Diana's Buttercream Frosting

The recipe was very good but I changed a lot of it. It kind of seemed outrageous to have 8 cups of powdered sugar so my first plan was just to cut the recipe in half. I used 1/2 cup butter, only 2 cups of powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, and enough milk to make it the right texture. But after doing this everyone in my house loved it.

Very tasty but I used only 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) and only 3 3/4 cups confectioners sugar (about half what the recipe calls for) also, since it came out tasting incredibly sweet I added just the tiniest drop of white vinegar. It came out perfect! What a delicious frosting. I am not sure how much the original recipe yields but my "reduced" recipe made enough frosting to cover 2 9" round layer cakes with tons of frosting.

I liked this recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand. I think the the trick is to beat it well, I cut the recipe in half and frosted a 2-layer cake and had about 1 cup of frosting left over. I will make again, it had a great consistency!

This is also yummy with almond extract! My mother used to be a cake decorator and this is just like hers! For a flawless finish, use shortening instead of butter, and use a metal spatula with a smooth edge. Let your frosting dry. Dip spatula in VERY hot water and smooth frosting, wiping spatula frequently. It will end up almost as smooth as fondant and be a beautiful canvas for your handiwork!

I made half the recipe, which generously frosted twelve cupcakes. I found I needed only 3-1/2 rather than four cups of powdered sugar, but the full amount would have been fine too. Don't be rigid on the amount of milk to use either - simply add it gradually until you get the consistency you want which will depend on whether you're spreading it or piping it. Since I piped this frosting onto cupcakes, I made a stiffer frosting which obviously required less. This is a standard, reliable recipe for basic vanilla buttercream. It's very hard to go wrong on this one!

Excellent basic buttercream recipe. You need to have the butter at room temp or cool (butter indents when you press)...not warm and runny...the butter needs to have some body to it. I add the sugar a 1/2 cup at a time, tasting all the way. Then some half and half (instead of milk), then more sugar..until it is light, fluffy, tasty and perfect. I have no idea how much sugar I add, but if you add the sugar, THEN the milk, both a little at a time, it will be wonderful. Today I made a chocolate , a vanilla and a cream cheese frosting with this basic recipe. I probably use less sugar so it comes out fluffier and less sweet. Again...the key is the butter...it mustn't be warm..in fact if it's cool it's really perfect, will hold lots of air and become - with each addition and whipping - light and lovely.

a good basic recipe. I found that the best tactic with the sugar was to just add it to the butter and milk 1-2 cups at a time until you get it just right. 8 cups did seem like a wee bit too much for me, I only added about 3 1/2 cups.

Wonderful! Not too rich at all, nice consistency. Dries very smooth, not at all dry & crusty. I was out of Pure Vanilla, so I used 1/2 tsp Immitation Vanilla, instead. Came out great!

I found this is a good recipe. But I added a little more vanilla and decreased the powdered sugar by a cup and added 1/2 cup bakers sugar. I think it came out great and more fluffy. Thanks for the recipe!

Don't know what I did wrong, the frosting was too runny and way too sweet.

There are a lot of "buttercream frosting" recipes here, but this is thee only one I give a good rating to because it's a true buttercream vs. buttercreme as it's made with butter & not shortening. My trick to combat the sweetness is to add a little salt to it & when making the chocolate frosting, I cheat with a 1/4 cup (as per this recipe, but equal % for smaller batches) of margarine. This is a tried & true recipe that is next to impossible to foul up & there are so many options to use for flavoring. If you are like me & prefer REAL foods vs. the fake sorts made with shortenings & artificial flavors, you will be very happy with this recipe & to the "vanilla lovers" using this recipe, be sure to go all out & use a high quality bourbon vanilla for a taste to remember. I've also fiddled with adding regular sugar to this & for a special recipe for someone I made cupcakes for who wanted a glossy pink frosting, I added just a dollop of corn syrup (yarrrgh!) & it did the trick. I send a big THANK YOU to the cook, Diana Wilson, for sharing this & applaud her for not using "fake" ingredients. Of all the recipes available for "buttercream" this is the only one I recognize as being true. If you notice your frosting is too thick, slowly add in milk, 1/2&1/2, or cream; too loose, just add more confectioners' sugar. Three thumbs up & a great big YUMMY for this recipe.

very easy and yummy!! I added a little peanut butter to mine to frost a 9x13 chocolate cake... perfect! Thank you!

