This Wedding Cupcake Buttercream recipe has been featured in an extensive how-to post on The Recipe Girl blog: How to Make Wedding Cupcakes.
This Wedding Cupcake Buttercream recipe was first featured here on RecipeGirl many years ago when I baked cupcakes for my son’s kindergarten teacher’s wedding. She wanted cupcakes and had heard that I might be able to do them for her. I worked for a catering company in college, but this was a little outside my comfort zone and expertise! She loved my blog, and she begged me to help. How could I resist?
I ended up taking on the project, and it was so much fun. Her wedding wasn’t terribly big, but I was tasked with making about 125 cupcakes. My kitchen was covered in cupcakes! It was a lot of work, but it was terribly satisfying to know that I was helping out this sweet teacher.
The wedding cupcakes were a huge hit at her wedding, and everyone specifically noted how much they loved the frosting. This is the frosting recipe! It’s so delicious, and it’s now a big-time favorite for a lot of people.
If you have questions about this icing and wedding cupcakes… it may be helpful to read through the comments/questions/answers below the recipe- many of your questions may be answered there! Also visit this post: How to Make Wedding Cupcakes for all of the details on when to make the cupcakes and how to store and transport them to the wedding.
This Wedding Cupcake Buttercream is my go-to recipe for icing basic cupcakes and wedding cake. Every time I share the recipe on Facebook, I hear from other people who say it’s their go-to recipe too. It turns out perfect every time. It’s so easy to make, and it works through a piping bag well. The recipe will frost 12 cupcakes with a generous swirl. Double, triple, or quadruple the recipe to frost more cupcakes!
Note that this recipe also works wonderfully for layer cakes. It spreads on smoothly, and you can pipe on decorations too. I use it for everything. It has been my go-to frosting recipe for so many years!
A simple swirl on cupcakes creates a beautiful dessert for weddings with little candy pearls sprinkled on top.
This Wedding Cupcake Buttercream is a very popular buttercream recipe- made by thousands who sing this recipe’s praises. I have used this very recipe for all of my cupcakes for so many years now. It’s a keeper recipe!
It does work beautifully for weddings, but it’s not limited to just weddings! This buttercream is a nice one to use for all sorts of occasions. I call it Wedding Cupcake Buttercream because of my original story in using for the first time for the wedding.
There are a few questions that people tend to ask related to this recipe, so I’ll go ahead and address them here.
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
I like to use salted butter for just about everything, but I definitely use salted butter for this recipe. The salt will tend to cut down on the sweetness a bit. That’s a good thing!
How far in advance should I frost the cupcakes? And should I refrigerate them?
When I make these, I like to frost them the same day if at all possible. If you’d like to frost them the night before, that’s ok too. After adding the frosting, I like to put them in cupcake boxes and refrigerate them until they are ready to serve (overnight is fine). Once you put them out on display, they will defrost nicely and taste just as good as if you’ve made them the same day.
What should I do with leftover Wedding Cupcakes?
Keep leftover cupcakes in a covered container in your refrigerator for a few days. I’ve also frozen them in a covered container and they thaw nicely and taste pretty good that way too!
If you’re looking for more frosting recipes you might also enjoy my Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting or Cookies and Cream Frosting. My Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is another favorite for topping wedding cupcakes. Swiss Meringue Buttercream is a beauty as well.
Wedding Cupcake Buttercream
Ingredients
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (use clear extract, if you really want it white)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy or regular whipping cream
Instructions
- In a large bowl, with a hand or stand mixer, cream together sugar and butter on low speed. Mix until well blended. Increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.
- Add vanilla and 1 tablespoon of cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more. Add more cream if needed for desired spreading/piping consistency.
- Scoop into a piping bag and pipe decoratively onto cupcakes, or spread onto cupcakes as desired.
Notes
- *This recipe doubles or triples well.
- *There is no need to sift the powdered sugar, unless you're worried that your sugar is quite lumpy.
- *Do not try to replace the butter with margarine or shortening- it won't work out well.
- *Add in color, if desired. I like to use colored gel paste instead of liquid food coloring- then you're not messing with adding additional liquid to the perfect consistency of the frosting. Gel paste is sold at craft stores and baking supply shops.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi!
