This twist on American buttercream frosting stands up to a warm day, is perfect for piping, and it’s not too overly sweet. It the perfect buttercream for summer.
Serving frosted cakes and cookies during the summer can cause a lot of anxiety for bakers. This recipe uses several tricks to help it hold up in the heat as without just adding more powdered sugar, so it’s not too sweet.
This frosting does it all without making your teeth ache. When decorating cakes in the heat and humidity, you have to break out a few tricks to make it work.
My family prefers American buttercream to egg based buttercreams like Italian meringue buttercream. So, I have to use those tricks when I am making cakes for their special occasions.
I am sure you all know I don’t need much of an excuse to play with frosting. It’s one of my favorite things after all.
So I studied a variety of recipes, read up on the tips of a variety of people who bake for a living, and tinkered. This recipe has now been used for several summer weddings.
I used it on both cupcakes and a cutting cake for my brother’s outdoor wedding. We kept everything inside for as long as possible, because it was a 100°F day.
However, they still held up nicely once we moved everything into the barn reception area. And believe me, it was hot in there!
How Much Frosting Does This Recipe Make?
This recipe makes just shy of 6 cups of buttercream. That is enough to frost an 8 or 9 inch layer cake with extra frosting for piping on decorations.
It is enough to frosting a 10-inch layer cake without extra piped decorations. It can generously frost 4-5 dozen cupcakes depending on how much frosting you pipe on each cupcake.
Tips for Making Buttercream That Holds Up to Heat
After consulting with bakers and the internet, everyone suggested shortening as a base to hold up to the heat. Of course that makes sense, the melting point of shortening is higher than that of butter.
However butter based buttercreams taste better, and we prefer their texture. Using half butter and half shortening allows you to get the best of both worlds.
The next tip is tons of powdered sugar. Of course that’s kind of a must with American buttercream anyway, but a nice high ratio of sugar helps promote the crust which helps your designs hold their shape in the heat.
I was all for that, but didn’t want the frosting to be too cloying. So I used some lemon juice as part of the liquid.
Not enough to make it taste like lemon, just enough to counteract some of the sugar. A tablespoon in about 6 cups of frosting doesn’t give a detectable lemon flavor.
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A hearty pinch of salt helps balance out the sugar even more and helps give flavor to the almost flavorless shortening.
I like adding a little bit more flavoring than I do in a standard buttercream too. I almost always add 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
You just use vanilla extract if you would like. However, I think it’s nice to use a second complimentary flavor to the frosting.
Just a few drops of almond or lemon extract, or a bit of an emulsion like princess or creme bouquet can make a big difference. It will make it taste like the buttercream came from a bakery,
Or use some butter extract to deepen the butter flavor. It sounds strange, but it can take the frosting from good to great.
The next tip was to use some meringue powder to help take the crust to the next level. It gives that little bit extra insurance that I am happy to take when making a cake for an outdoor wedding.
Once the frosting comes together, mix it on low for several minutes to improve the texture and keep from whipping in too much air.
Of course no butter based frosting is going to hold up to the heat forever. Chilling the cake before you take it into the heat and limiting the time it spends in the heat is going to be key no matter the recipe.
I can say however, I was really pleased with how this recipe has held up to Mother Nature every time they have come in contact!
What are your best tips for making heat resilient frosting?
Does this frosting form a crust?
Yes, this buttercream recipe forms a crust. Putting frosted cake or cookies in the refrigerator for a little bit will help to set the frosting faster and will hasten the formation of the crust.
Storage
Buttercream can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or two. It can be refrigerated for up to a week. Or frozen for several months. If chilled, bring it back to room temperature and give it a stir before using.
If you are a frosting fanatic like me, check out my Frosting 101. It goes through the different types of frosting and links to all sorts of delicious recipes!
