American buttercream recipe

August 14, 2020
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Prep Time

10min
Total Time

20min

Transform your muffins into cupcakes with this easy American buttercream recipe.

American buttercream -simple and easy.

American buttercream is a soft creamy icing that’s easy to pipe, is eggless and stays firm for longer. You can use this recipe to frost cupcakes, in between cake layers or on the outside of a cake. The recipe is easy to follow and does not include any hard-to-find ingredients.

To make American buttercream you will need two ingredients: softened butter and icing sugar. It’s really that simple! You can then choose to add flavours or colours, too but it’s not necessary.

Softened butter for American buttercream -not melted.

To make the butter soft, leave it out at room temperature for half an hour. If you are in hurry (or have forgotten to take it out in time), pop it into the microwave for about 30 sec -1 minute on defrost setting. Remember, the butter should be soft, not melted. IF you by mistake melt it, pop it back into the fridge again. Melted butter WILL NOT WORK for buttercream.

Remember that lumpy sugar makes lumpy buttercream.

Always sieve or blend the icing sugar. This is such an important step. It may seem annoying to do, but if your icing sugar has lumps, your buttercream will have those sugar lumps too. And it will be impossible to pipe the buttercream as each sugar lump gets stuck in the piping nozzle. Trust me, it’s worth the hassle of straining the sugar first or mixing it in the blender for 10 seconds (even if it’s more washing up too) to avoid any last minute re-making of buttercreams as the guests start coming through the doors. I have been there and it’s certainly not fun at all!!

I use the drop flower icing tip. It’s easy to use and doesn’t require special skills to make the cupcakes look amazing. I use the single-use piping bag in this post. The reusable cloth ones are great too and usually also bigger (and better for the environment of course.

Try this buttercream on my double chocolate muffins or my banana muffins

Yield. Makes buttercream for 20 medium sized cupcakes.

Ingredients

Directions

Step1

Add the softened butter to a mixing bowl. Mix on medium - high speed for 10 minutes. If you are using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt as well. You can either use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or use a hand mixer.

Step2

After mixing for 10 minutes the buttercream will have turned almost white.

Step3

Measure out the icing sugar and mix it in the blender for 10 seconds to remove all lumps

Step4

Add half of the icing sugar to the butter. If you want to add any flavouring, do that now as well.

Step5

Add the remaining icing sugar and mix well for 5 minutes. If you feel the mixture is too stiff or the icing sugar isn't getting mixed in properly, add 1 teaspoon of milk. Mix again. In hot countries the milk isn't needed - in colder climates it's helpful to get the correct texture.

Step6