DELICIOUS! But very important: mix the vanilla into the butter BEFORE you add the sugar. If you put it in at the same time as the sugar it will form little brown clumps that are hard to work out! I cut the recipe in half and had a little more than enough for a 2-layer cake. It was a huge hit!!

I have been making this for years and everybody loves my cakes because of it! The recipe that I have perfected is 1 cup (2 sticks) slightly softened margarine, 8 to 9 cups confectioners or powdered sugar, 2 to 3 tsp vanilla and milk a few tbsp at a time to desired consistency. This makes quite a bit (I frost a double layer 13x9 cake and have some left over). Left overs can be stored in an air tight container in the fridge. If 9 cups seems like too much sugar, it's not, trust me! The key is to keep tasting to make sure you get the balance of margarine and powdered sugar right! I also frost the top of the bottom layer, chill it to firm the frosting, then put on top layer and frost all of it. Keep putting in the fridge to keep it firm.

I cut the recipe in half and made the lemony version to frost a lemon poppyseed cake. I didn't use all the confectioners sugar called for and I added 1/8 tsp. of salt. I don't know if by substituting the lemon juice for the milk it made it runny, but it was more like a glaze than a frosting. I was a bit disappointed and I probably won't make this again.

grainy and was a bit too sugary

Needed enough frosting for 12 cupcakes, so I made half of the recipe. I was also looking for a raspberry buttercream so I replaced the milk with approx. 1/2 cup of fresh raspberries. I mixed the butter and raspberries, added the vanilla and then added 1 cup of confectioners' sugar at a time and beat well after each addition until I was happy with the consistency. Worked out great! I will use this recipe often. Thanks for sharing!

wonderful consistency. i did sift the sugar first. it is really really sweet, but eating with a cupcake seems to make it perfect. halved the recipe. 6 drops of red food coloring & 2 drops of blue made the perfect pink for a little princess's birthday!

I loved the recipe but found it to be a little to buttery. Next time I will use 1 less stick of butter.

It hade clumps of sugar in it after like 20 minutes of stirring. It was runny and got all over my beautiful cupcakes :(

I used this recipe because the other recipes were not using butter ... A butter cream should have butter in it right? Ha ha ha!

Altho I cut back on the sugar it was still a very good buttercream frosting coupled with the fact that this recipe is one of the few that did not call for shortening. The thought of eating shortening, sweetened or not, sends me over the edge. I added a bit of red food coloring and made pretty little individual heart shaped pink frosted cakes. The love of my life adored this recipe Diana and we both thank you!

Great recipe.... I didn't change a thing. I used peppermint extract rather than the vanilla for a holiday cake! Dark chocolate cake with peppermint buttercream. See the picture I posted. YUM!

Too much sugar

Wonderful clasic vanilla flavored buttercream frosting. I halved this recipe for in between layers of cake.

Recipe perfect as is. Great taste and perfect texture for cake decorating. Yes, you need the full 8 cups of sugar, especially if you are going to use the frosting to decorate. Also, without the sugar, the flavor is too buttery.

This is the PERFECT decorator's frosting. It's got the best consistency, and doesn't use shortening, so it tastes great!

I did exactly what the receipe said and it turned out to be a real hit on my daughter's birthday cupcakes. The confec sugar reduces down so much it was the right consistency. I used a Pampered Chef decorating tool which actually tends to use up a lot of icing so I used almost all of it for 48 cupcakes. Delicious!

