Perfect Piping Buttercream is the absolute best recipe for frosting cakes and cookies with a great consistency just right for piping your beautiful designs. This luscious buttercream frosting is light and airy with added flavor from vanilla and almond extract.
Best Buttercream
Frosting cut-out cookies for holidays is both my favorite and most dreaded activity. I LOVE frosting the first couple dozen cookies with beautifully ornate piped designs with buttercream.
I am alone in this process though because no one else in my family is willing to help. They claim they “can’t do it as well” and therefore are unwilling to even try. Total cop out!
Frosting for cookies
So 5-6 dozen cookies and hours later I am completely burnt out. The cookies are beautiful and taste amazing, but man oh man are my hands tired and eyes weary.
Frosting cookies should totally be a family affair and it would be much more fun. When I have children, I will happily let them slather on the frosting in the ugliest of designs, mostly because that means I won’t have to frost as many cookies! 😉
Best Buttercream for piping designs
Over the years my mother and I have perfected the recipe for frosting. We were looking for a balance of taste and how it piped. We used to use a royal icing, but it didn’t taste as good.
We later moved to buttercream for flavor but our original recipe was too thick to get nice piping shapes from. We altered that recipe over the years and finally landed upon this recipe that is absolutely perfect.
This perfect piping buttercream is our go-to frosting for everything from cookies to cupcakes!
How to make the best buttercream?
I could pretty much lick a bowl of this buttercream and be one happy woman. The addition of vanilla AND almond extract gives it a great flavor that we all love. It sets it apart from plain frosting.
It is important to only use gel or paste food dye
when making your frosting, because the liquid dyes will alter the consistency a surprisingly great deal. Liquid dye will take your luscious buttercream from the perfect consistency, to a runny consistency that won’t hold it’s shape in a quick hurry.
How to pipe buttercream?
I separate my batch of buttercream into 5 or 6 bowls and dye each bowl of frosting to my desired consistency. I have never found a dye that will get me a true red, so if you have any secrets for a rich Christmas red, I would love to hear them!
Grab your piping bags and decorating tips and you are ready to fill them up. I like to turn the bag half way inside out and set it in a tall glass. This makes it easier to scoop the buttercream into the bag if I am doing it along.
After your bags are filled it’s time to dream up all sorts of amazing designs for your cookies or cake that have the added bonus of tasting great!
More baked goods perfect with buttercream!
While we could eat buttercream right from the spoon, it’s probably best to serve it on a cake or cookie. Here are some other great recipe that you can use buttercream with.
- Fresh Strawberry Ombre Cake
- Frosted Sugar Cookies
- Pumpkin Cake Bars – Swap out the cream cheese frosting for buttercream
Perfect Piping Buttercream Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 c. shortening butter flavored
- 1 c. butter
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 7 1/2 c. powdered sugar
- 1/3 c. heavy whipping cream
- gel or paste icing dyes
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat the shortening and butter until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla, almond extract and cream and mix until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar 1-2 cups at a time, mixing well between each addition. Beat the frosting for an additional 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Using a toothpick, add the tiniest amount of dye at a time to the bowl of frosting to control your color. These dyes will color the frosting quickly, so there is no need to add too much.
Rachel Santos says
Hi Danielle this seems wonderful! Everything with almond extract sounds delicious! I want to do them but I am from Brazil and we don’t have this buttered flavor shortening, can I use the regular one?! Will it still taste good?! Thanks
Danielle Green says
As a previous commenter stated you could use all butter instead on shortening. I wouldn’t recommend using shortening that doesn’t have butter flavor because it will change the flavor of the frosting quite a bit. Best of luck!
Amanda says
You can totally use unflavoured shortening as that is what I use at work all the time. I know this will not help the original poster but future posters may like to know.
Barb says
Made this frosting for the first time to put on a retirement cake and got RAVE reviews. It will be my go to frosting from now on. Thanks for sharing.
Danielle Green says
You! So glad to hear everyone loved it. 🙂
Barb says
Made this frosting for the first time to put on a retirement cake and got RAVE reviews. It will be my go to frosting from now on. Thanks for sharing.
Jessica says
Can i ues this for cake and cupcakes?
Danielle Green says
ABSOLUTELY! I use it for cupcakes all the time. 🙂
Cathrine Boyer says
How does it stand up on cakes though? Is the frosting stout enough to not loose it’s shape and drip down the cake?
Danielle Green says
I don’t make cakes, so I haven’t used it on a cake, but you can see from the tall buttercream on these cupcakes that it holds it’s shape very well! https://www.thecreativebite.com/best-birthday-cupcakes/
Freida says
Do you have to use Crisco? I have always used butter because of the taste. Just wondering if using butter would change thing too much?
Danielle Green says
If you are just using it to ice a simple cake or cookies, all butter will be just fine. The Crisco helps it keep its shape a little better if you are using it for decorating though.
Katherine J Khan says
This is a really great recipe. I made a test batch using all butter and then butter and shortening. It was a resounding success with all butter. I’ve also only tried it with both vanilla and almond as well as just vanilla extract. The success came with all vanilla. This is a great starter recipe and very easy to manipulate as far as flavor. Thanks so much!
Iva says
Hi Katherine, if you use all vanilla instead of vanilla & almost extract, are you still using total of 2 tsp or just the 1 1/2 vanilla as per the recipe?