Not Too Sweet Buttercream
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup shortening
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons meringue powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon other flavoring see notes
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk or cream
Instructions
- Beat butter and shortening until light and creamy.1 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup shortening
- Add about a cup of powdered sugar, the meringue powder and salt. Mix until incorporated.2 Tablespoons meringue powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- Continue to add the powdered sugar, a bit at a time and mix well between each addition. Be careful to only beat the mixture on medium-low speed, allowing it to run for as long as it takes. You don't want to incorporate too much air.2 pounds powdered sugar
- Once the powdered sugar is all added, mix in the flavorings and lemon juice. Beat on medium speed for a couple of minutes.2½ teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon other flavoring, 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- Add the cream a little bit at a time, mixing well between additions, until you have the consistency you'd like.2-3 Tablespoons milk or cream
- Store any extra in an airtight container and whip a bit to fluff before using.
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Notes
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I’m looking for a shelf stable frosting recipe that complies with cottage food laws, which means it can’t contain butter. Could I do all shortening?
Yes, you can use all shortening. Maybe consider a drop or two of butter extract for flavor?
I double checked my ingredients for this recipe and I have no idea why it had such a horrible after-taste.
I had to throw out the entire batch.
Could my meringue powder have gone bad maybe?
I had my husband tasted it and he thought I must have used lard instead of baking shortening.
Not sure what happened.
Anyone else have this problem?
I am not sure why that would have happened. Possibly the shortening had started to go rancid?
Is the meringue powder mandatory? Or is there a substitute? I just don’t have any on hand. Thanks!
No, you can definitely leave it out. It just adds a little extra stability if you are going to have it outside in hot weather.
I have a real problem with the butter part in making buttercreams. I don’t know if this shortening might help with this recipe but usually what happens to me is that I can beat the butter til fluffy, add the rest of ingredients, and somehow I still end up with bumpy bits of butter in the icing that does not smooth out. It does not seem to help to beat it to death in the beginning. I have tried but then when it cools down a bit, especially adding cool liquid, there comes the lumps.I have tried with room temp milk or other liquids that I might use and once I cool the icing it seems to be the same story over again. Ugh. Wish I had some advice.
That’s tough. Make sure you are scraping down both the sides of the bowl and the beater itself a few times before you move on. I also like to add the sugar first, before adding any extra liquids. That way the sugar has a chance to break up any remaining butter before you start adding liquids to soften it up. If you find at the end that there are some lumps. you can take a small amount of frosting and melt it in the microwave for a few seconds, then stir it back in. That can help to make really smooth frosting and it deepens the color a bit if you are using food coloring.
I made your amazing wedding cupcakes so I had to try your buttercream frosting. Omg this will be my only recipe I use from now on. I followed the recipe exactly how it was. It was perfect. Great flavor and definitely not too sweet. Perfect amount of sweetness. It piped great too. Thank you. You are a life saver
That makes me so happy!! Thanks for letting me know you liked it.
i have tried many buttercreams and i cant seem to get the consistency right for piping i hope this is the one
i made the condensed milk frosting wow really to sweet but i did the corn flour and that helped but not the nicest frosting ,spread excellent though
wish me luck
Im just starting out
Good luck!
The yield states “36 servings” with no indication of serving size. Would you please add some information about how much frosting this recipe creates, such as enough to cover 12/24/etc cupcakes, or 1 two-layer 8″ cake, or even the number of cups it produces? It’s difficult to figure out from the list of ingredients because some things dissolve into one another, and then there’s volume that’s created during mixing. It would be very helpful for novice bakers like myself. Thanks.
Hi, how many cups does this make?
Thank you
Why is the powdered sugar listed in pounds? So does that equal to about 8 cups? Not quite sure as that sounds like an awful lot of powdered sugar for a not so sweet buttercream recipe.I use Australian metric cups and want to get the amount of sugar right.
In America powdered sugar is generally sold in 1 pound boxes or two pound bags, so this is saying to add the whole bag… no measurement required. However, it would be in the 6-8 cup range depending on how fluffy your powdered sugar is. It is a lot of sugar, but it is a really big batch of frosting as well. Enough to easily coat and decorate a large layer cake. You could easily half the recipe for a smaller cake.
