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.
Great recipe!!! VERY easy, easy to read and follow recipe and tastes wonderful. I made the cupcakes and buttercream! Thanks!
It turned out bad because I used the wrong type of butter. I didn’t see the star at the bottom about butter until after I made it. I think the butter requirements should be at the top for newbies like me lol! I plan to remake this again tomorrow with the right type of butter.
I would like to know how many batches of the buttercream are needed to frost the 6″ 2 layer cake and decorate as shown in the picture? Thank you 🙂
I’m not sure exactly… I made a full recipe of the buttercream, frosted the cake and then used the rest to frost cupcakes.
I wanted to comment as a baker on why this may turn out grainy for some- powdered sugar is not pure sugar in most of our American grocery stores anymore- we purchase powdered sugar which has cornstarch added (ew!), check the ingredients listed. If available, purchase PURE powdered sugar- even brands which CLAIM to be “pure cane sugar” on the front packaging are often not- to my dismay. I have visited the big brand stores in my area (Jewel, Dominick’s, Butera and Target) all ONLY selling powdered sugar WITH cornstarch 🙁 I will be seeking out better options a little further out at Mariano’s, Garden Fresh and Sunset Foods, hoping to find the ingredients list to NOT include cornstarch!!
This is GREAT information! Looks like we have the answer now as to why it turns out grainy for some and not for others. Thank you SO SO much for sharing this information!
This sounds silly, but will this icing work well on a cake? I’m making a little personal cake for a boys birthday tomorrow and don’t want to go through the hassle of swiss meringue butterceam for such a small cake! I wasn’t sure if it would be easy to smooth out on a cake or not
Sorry for the late reply (was on vacation!), but yes… I use this recipe for cakes all the time!
simple perfection!
Will heavy whipping cream greatly effect this recipe? I have tried several stores in our part of KS and cannot find regular whipping cream anywhere. Even asked about it and still no luck. 🙁
Carrie- it should be fine. I’ve just learned that regular whipping cream isn’t available everywhere. Who knew!?
Mmm… This sounds very yummy!!! My daughter’s birthday party is this Saturday (june 23th)and i will be making the cupcakes and honestly i have never make any kind of frosting… This one looks to be very easy to make and very yummy and now i’m just praying that everything comes out great… My question is if the whipping cream ou used is the one that says Heavy whipping cream or heavy cream??? And how many cupcakes can i frosted with this amount of frosting? I need about 60 cupcakes.. Thank you so much!!!!!!
At the market, you should be able to find “whipping cream” and “heavy whipping cream” (or heavy cream- same thing). You’ll need regular whipping cream for this recipe- not heavy. If you frost them w/ a good swirl of frosting like you see in the photo, this recipe makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes.
I made the cupcakes and icing…they were delicious but my icing was ‘grainy’ as well, not smooth and fluffy…well fluffy, but not smooth. Didn’t affect the taste though. Thanks.
I’ve never had any problems with these being grainy- so a few thing to check… Are you using regular whipping cream and not heavy? Be sure to use a good brand of powdered sugar, and be sure to mix the frosting for the full amount of time- maybe even a little longer if you do not have a stand mixer. Hope that helps!
Lori: I was amused at the salted/unsalted butter comments. My daddy’s mother always added a pinch of salt to every baked good she did. Said it enhanced the sweet flavor. I was comparing recipes with some of my aunts one day and said I had Mamma T’s recipe for mincemeat pie in my daddy’s handwriting. They were “disputing my claim” until they read it and saw it called for a pinch of salt. It was then decided that it had to be Mamma T’s recipe 🙂 I am one of the odd ones who LOVES wedding cake so am looking forward to making your recipe! THANKS!