Katherine J Khan says
This is a really great recipe. I made a test batch using all butter and then butter and shortening. It was a resounding success with all butter. I’ve also only tried it with both vanilla and almond as well as just vanilla extract. The success came with all vanilla. This is a great starter recipe and very easy to manipulate as far as flavor. Thanks so much!
Andrea Schmidt says
Have you ever used AmeriColor food coloring? I prefer that over the Wilton colorings. you get a much brighter color with less product.
Anjali says
Do you soften your butter before you mix it?
Danielle says
I use room temperture butter. Better hard than too soft though!
gali says
how s it piping flowers ?
Darlene says
I have been using a similar recipe for years, I use milk instead if the whipping cream, and a couple tablespoons of lemon juice instead of almond flavor. I use to make wedding cakes and everyone loved it.
ash says
How much lemon do you use?
Darlene says
I have been using a similar recipe for years, I use milk instead if the whipping cream, and a couple tablespoons of lemon juice instead of almond flavor. I use to make wedding cakes and everyone loved it.
Shari Trujillo says
to get a good red you add a tiny bit of black to your red while you are mixing your colors. you wont need very much of each color, it also cuts the nasty taste of the red. Also use butter flavoring instead of butter because the butter color will alter the coloring.
Caketivity says
Not sure if you have sorted out your red but if you colour the icing yellow and then red and keep in mind it darkens over time you. Anger a good Christmas red. You need time and even overnight though to start off a light red and let it darken to see if it goes dark enough or needs more. The key though is yellow first.
Carol Lanseros says
In Perú we dont have shortening, can I replace it with something else?
Danielle Green says
You can substitute butter for the shortening, it will just have a very slightly different consistency and flavor.
Brenda Thurlby says
you said a cup of butter is that real butter or margaine if real butter is it salted or unsalted, making this tomorrow,
Danielle Green says
Real butter and I use salted butter.
Karen Reeves says
Hi there, you want to have a deeper red? Try adding the tiniest bit of yellow to your red mix, it will make the red pop!
Danielle - The Creative Bite says
Good to know, I will definitely try that next time!!!
Jessica Holzapfel says
If you use cocoa (light brown base) in the icing with the red it also gives it a darker red colour.
Danielle - The Creative Bite says
Good to know, I will definitely try that next time!!!
Karen Reeves says
Hi there, you want to have a deeper red? Try adding the tiniest bit of yellow to your red mix, it will make the red pop!
Indy Mommy says
Do you need to refrigerate this frosting? I am making it for a bake sale at school. I would make it up and decorate the night before. Then refrigerate overnight. Baked goods are supposed to be dropped off at 9 am. Bake sale isn’t until 6:00-9:00 pm. Is it safe to keep this frosting out for that long.
Danielle Green says
I have always kept this buttercream at room temperature for days without any issues! The large amounts of sugar allows it to sit at room temp for a few days without issue.
JOY MECCA says
ARE THESE COOKIES SHELF STABLE OR DO THEY NEED TO BE REFRIDGERATED? DUE TO THE CREAM IN THE FROSTING…ALSO DO THE FROSTING CRUST..MEANING CAN THE COOKIES BE STACKED FOR PACKING AS GIFTS LIKE ROYAL FROSTING
Danielle Green says
Hi Joy, we have always stored these cookies at room temperature in an air-tight container with no problems. They don’t tend to last more than a few days though. 🙂 The colder you store them the longer they will stay fresh though.
As for stacking them, we always store them in a single layer, because the frosting will get a bit smudged if you stack them on top of one another.
pat says
Please can you explain what “shortening butter flavoured”is all we seem to use in England is butter and is there a difference ??
Danielle Green says
So shortening is a butter like product, but different. The “butter flavor” is just a type of shortening. You should be able to use all butter and be just fine. It may just not hold it’s shape quite as well.
Cynthia says
Danielle, although I would prefer all butter, I am very interest in trying your recipe. Are you able to recommend a couple of brands of butter flavored shortnings?
Danielle Green says
I always use Crisco!
Cynthia says
Ah! TY! I do recall seeing butter flavored Crisco. And I believe I’ve seen it in stick form as well.
Saj says
Can we replace full cream milk with heavy whipping cream? If so, how much to add?
Danielle Green says
You can make an even swap and then just add a touch more if it is too thick.
Margaret King says
Pat, in the England Trex, Flora White or Cookeen would be the equivalent of shortening. I believe you can find it at Tesco. You just need to find one of those with a butter flavoring. Good luck
Arlene Slobecheski says
They do not have to be refrigerated. They are really works of art to be displayed as shown but they absolutely cannot be stacked. This is a buttercream and it does not harden. As for me I would only use this for sandwich type cookies and for decorating cakes. Oh and don’t leave out the almond extract. For some reason it makes the icing even fluffier. I use it in all of my frostings. And also you can use milk instead of heavy cream. I just add it in by tablespoons to the consistency I need.
Laura says
Shorting is called several things
~~ Shortening ~~ Grease ~~
Lard ~~ Fat ~~ It starts out kind of like thick Butter but turns into a Cooking Oil like what you would cook Fried Chicken in But when it gets cold it hardens back up Its what you can use instead of Butter or Margarine when Cooking and when it’s cold it thickens like butter I hope that helps
Christina says
Lard is not shortening.
CAROL NASON says
so correct, lard is a pork product
Ellen Sloan says
Is salted butter an iotion
mary hannaml says
I use the paste coloring Christmas red to get bright red…..the longer you let it sit the more red you get…also add more red