This is a SUPER easy recipe. I agree about decreasing the amount of powdered sugar. I used only 1 stick of butter, 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar and 3/4 tsp of vanilla. The milk portion came out to just over a quarter cup. I whipped it with a fork even and it turned out perfect!!! The kids frosted rice cereal bars with it.

Mmmm, this was soooooo good! I added orange zest and orange extract to mine, and we couldn't stop sticking our fingers in it!

so easy and delicious...i'll never buy grocery store frosting again! i've made it in vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. for the strawberry version, i just added a couple tablespoons of strawberry puree (just put a handful of strawberries in a blender!), and it made it the most beautiful pink color without artificial coloring. i usually do 1 cup butter (2 sticks) and only 5 cups confectioners' sugar and then add milk a little at a time to achieve spreadable consistency. this makes for a more-buttery, less-sweet frosting, but you can easily adjust the ingredients to suit your taste.

I just made this and it is wonderful! I halved this recipe for cupcakes and I still have a ton left! I will definitely make this again! Thanks!

I did exactly what the recipe said but I had to put the mix in thefreezer to firm it up and it was still too watery. Also, it was too sweet. I have yet to find a good buttercream frosting recipe

Very Yummy, a little two sweet. We cut the sugar and butter in half-and it was better. I really enjoyed this.

Great recipe, makes a TON of frosting! I use it on all of my cakes and for christmas cookies. It has a great consistency and flavor.

Pretty good. Followed the recipe exactly, but halved everything since I only had a dozen cupcakes to frost. I wanted a champagne flavored frosting, so I did add a couple of tablespoons of the champagne until I could get the right flavor. If you do this you need to remove the same amount of milk otherwise it becomes to runny. Or add more Powdered Sugar.

Yum. Perfect for my Christmas sugar cookies and my brother's birthday cake. I don't make a single substitute or change this recipe in any way. My husband, who almost always scrapes the frosting off anything, loves this frosting.

I cut this recipe down to 3 servings because I wanted to try it before commiting to alot of ingredients, this reciepe is AWESOME! I made some orange cookies and the frosting that it suggested was way to thin, this buttercream (w/orange) knocked the cookies out of the park. I may never buy store bought again :-)

This frosting turned out way too runny, it just kept dripping off the cake (very inconvenient when you are doing layers, it was so runny that the cake tipped to the side). The taste wasn't all that either.

Awesome. Easy. Delish! And with such simple ingredients, it's super easy to make it 100% organic. Thanks!

I have had MUCH better

This is my favorite frosting recipe, i use it for everything. However, because of dairy allergies at our house, i substitute extra virgin coconut oil for the butter. This is absolutly amazing made as a chocolate frosting, tastes just like a candy bar!

Recipe as written is very thick and way too sweet for my taste.

Halfed the recipe turned out okay

Excellent! I made this recipe to put on top of cupcakes. I halved the recipe. I had a dozen regular-sized cupcakes and a dozen mini cupcakes and had quite a bit left over. I made the chocolate version using cocoa. Delish!!!

Very good though I did not use the full 8 cups of sugar, yikes. I used 1 cup of butter, 6 cups of sugar and somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 a cup of milk. Pipes wonderfully on cakes.

I did the orange version of this recipe. It was fantastic! I couldn't leave my boyfriend alone with the bowl, every time I left it he had a handful in his mouth. The orange flavour was perfect. The only issue I had was the quantity. It made probably double or triple the amount that it said it would. So make sure you halve it. Other than that its phenomenal and I will definitely be coming back to this recipe anytime I make cupcakes.

This turned out okay. I didn't find that it tasted of much other than sugar and had to spread it on really thin to keep it from overpowering the cake with pure sweetness. Since I spread it on so thin, I had twice as much as I needed to frost a two-layer 8 inch cake. It definitely needs salt if you use unsalted butter. I give it three stars because it was simple and made a decent frosting, but I won't make it again.

This was a good recipe and tasted great to me. I sifted the sugar before beating it into the butter and it did not taste grainy to me. My only complaint was I made this for my son's August birthday and it melts fast so keep the cake or cupcakes refrigerated until serving or it will melt pretty quickly on you in any heat.