This recipe looks wonderful! I’ve been trying out several frosting ideas for a wedding cake that I’ll be making for a friend in a month. I’m wondering if you think this would be a good recipe for a cake? I’ve been using very similar recipes for buttercream, but it’s my first time baking a wedding cake, so I’m open to suggestion.
Thank you!
Samantha
yes, definitely! https://www.recipegirl.com/2007/03/16/white-wedding-cake/
How much buttercream does this make?
It makes enough for 12 cupcakes, if you frost them as you see in the photo.
This looks fantastic! Will definitely be using this recipe and thank you for the share! I don’t quite understand why people have to be so rude, frankly if they don’t like it or it isn’t for them, then they need to just move on. Please keep the wonderful posts coming! 🙂
Thanks!
Okay, I just scrolled up and saw that the yield is 12 cupcakes so I think I just answered my own question… 🙂
Hi!!! I have been on the hunt for an awesome buttercream icing recipe! If i pipe the cupcakes the way you have them piped in your picture, approximately how many cupcakes does one batch of icing cover? 🙂
A few things, butter is one of those things that varies quite a bit based on water content. The cheaper the butter, the more water it typically has. This might be part of the puzzle for those who are getting grainy results. Also, if you want white or close to white, avoid grass fed butter. The fat from grass fed cows is yellow so while it might be what you want to use for other things, don’t use it for frostings unless you like pale yellow or you plan on flavoring it or coloring it. In my area I splurge on Plugra butter for all my buttercream recipes regardless of the type of buttercream. There truly is a difference, you won’t regret it! The texture is much richer, creamier and the butter is much whiter in color. Salted or not is personal preference. Know that each stick of butter has approximately 1/4 tsp of salt but this also varies by brand so you are usually better off just going the unsalted route and adding your own…at least for consistency sake. Also, get a bottle of white Americolor gel, it’s much higher quality than Wilton and tends to last longer. Wilton gels tend to dry out if you don’t use them fast enough.
Another texture problem might be the result of not creaming the butter and sugar long enough. You really need to whip butter and sugar to get a good creamy base. This is true anytime you are told to cream butter and sugar. It will usually even change color, getting lighter the closer it is to being done. This is where the fluff and lightness will come from.
Also, about the powdered sugar debacle. You can get powdered sugar without cornstarch, you just might have to plan ahead to find it and I’d imagine it’s more expensive. Personally, I use Amazon for all my baking products except perishables. I live in Montana so I have very limited access to high quality products. But this only works if you have time to plan ahead right? Supposedly you can make your own cornstarch free powdered sugar in a blender. I don’t have a blender so I can’t try it. I’d imagine if you have a decent quality machine, it would work just fine.
As for flavoring, many have asked about chocolate? Be careful to use high quality dark chocolate or your recipe will end up way too sweet. You want to shoot for close to 72% if possible. I always get the chocolate just melted, and dump it in my frosting when I know it’s not going to melt the butter. Easy peasy.
Just my tips as a reasonably seasoned baker who’s made a bunch of Swiss Meringue Buttercream, German Buttercream and American Buttercream (the style of this recipe). Happy Baking!
Thanks for all of the tips!
What if you want white icing, won’t the butter keep it from being white
Some butter is whiter than others. But it should still turn out a white frosting.
Is your sugar icing sugar or castor sugar please? Australia maybe calls it something different.
Looks like powdered sugar is called icing sugar in Australia. http://www.goingrank.com.au/ingredient-names.html
3 cups of icing sugar…its too much sweet i think..
If cupcakes will be displayed in a tower tier, see if there will be spotlights on them. Yes, had this happen and the frosting on the top two tiers started sliding off, the spotlights were that hot. The spotlights were six feet above the top tier in an AC room at a hotel. The hotel catering was so enamored with the cupcakes and displayed in a tower, they wanted them spotlit as a focal point in the reception room. They were mortified when they had to call me to see if they could be fixed, after they figured out they were the cause.
Yikes! that’s something I’ve never thought of. Thanks for letting us know.