Buttercream Icing

This buttercream icing is so simple and so versatile. We use it for everything! I tried for so long to get my icing recipe just right, and now that I have it, I am so thankful. I have used this recipe to decorate all of my kids’ birthday cakes as well as on our Christmas cookies every year. (I don’t generally like the thin icing that hardens for our Christmas cookies, this just tastes so much better!) It’s easy to dye into many different colors, and adding a little cocoa powder can even give you a bit of brown/chocolate icing if you need it for decorating. I have also made very small batches with just a a few tablespoons of butter to have just enough icing to make laces on football brownies for the super bowl. The possibilities are endless! This is a great recipe to have on hand for all of your decorating needs!

Buttercream Icing

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Course Dessert

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup butter softened to room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 cups confectioners sugar
• 2-4 T. milk we usually use 2 percent, but any milk will work

Instructions

 

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and vanilla until smooth.
• Add powdered sugar about 1/2 cup-1 cup at a time, mixing to incorporate each time. It will start to be very thick.
• Then add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
• Whip until light and fluffy.

Notes

This is definitely a flexible recipe. If it suddenly gets a little too thin after adding milk you can always add a bit more powdered sugar to help thicken it again and vice versa.  You will get a feel for it as you do it more.  I always find when I make smaller batches for little projects, it takes a little playing to get the consistency just right, but thankfully it’s pretty hard to mess it up as long as you have a little patience and only add a a little bit of milk or additional sugar at a time while you are trying to get the right consistency.  At that point a little goes a long way.