Followed the recipe word for word yet it was too thick and mich too sweet. Not really sure what I did wrong...

This may be a good base, but all we could taste was sugar. I made half the recipe and ended up adding lots of extra vanilla and about a cup of strawberry jam to give it some kind of flavor. I have had much better luck with other recipes!!

I Loved it.... But i used double everything but only 6 cups of conf. sug

Perfect! Love that there's no shortening. 1/2 recipe made plenty to generously frost an entire recipe of cupcakes, with leftovers. Used a bit more than 1/4 c milk, though.

This is delicious:) Me and my whole family LOVED it!

This frosting is great to flavor, but it didn't taste that great to me on it's own.

I paired this frosting with some cupcakes I made for a birthday party today. It's one of the best buttercream frostings I've made, and definitely something I'll use again. This recipe makes a ton of frosting, way more than I needed for two dozen cupcakes, and the vanilla flavor was a little bit strong. A few minor tweaks, but otherwise, I think it's great.

This recipe can definitely be cut down a bit since it made WAY too much with the 8 cups of sugar. The only thing I changed when making the original recipe was adding another 1/4 cup milk to get a more spreadable consistency. This frosting comes out a bit yellow thanks to the butter but unless you're specifically looking for a white color that shouldn't be a problem. It also converts very well to a chocolate frosting with just a little more milk and cocoa powder. Definitely, by far, the best tasting buttercream recipe I've come across!

I made the chocolate version for cupcakes for my son's birthday. It was awesome! Not too sweet, and everyone raved over it. Very simple using the stand mixer.

I did use a bit less sugar but otherwise followed the recipe. It turned out just the way I wanted it! I used it on Dark Chocolate Cake II on this site, both were perfect! Thanks!!

Great recipe, but it's too much confections sugar, you couldn't really get the buttery flavor to come through. Next time I'll taste as I go.

I've made this 3 times now .. and to me it just doesn't taste right. Something is seriously missing taste wise for texture and consistency it deserves 3 stars. It would probably be ok adding flavors but, as a buttercream frosting this is very disappointing to me.

I took the advice of some of the other reviewers and halved the recipe and it worked great for a double layer cake. I will make it again but I think I'll add either more vanilla or some almond extract.

the frosting was amazing but it was extremely sweet. part of it was my fault i need to practice with my frostings because they always come out too thin... this recipe gave me plenty. i had a bunch on my cake and still had some left over

I will ONLY use this icing on my cupcakes...add some food coloring and you have the perfect topping to your dessert! :)

I used 1/2 butter and 1/2 crisco and beat on med for 15 mins with my kitchen aid so the butter and crisco were well combined. One of the best frosting recipes I have made. This is a keeper!

I started off making half and by the time my boys kept tasting it I should have made the full recipe. So i started all over and did just that!!! This is an awsome recipe. Only thing I did different was substitute irish cream coffee creamer for the milk. It was delicious!!! Will definatly use this one over and over.

I halfed the recipe, used real butter and vanilla, it just didn't taste good, way too sweet. The consistency is too runny even when I added more sugar. I hope it will taste better on my cake.

Great recipe. Easy to make and tasty! I used it to frost my cinnamon rolls. First time I made it it came out like a dream! Thanks!

Yum! I'm used Earth Balance for the butter due to my milk allergic son; it turned out nicely so I'm really looking forward to using real butter next time.

I love this recipe. My family loves this recipe!! It is delicious...and not too sweet. I doubled it and had enough for a 4 layer cake and 18 cupcakes.

Easy recipe that uses on-hand ingredients. I like that it's made with butter instead of shortening too. One less star because I didn't use anywhere near the 8 cups of sugar. I whipped the butter until fluffy then gradually added the vanilla and only 2 cups of powdered sugar. I added one tablespoon of milk and then whipped the daylights out of it which made is fluffier. This made enough to pipe generous amounts onto 2 dozen cupcakes.

