Every baker needs this Classic White Frosting recipe on hand for frosting cakes and cupcakes.
The Best White Frosting Recipe
You may be asking yourself, “What’s going on here? RecipeGirl is going cake-crazy!” Yes, indeed I’ve been going cake crazy. And I may just continue to do so! I’ve realized that RecipeGirl.com needs a greater stash of cake and frosting recipes, and I’m on a mission to give them to you!
Everyone needs a good yellow cake recipe (you got that last week). Everyone needs a most-excellent chocolate frosting recipe (last week as well). And now you’re getting the best white frosting recipe. So you can probably guess what might be coming next, right? Yep, a chocolate cake! Keep reading below for the chocolate cake!
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe
- butter (I like to use salted)
- powdered sugar
- vanilla extract
- milk
How to make this Classic White Frosting recipe:
The butter is mixed until creamy and smooth with an electric mixer. You can either use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer. Then you’ll mix in the powdered sugar a little at a time, along with the vanilla and milk a little at a time too. You’ll keep mixing and adding enough milk until you achieve the texture you’re looking for in a frosting.
This frosting turns out creamy and wonderful. It’s perfect for frosting a two-layer 9-inch cake (generously so). It’s not a good frosting for piping- I prefer my Wedding Cupcake Buttercream recipe for piping decoratively onto cakes and cupcakes. But this one is just a good old-fashioned white frosting that is perfect for spreading smoothly.
How do you make white frosting super white?
It’s pretty tough to avoid grabbing a spoon and just going to town on eating this bowl of frosting. It’s pretty delicious! To achieve a nice white coloring, I use a brand of butter that is not terribly yellow (my grocery store brand is perfect for that), and I like to use a clear vanilla extract. You can locate that in the baking aisle of craft stores (or on Amazon- Wilton makes a version of it), and if you have a good baking supply store in town, they would most likely carry it too.
Can classic white frosting be tinted to make other colors?
Yes! It’s very easy to turn white frosting into other colors. I try to avoid using traditional food coloring because it can change the texture of the frosting. Instead, I like to use gel paste
Is this Classic White Frosting good for piping?
This white frosting recipe isn’t the best one for piping. It’s best for spreading. And it works very well on my Best Chocolate Cake recipe or this White Snack Cake!
If you’re looking for a frosting recipe that is great for piping frosting onto cakes and cupcakes, I recommend you try my Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting recipe or my Wedding Cupcake Buttercream recipe.With both of those recipes, you can scrape the frosting into a piping bag and pipe beautiful swirls with various tips.
How to turn Classic White Frosting into chocolate:
You can add 3/4 to 1 cup of cocoa powder to this frosting to turn it into Classic Chocolate Frosting. Be sure to taste it to see if it needs any more sugar (since cocoa powder is unsweetened), and you can add a little bit more milk, as needed, too.
Classic White Frosting
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature
- 6 cups powdered sugar (16 ounces + 2 more cups)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 to 4 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- In a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), mix the butter until it is creamy and smooth.
- Mix in the powdered sugar, a little at a time, adding in the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk a little at a time too. If the frosting is too thick, add up to 2 tablespoons more milk until you achieve the thickness and texture you're looking for.
Notes
- *For the whitest frosting you can get, use butter than is more white than yellow, and look for clear vanilla extract (in the baking aisle at craft stores, or at baking supply stores). You can certainly use regular vanilla extract if you are unable to locate clear.
- This recipe makes enough to frost a two-layer cake or 24 cupcakes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just made this-cut it down to 1/3 since I only had a dozen cupcakes to frost. I got a wild hair and added about 1/2 cup of peanut butter. So delicious and soft and creamy!
Love this recipe but am really distracted by all the ads on your website. They really take away value of your content. Please lessen the ads!
Check back next week– the ads are getting reduced! 🙂
I tried the recipe today and it tasted very nice! However, my batch was not as white as yours and I wonder why? Do I need to whip it longer?
It’s hard to say… some butter is lighter than others. You can always use clear vanilla extract too.
This looks so good! Next weekend I have to make my niece’s first communion cake and cupcakes and although I usually eyeball my buttercream I am looking for one that is light and fluffy but thick enough to pipe with for the cupcakes and have it hold the “swirl” like you see the professional cupcakes have such as Georgetown Cupcakes. Anyways is this a good icing to pipe with?
The best recipe I have for piping is this one: Everyone adores this recipe, and it pipes beautifully https://www.recipegirl.com/2007/03/16/wedding-cupcake-buttercream/
Would you recommend salted or unsalted butter? Would one batch be enough for 35 cupcakes made into a cupcake cake?
Thanks in advance!
I like to use salted but you can use either. I think it would be enough frosting for 35 cupcakes, but it’s hard to say since I don’t know how much frosting you’re putting on each cupcake.
Will this frosting take good coloring well?
it should!
Thanks for the recipe looks delicious
I can’t wait to try! But. .. before I do, would you advise if it is unsalted butter use or salted? Thank you!
Yum~Pinned. 🙂
A classic white frosting is necessary in so many recipes. This looks so fluffy and perfect. I want to just take a quick spoonful 🙂