It tastes WAY better than anything you can buy and takes only 5 minutes to make with ingredients you probably already have at home. As a trained pastry chef, I am telling you this is going to be your new go to icing recipe!

It is also seriously perfect for any type of cupcake or cake because it is sturdy enough to be piped and decorated with. There is also no need to refrigerate it! Try it on this delicious vanilla cupcake recipe, slathered on this 6 inch chocolate cake, frosted on these confetti cupcakes or piped on top of these mini vanilla cupcakes.

For this recipe all you need is butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and cream or milk. Use a stand mixer to whip it up in less than 5 minutes and you’ll be ready to pipe it all over your cakes or cupcakes. I also have a vanilla dairy free frosting recipe.

I use this frosting as a base recipe to flavored frostings like mint frosting, and Oreo buttercream frosting. It’s just such a versatile recipe, you can make so many different versions.

For a recipe that is more like a glaze try this vanilla glaze icing.

Vanilla buttercream frosting

Vanilla frosting is just the combination of fat (usually butter), powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and cream or milk. There are no heating utensils or eggs required like in some other kinds of buttercream frostings.

This type of frosting is also called American buttercream frosting. It is white and fluffy and has a high fat content. If you have ever had a birthday cake from a grocery store, this is the type of frosting you are eating.

There really is no difference between buttercream and frosting. Other buttercream recipes like Swiss, Italian, and French have ingredients like eggs but they are still used as frosting for cakes. Icing usually tends to be thinner, but in Canada they call frosting icing, so we’re using all the words interchangeably here

How to make the frosting

Recipe tips:

• If the frosting it too thin, add 1/4 cup more powdered sugar at a time and remix.
• If the frosting is too thick, add a bit more cream 1-2 tsp at a time and remix until it’s consistency is right.
• Start with the mixer on low when you add the powdered sugar so it doesn’t explode all over the kitchen.
• If your icing is lumpy, whip it on high speed for 2 minutes to smooth it out.

Variations

The great thing about this recipe is that you can pretty much flavor it any way you want. It is extremely versatile as a base layer. You can substitute the vanilla extract for any other extract flavoring you have. Or play around with adding things like:

• chocolate syrup
• freeze dried fruit- make sure to grind this up first into a powder
• jellies or jams
• cooled coffee
• Melted white chocolate
• peanut butter
• caramel sauce
• cocoa powder

The only thing to stay away from when flavoring buttercream is fresh fruit. It will have too much moisture which means it will make the frosting super liquidy and wont combine well with the rest of the ingredients.

Yield

This recipe makes enough icing to ice 12-15 cupcakes or fill and frost a cake with 2 9″ round layers or a sheet cake.

Storing and freezing instructions

Storing- Store the buttercream in a bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap. Make sure to press the plastic wrap down on top of the frosting when sealing otherwise the air between the plastic and the buttercream will cause it to harden. You can also lay a damp paper towel down on top of the buttercream and then cover it with plastic wrap. It can last at room temperature for 3 days or store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Rewhip if it got too hard.

Freezing- To freeze homemade buttercream, simply pop it into a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Alternatively you can wrap it in plastic wrap and then put it into a freezer safe zip top bag.

When you’re ready to use the frozen buttercream, set it in the fridge to thaw overnight, and then let the buttercream come to room temperature before icing your cake or cupcakes.

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