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Home » Recipe Type » Desserts » Cakes
4.9 from 102 reviews

Buttercream Icing for Cupcakes (Vanilla and Chocolate)

5 minutes
By: Pamela Reed
Posted:6/23/21
Updated:1/16/24
Jump to Recipe

The best buttercream icing for cupcakes and cakes. Includes both vanilla and chocolate frosting recipes. You only need 4 ingredients: butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla and milk. Recipe will frost 24 cupcakes or a 9×13 cake.

Buttercream Icing for Cupcakes

This is our absolute favorite cupcake icing for all our birthday cupcakes and cakes. The result is a very fluffy, sweet frosting, perfect for spreading or piping on cupcakes.

My decorating skills aren’t the best, but this buttercream icing makes everything always look better. Top with your favorite sprinkles or crushed cookies and you have gorgeous looking cupcakes!

In this post I’ll show you how to make vanilla buttercream frosting using 4 ingredients, but I’ll also give you instructions on how to make chocolate icing and colored icing (any color you want!). This recipe makes enough frosting for 24 cupcakes or a 9×13 cake (or a dinosaur birthday cake!), but can easily be adjusted to make more if you need it.

If you love this buttercream icing make sure to check out my German chocolate cake frosting, brownie frosting and cream cheese frosting too!

How to Make Buttercream Frosting

You will need butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, and milk for this recipe. Let’s talk about 2 quick things.

Butter: I prefer salted butter as it balances out the sweetness, but you can use salted or unsalted butter for this recipe. Both will result in delicious frosting. You want softened butter for this recipe, not melted. I pretty much never have room tempeature softened butter, so I throw it in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften it up.

2 sticks of softened butter in bowl.

Vanilla Extract: If you want pure white frosting, make sure to use clear vanilla.

hand holding clear vanilla flavor.

In a large bowl mix butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract and milk until very fluffy. This takes a few minutes, so be patient while it becomes light and fluffy. I personally use my electric hand mixer, but you can use a stand mixer if you have one too.

spoon filled with buttercream frosting in bowl.

Once frosting is fluffy, spread on cupcakes, cake, or sugar cookies. This frosting is also great for piping bags if you want to make frosting swirls on cupcakes.

piping bag filled with frosting with cupcake next to it.

How to Make Chocolate Icing

Want to make buttercream chocolate icing? Add 1 1/4 cup cocoa powder to the bowl when mixing to make chocolate frosting.

How to Make Colored Icing

To make colored icing add 3-6 drops of food coloring to the icing when you mix it. If you’re going for pastel, start with 3 drops. If you’re going for more bold and bright colors, 5-6 will be how many drops you want.

For this pink frosting I used 4 drops of this pink food coloring, topped with star sprinkles.

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4.88 from 102 reviews

Buttercream Icing for Cupcakes (Vanilla and Chocolate)

Print
The best buttercream icing for cupcakes and cakes. Includes both vanilla and chocolate frosting recipes. You only need 4 ingredients: butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla and milk. Recipe will frost 24 cupcakes or a 9×13 cake.
By: Pamela Reed
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes minutes
Total Time 5 minutes minutes
serves 24

Ingredients

  • 1 cup salted butter softened
  • 4 cups confectioners powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract use clear vanilla if you want pure white icing
  • 2 tablespoon milk

Instructions

  • Add butter into a large bowl and cream with electric hand mixer for 1 minute. Add powdered sugar into the bowl, one cup at a time, and mix until fully combined. Add vanilla and milk and continue to mix until very fluffy, about 2-3 more minutes.
  • Spread (or pipe) on cupcakes, cake or sugar cookies. Enjoy!

Notes

Want to make it chocolate frosting? Add 1 1/4 cup cocoa powder when you add in the confectioners sugar.
Want to make it colored frosting? Add 3-6 drops (depending on vibrancy) of food coloring  when you add in the milk.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: buttercream icing
Did you make this?I love seeing what you’ve made! Tag me on Instagram at @BrooklynFarmGirl and don’t forget to leave a comment & rating below.
The BEST Cupcake Frosting

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4.88 from 102 votes (79 ratings without comment)

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  1. Jeanne says

    April 20, 2025 at 9:21 am

    Awesome recipe! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  2. Kathy Benish says

    April 1, 2025 at 10:12 am

    This turned out perfect! I substituted 1/2 & 1/2 for the milk because I only had 2% & I wanted it rich tasting. Thank you.

    Reply
  3. Morgan says

    March 23, 2025 at 6:45 pm

    Going to use this recipe but add in pureed fresh strawberries…..we will see how it turns out. Fingers crossed 🙂

    Reply
    • Pamela Reed says

      March 24, 2025 at 1:56 pm

      That sounds sooooooooooooo good! Enjoy!!

      Reply
  4. Brandy Farbrother says

    March 3, 2025 at 9:19 pm

    For some reason mine did not “fluff”? Any suggestions? Thank you

    Reply
  5. blaire says

    January 28, 2025 at 9:03 pm

    so yummy

    Reply
  6. Tara says

    November 14, 2024 at 5:14 pm

    I made this icing for my homemade funfetti cake and OMG it did not disappoint. It was exactly what I needed and balanced the sweetness of my cake perfectly. Thank you for a easy recipe.

    Reply
  7. Hannah Alber says

    October 20, 2024 at 12:49 pm

    I love this recipe so much it never fails to impress me. It’s the fluffiest and tastiest frosting I have ever made!

