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
Recipe Details
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.
Video
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.
I actually make this exact recipe with shortening…have a family member with a dairy allergy…it’s always great, and I always get compliments on it!
Hello, I have a question. I did this frosting on Thursday and it didn’t have the look as yours, mine I feel it was very soft. Do you have an idea why? I did two batches, and first I put what you asked for whipping cream, the second I put only one and like it better. The color was like yours, but my cake didn’t look that good as your cupcakes.
My guess is that it has something to do with the butter you used? Was the butter very soft?
Hello Lori,
Quick question I love Cream Cheese Frosting because its not too sweet. But Does not hold its form very well. I would like to try this recipe but Is it very sweet. I really dislike store bought frosting because of how sweet it is. Any suggestions.
Thanks Again in Advance. 🙂
You’ll just have to try it out and see what you think. I personally really like this one a lot. It’s all a matter of personal preference though!
Do you need to refrigerate the frosted cake or cupcakes or can this frosting stay out for a day?
I’d keep them covered and refrigerated if it’s going to be any length of time before you serve them.
Can you use this recipe for a wedding cake? How much frosting does it make?
It makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes generously.
I’m making a 3 tiered wedding cake using your white wedding cake. . How does your butter cream icing do for frosting and decorating with? It looks and sounds very delicious. Any comments welcomed.
Should be great!
My frosting is gritty. How can I make a smooth frosting?
It shouldn’t be gritty… did you use an off-brand powdered sugar, by chance?
Can’t wait to make the wedding cupcakes and the butter cream , I have a great peanut butter butter cream I got many years ago. I would like to share it with you and your readers if that is ok ,
So I did something I never thougt I’d never have the nerve to do… made my own simple wedding cake for a small backyard wedding yesterday. I used your icing recipe and it was amazing!
I have used your wedding cake/cupcake recipe with great success, thank you! I love the almond flavor in it as well. I’m curious…have you ever used almond flavoring in the frosting too? Too much?
Thanks for your help!
I haven’t tried using almond extract.
Hi ! I am going to make the WEDDING cupcakes for my daughter’s Bridal Shower and I will be using your Buttercream recipe but I was wondering if instead of the heavy cream I could use a liquor like Bailey’s Irish cream !! Thank You !!
Sounds like a great idea, but I’ve never tried it so I don’t know!
Lori,
These are absolutely the best cupcakes ever. I’ve made them several times since finding your post and we LOVE them. I read a few of the naysayer comments about salted vs. unsalted and separating so on. Let me just say that following your instructions has produced a perfect product every time so I HIGHLY recommend these cupcakes. I’ve adapted the entire process using chocolate cake mix and making chocolate buttercream with the same great results.
Excellent- so nice to see comments like this. Thank you!
I think I figured out a way to show you my cupcakes from last year. See if this link works. https://www.facebook.com/carrollvipervbc/photos/pb.220881331264.-2207520000.1394204310./10151483884456265/?type=3&theater It’s a link to a pic of the cupcakes posted on our vball club Facebook page. It’s public so you should be able to see it. :o) Getting ready to mix up the frosting shortly for this year’s batch to be on sale in concessions at our tournament tomorrow.
Those look great!!
Hi I am making this now in a double batch but its just not combing together . I have lumps of butter and sugar that wont combine to form the cream 🙁 I have added a little whipping cream but it didnt really help?
I’m not sure what happened!
I made the wedding cake cupcakes with this frosting last year for concessions at a volleyball tournament and they were great. Getting ready to make them again this coming week for this year’s tournament. I have had problems in the past with buttercream and it being grainy when I have made it. Perhaps I am not using higher end powdered sugar. I unfortunately have to bake on a budget. What HAS worked for me is to do 1/2 butter & 1/2 butter flavored Crisco instead of all butter. That’s what I did when I made this frosting recipe last year and it came out perfect. The taste was great and it was smooth, I got tons of compliments and the double batch of cupcakes I had made sold out completely over the course of the day. Wish I could attach a pic of them because they were darn cute, if I do say so myself. :o) And I am NOT a baker or an artist but I cut out small white fondant discs and then drew a volleyball design in edible marker. Everyone loved them. Hoping this years batch turns out as well as last year’s.
Excellent- glad to hear!
Do not over beat this!
This is the best icing I have EVER made! I followed the recipe exactly and it was wonderful. My family loved it and were all trying to lick the bowl!!
salted or unsalted butter?
Either… I like to use salted.
Will this work well with findant fondant? I’m making a cat in the hatshowerr cake and I can’t find a good icing. Do you think this would hold up?
I’ve never used fondant, so I have no idea.
I have made this and it was so good. I’m needing a good cream cheese icing recipe. Do you think I could just add cream cheese to this? If so how much?
I haven’t done it, so I’m not sure!
Hi. I am about to make these for a shower on Saturday. It is Thursday night. Do you think the Pearls will melt or shrink? Do you think I should wait to put them on Saturday before the party?
I would not add the pearls until the day you are serving the cupcakes.
This is my go to recipe, everyone LOVES it and raves every time. I’m making a layer cake using a 6″ x 3″ and 9″ x 3″, round. Do you think taking the above recipe x 7 would make enough to ice/decorate both using a pattern all over the cake similar to what you have on your cupcakes?
no idea- You’ll have to experiment and see!
Our cupcakes came out hard. I think it was because 350 was the wrong temperature for the cake mix we bought??? We turn it up to 350 after the cupcakes were still barely cooked at the end of 20 min. Unfortunate, since I served them at my daughter’s 4th bday party…
I’m not sure- I’ve never had that happen!
Really, really delicious buttercream recipe.Added a touch more vanilla and I did use unsalted butter (to each his own). I typically don’t eat cakes with any type of icing on them, but I did have one (or two) cupcakes with this buttercream!
Thanks for the recipe, it’s a keeper!
They didn’t turn out for me at all. The icing never stiffened just stayed liquid, I noticed after I went through the comments to only use stick. lol
Next time I will make sure i have stick butter
Definitely stick!