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.
Dorsa says
Hi! Can I use 25% cream instead of heavy whipping cream?because in may country is the best thing I can find
Danielle Green says
Absolutely! I have even used milk when I didn’t have any cream and it still turns out great!
Frances Danielle Buaya says
what will be the best measurement if i’m going to use a whipped cream or milk in replacement of heavy whipping cream. TIA
Danielle Green says
You can keep it the same. I have done so with milk and it still turns out great.
Tate says
Hi Danielle, Is it possible to make this into chocolate buttercream? If so, could you please advise me on how to do so? Thanx!
Danielle Green says
Chocolate buttercream is something very different, so I recommend finding a different recipe for that.
Elsebet says
Hi
I have been using a similar recipe with all butter as well. If I want to change to chocholate, I add 2 heaped table spoons of cacao (the powder type) to each 500g of powdered sugar (you will have to sift these though). Just add little bit of milk to get perfect consistancy. If you like a more “dark” chocolate taste add extra cocao. One can play around to get the right taste and colour.
Loraine says
What flavor of cake is best for buttercream icing?
Danielle Green says
I honestly think buttercream goes well with just about everything! You can’t go wrong with a good vanilla cake though.
Loraine says
Can i use this kind of icing for BARBIE DOLL CAKE?
Danielle Green says
Yes, this will work perfectly for that type of cake!
Meghan Roedl says
Hi there! About how much icing does this recipe make? Or approximately how many cupcakes does this ice?
Danielle Green says
If you use a generous amount like pictured above on that cupcake, it would cover about 3 dozen. If you use a more conservative amount of buttercream on each cupcake, it would cover about 4 dozen.
Kirsty says
Are you able to freeze any leftover icing with this recipe?
Danielle Green says
I have tried freezing it and quite frankly I was very unhappy with the consistency after it thawed so I wouldn’t recommend it.
Elizabeth says
Can I make this frosting and store it until it is ready to be used? (5 days)
Danielle Green says
Yes, it should be fine refrigerated for 5 days. Just allow it to come to room temperature before decorating with it, or it will be too stiff.
Iva says
Hi Danielle, if I am to make a 6 inch cake, would this recipe of frosting be enough to cover it??
Danielle Green says
A half batch would probably be the best bet for a small 6″ cake.
Andrea Watson says
How many traditional size cupcakes will this batch frost? I am making a large number and I am trying to figure out how to multiply it.
Danielle - The Creative Bite says
A batch of this frosting will frost around 3 dozen cupcakes if you pipe the frosting on generously (like the photo of the cupcake above). If you just spread the frosting on thinly with a knife, you will get 4-5 dozen from a batch.
Tina says
Wilton colors will give you the bright red you need
Emma says
Hey is this the icing that will have a little bit of a crust on the outside and within be creamy and fluffy on the inside.
Danielle Green says
Yes, this is exactly that!
Faye says
Does the icing keep its shape at room temp? I’m making my daughters cake and I’d like to have it on display during her party but I’m worried the icing will melt.
Danielle Green says
Hi Faye, the icing definitely keeps it shape at room temp. We store all our cookies and cupcakes that we decorate at room temp. It will however start to wilt if it is in heat for any extended period of time. If you are taking the cake outside for any reason, I would recommend taking it outside at the last minute. I hope your cake turns out beautiful and delicious!
Amy says
For true red I’ve found if you’re using Wilton, go half Christmas red, and half red red, for a batch I usually use about 1 container of each but I get a true red.
Brenda says
For a true red, get the Wilton “No Taste” Red in the jar that you have shown in pic. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I started using almond years ago, but I like the idea of mixing both vanilla and almond.
Brenda says
For a true red, get the Wilton “No Taste” Red in the jar that you have shown in pic. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I started using almond years ago, but I like the idea of mixing both vanilla and almond.
claire says
hello I want to use this recipe but I’m only using it for about 18 cupcakes! would you be able to tell me what this recipe would reduce to for that?
Danielle - The Creative Bite says
Hi Claire, if you pipe a generous amount of icing on each cupcake I would make a half batch. If you just spread it on with a knife I would make a 1/3 batch.
claire says
hello I want to use this recipe but I’m only using it for about 18 cupcakes! would you be able to tell me what this recipe would reduce to for that?
Stephanie says
I’ve heard that if it’s freshly opened for the batch you’re making, there is no need to sift. If it’s previously opened, sift.
Jeannie says
Hi!! I was wondering if you sift the powdered sugar before you measure or if you just measure straight from the bag
Danielle Green says
I measure straight from the bag.
Stephanie says
I’ve heard that if it’s freshly opened for the batch you’re making, there is no need to sift. If it’s previously opened, sift.
Carrie says
First off, I make royal icing a lot, not so much buttercream. But would thinkyou could use the same process I use to make red or deep black. I make a paste of cocoa powder and water, to a gel food color consistancy. And add it to red (or black) frosting a bit at a time. I tend to use less red and black food color that way and get the perfect color.
Danielle Green says
I have never heard of this technique before but it sounds really smart! I will definitely have to try this. Thanks so much for the advice!
Allison Harmon says
That makes sense as when making red velvet cake you use cocoa powder and the deep red is obtained