I've never made homemade frosting before, so that may have affected the outcome of this recipe. I studied many reviews and heeded advice, but my frosting still came out too loose and too, too sweet. Someone mentioned adding more sugar to stiffen up the frosting... that won't do -- I did and of course it made it sweeter. Is there any else I could try next time to make the frosting a lot less sweeter but stiffer? (I don't like the idea of shortening in my frosting...)

I made the orange flavoring of this recipe and it was great!

LOVE THIS!!!! changed it up a bit, halfed the recipe and did 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup shortening, also wanted strawberry so I added about 1/4 packet of sugar free strawberry jello, was absolutely delicious!

Perfect consistency. I thought it tasted a little too strong of vanilla, but I'm pretty sensitive to the taste of vanilla. Thanks for the recipe!

Awesome! I use it all the time and every time I'm asked for the recipe.. Super easy as long as you remember to put the powdered sugar in a little bit at a time and not all at once..

I didn't care for this recipe. I dont know what I did wrong but it turned out to be thin (almost like glaze) and lumpy and also WAYY too sweet. overall, I definitely DO NOT recomend this recipe.

Love this frosting, I didn't change a thing , very tasty!!!

This is the best frosting I've ever had. My boyfriend tries to eat it on it's own. I don't make the whole recipe. I cut it in half and add the confections' sugar 1 cup at a time to taste. I also add about 2-3 tbs of cocoa powder for chocolate frosting.

I am not sure what I did wrong but this icing had a grainy texture to it by the end. It tasted amazing though!

I gave it 4 b/c it was so easy. Not the absolute best I've ever had - I did as another reviewer suggested: 2c powdered sugar, but I found I needed 3/4 c butter. And a splash of milk, only 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Great basic recipe. Super easy and tastes great on cupcakes.

It was too bland for my liking! I added red food coloring to make it pink so it turned out pretty but I would not make this again :(

I also loved this recipe because I had ingredients on hand. I don't like lard or shortening. For chocolate, I followed directions but added a few drops of peppermint extract and added a tablespoon or so of cold coffee before adding milk for consistency. MMM!!!

Excellent easily prepared delicious frosting.

Almond extract instead of vanilla= DELICIOUS!!

Fast and easy recipe that we liked. Added grinded walnuts to frosting and made it slightly runny and put over hot bananna cake. Also poked cake with holes for the frosting to seep thru. Excellent! Thanks for the recipe

I have to admit, I changed this recipe too... I used 3 cups of confectioners sugar instead-- and a few tbs of heavy whipping cream instead of milk. Also since it was St. Patricks day I did one batch with creme de menthe instead of vanilla. All it all it is a quick and easy recipe.

Way too sweet, but good consistency. Next time I will decrease conf. sugar and milk. I actually used water instead.

This is the best buttercream frosting I ever tasted!! I'll definately use this recipe again. Next, I'm going to use the lemon variation. A+++

Wonderful recipe. I added a little more confectioners sugar to stiffen it up a bit, and a little more vanilla extract, and it turned out just perfectly.

Great recipe!! Thanks! I cut the recipe in half to fit the ingredients I had on hand and it turn out to be the perfect amount to cover 2 dozen cupcakes:-) The only thing I changed was adding food coloring.

This was absolutely delicious! Added a bit more milk to make it creamier.

My whole family LOVES this frosting! They all request this frosting whenever I make a cake. Thanks for the TASTY recipe!

A good basic frosting. I like to change up the flavorings depending on my cake, but always reliably good.

I used this recipe along with a white cake recipe from this site to make my own Key Lime cake concoction. Delicious!

This is the best recipe in the world for frosting! If you like chunks of toffee and a caramel flavor, you melt about 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of butter then add the hot liquid quickly and grind it up with your mixer on high. if you put on vanilla cupcakes it is DELISH!

It was very easy to make and very few required ingredients, but it was way too sweet for my taste.

I had no problem with the consistency, but it was over the top sweet.