    Reply
  8. Kelly Carper says

    October 12, 2024 at 2:02 pm

    Delicious and easy!

    Reply
  9. Bonnie Maxson says

    October 5, 2024 at 3:45 pm

    This turned out really well. I added red and yellow food coloring for Halloween. Plus sprinkles.

    Reply
  10. Rachel Jacobs says

    August 13, 2024 at 12:55 pm

    Can You Make This Frosting A Day A Head/Or Evening Ahead & Used The Next Day On Cupcakes.?

    Reply
    • Pamela Reed says

      August 14, 2024 at 9:19 am

      Yes, you can! Just keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

      Reply
  11. Tammy E says

    May 26, 2024 at 9:18 pm

    This is so good and easy. It did end up being a little sweet for my taste so I added 2 ounces of cream cheese. It turned out perfect. Next time I will just try using a little less sugar.

    Reply
  12. Jenn says

    January 29, 2024 at 3:14 pm

    This is my go to buttercream for cupcakes and sugar cookies. I’m going to be making a carrot cake in 3 weeks and going to add cream cheese to it and see how it goes. I’ll do a trial run next week.

    Reply
    • Alyssa says

      August 2, 2024 at 5:32 pm

      I made the vanilla and it was delish – everyone loved it! I tried the chocolate and it ended up extremely thick – was I suppose to only do 2 and 3/4 of confectioners sug with the 1 1/4 cup cocoa powder? I used the 4 cups confectioners sug and 1 1/4 cup cocoa powder and it seemed really thick at that point but I thought maybe it would thin out with the milk and it did not.

      Reply
  13. Ramona says

    January 18, 2024 at 2:24 pm

    Just tried this recipe and they came out perfect for my granddaughters cupcakes!

    Reply
  14. Jindy says

    January 4, 2024 at 8:17 pm

    Excited to try this recipe. Any thoughts on using heavy cream instead of whole milk? I have both on hand and mostly just curious. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Jenn says

      January 29, 2024 at 3:15 pm

      I have done both, just remember less is more.

      Reply
  15. Peggy says

    December 15, 2023 at 2:02 pm

    This icing is out of this world. I had some trouble spreading it on cupcakes but I think that was caused by my lack of experience.

    Reply
  16. Heather says

    September 17, 2023 at 7:30 pm

    I added 2 big scoops of peanut butter and it turned out amazing.

    Reply
  17. Diane Francis says

    August 29, 2023 at 9:53 pm

    It was so easy to make and really good. I did the chocolate icing. I used 1/2 the amount of cocoa powder and it was delicious. It will now be my go to icing.

    Reply
  18. Tilly says

    June 26, 2023 at 3:46 pm

    This post does note give amounts to make this icing which is frustrating! Don’t post anything if you don’t add measurements.

    Reply
    • Pamela Reed says

      June 27, 2023 at 9:05 am

      Tilly, there’s a BIG recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements. You can also click the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page which takes you to the recipe card. 🙂

      Reply
  19. Anne Marie Lix says

    June 25, 2023 at 3:00 pm

    I just made this for my granddaughter’s birthday and it’s absolutely delicious! Such an easy recipe. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  20. Pat R says

    June 18, 2023 at 10:56 am

    You saved my day….I thought I bought a brownie mix…got it in the pan and realized it’s a chocolate cake. Looked up an easy frosting recipe and yours has all the ingredients I have on hand. Happy Fathers Day to my husband. He gets cake….thank you

    Reply
    • Pamela Reed says

      June 21, 2023 at 4:12 pm

      Yay, this makes me so happy! Happy Father’s Day – hope you all enjoyed the cake! 🙂

      Reply
  21. Vicki says

    April 8, 2023 at 5:03 pm

    Delicious and easy to make! Made yummy yellow cake cupcakes for Easter with pink buttercream. They disappeared quickly.

    Reply
  22. Melanie Kennedy says

    March 11, 2023 at 3:14 pm

    First time I’ve successfully made buttercream!!

    Reply
    • Pamela says

      March 13, 2023 at 10:21 am

      That makes me super happy! 🙂

      Reply
  23. Joy says

    December 20, 2022 at 1:30 pm

    I used this frosting for cupcakes for a school Christmas party and they were such a big hit! Multiple parents thought I bought them from a bakery!

    Reply
  24. Emily Engle says

    December 20, 2022 at 12:31 pm

    The texture was perfect until I added the milk and vanilla and then it became runny and kinda curdled looking. If I add more sugar, will that help? I hope it can be saved. I hate wasting ingredients.

    Reply
  25. willy says

    December 14, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    So easy to make and it taste great too

    Reply
  26. Heidi L says

    December 1, 2022 at 4:04 pm

    Would I be able to use almond milk or oat milk instead?

    Reply
  27. Tina biel says

    August 20, 2022 at 9:14 pm

    It was Amazingly good 😊

    Reply
  28. Amy says

    July 25, 2022 at 7:58 pm

    Using this recipe for my daughter’s reception…what milk did you use? Whole milk, 2 %, half and half??

    Reply
    • Pamela says

      July 25, 2022 at 9:05 pm

      Hey Amy, I use whole milk for this recipe.

      Reply
  29. Brenda Thomas says

    July 22, 2022 at 2:10 pm

    Can I save unused icing in refrigerator? If so, for how long

    Reply

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Hi! I'm Pamela, an artist Mom who shares family recipes. My farm is a 1,000 sq ft apartment in NYC. Let's make dinner together.

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