@Carlee, i was thinking the same thing i will let you know lol
I am looking for a buttercreme frosting that doesnt taste like pure sugar. N every frosting I've tried so far has so much powdered sugar in it, it's like eating pure sugar out of the bag. Is this any different?
Because of the way American buttercreams are made, it is hard to avoid the sweetness. The lemon juice helps a bit here. You may prefer doing a cooked frosting as they tend to be less sweet. Either an ermine frosting, Italian or Swiss meringue buttercream or even a German buttercream might be more your style. They get stability from things other than the powdered sugar, so there is less sugar required. I have recipes for all but swiss meringue buttercream here on the blog if you want to check them out. (Also there's Russian buttercream which can be made as simply as a can of sweetened condensed milk and butter!)
Making this right now for my twin nephews' graduation party tomorrow. It's outdoors. It's 90° today and my house is not air conditioned. Cake is made, frosting is made. Wondering if i should frost today or wait until tomorrow? If I wait should I refrigerate the frosting?
I would probably frost it today and refrigerate the whole cake if you have room in the fridge. Otherwise the frosting should be ok at room temp or in the fridge until tomorrow. I hope all goes well!
Hi Carlee, is the lemon juice mandatory? Does it leave a strong taste?
It is not strictly mandatory, you could sub in milk instead. But adding a little helps cut the sweetness from the powdered sugar without leaving a strong lemon flavor.
Looks great, want to try this one out! Do you use salted or unsalted butter in your recipe?
Either works. I have used both. I just leave the pinch of salt out if I use salted butter. I hope that helps!
Correction to the Polish buttercream frosting recipe: The recipe calls for one Tablespoon of vanilla flavoring.
I am absolutely going to give this a try! Thank you for sharing!
This is an old recipe taken from a Polish friend's mother: one small call condensed milk, 1 Cup butter, 1 Cup shortening, 1 tsp vanilla flavoring, 1 Cup powdered sugar. In a small pan, heat condensed milk to just see steam rising, add powdered sugar and vanilla, mix until just below simmering. Then place in refrigerator and cool. Blend butter and shortening until smooth. After condensed milk mixture is cooled, mix thoroughly the butter and shortening with the condensed mixture together until thoroughly blended. This avoids the sugar combining in crystals in the butter-shortening mixture. You will use less sugar and get the better result. Less sweet, while still imparting sweetness.
I hope you love it!
I'm always looking to try any buttercream recipe I can get my mitts on! LOL This looks so good and it's great that it stands up in hot weather. Thank you for sharing at the Whimsical Wednesdays Link Party! Have a great week. 😀
Me too! Frosting is so much fun to play with! Thanks and have a great one!
I love the shirt. Thank you for the great tips on how to help the frosting hold up better in the heat.
Thank you! It is one of my favorites!
Carlee, what a beautiful cake! The bride and groom must have been soooo pleased!
Thank you so much!
I'm pinning this for later!
Yay! I hope you love it!
Hi Carlee, where were you when I used to 'build' cakes to bring in some pennies??!! Most of my orders were in summer and I really struggled with keeping the butter icing to hold, this would have been perfect!… And that birthday cake looks the business! Love the colours.
xx
I would love to see some of your cakes! I have been having fun playing with it a bit more lately, previously I had been more concerned with taste but now I am having fun playing decorating!
You know how I love a good buttercream. Way to go experimenting and this standing up against the heat. LOVE the pic of your sissy and little dude!!
Aren't they the cutest? You know I need to be able to frost things year round!
When it comes to cakes and cupcakes, I'm all about the frosting. This looks and sounds amazing Carlee. I say this is a must try for me. I was just thinking this morning about cupcakes for the 4th of July. Thanks and fantastic pictures as always.
Bring on the frosting! I was thinking of making cupcakes for the 4th as well and this will almost certainly be on them! Thanks, Sam!