Need a good buttercream icing for your cupcakes? This one is my go to – it’s 4 ingredients, easy to pipe on, and tastes great. You can easily give your icing some colour with food colouring paste; but there’s something very pure and classic with just the buttery white colour too though!

The key to a really good buttercream icing is patience – make sure you take the time to whip the butter until it turns fluffy and lighter in colour, and add the sifted icing sugar 1-2 cups at time.  Take your butter out the night before you want to make this; the butter HAS to be at room temperature – melting it in the microwave often doesn’t work because you’ll likely melt it too much!

prep:  15 min   yield: enough to ice about 24 cupcakes

what you need:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, must be at room temperature
• 5 cups icing sugar (sifted)
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• a splash of milk

what to do:

1. In a stand mixer with whisk attachment (best) or with a hand mixer – beat butter until smooth and white and fluffy – you will need to scrape down the bowl a few times to get all the butter whipped – should take a good 5 minutes or so.
2. Add 1 cup of icing sugar and beat well again – then add another cup of icing sugar and beat well again, making sure after each addition the butter comes back to a fluffy and light consistency.
3. Add vanilla extract and beat again.
4. Add another 1-2 cups of icing sugar – beat well – then add 1 tbsp of milk. Beat well and then check consistency.  It should be soft and light. Add the last cup of icing sugar a little bit at a time – if you find the icing is too hard or firm, add another little bit of milk to loosen it up. You want it soft and fluffy to be able to spread or pipe it easily onto your cake.
5. ENJOY!

chocolate buttercream icing…                  will post soon:)