I finally found the perfect vanilla frosting recipe for cupcakes and it’s all thanks to my friend’s Cape Breton grandmother. Nanny Burke’s Buttercream is now my go-to, classic American-style vanilla frosting recipe!
Nanny Burke’s Buttercream is the BEST
You may remember my attempt at making pink peppercorn cupcakes with vanilla frosting. They looked ok but the frosting had as much flavour as a of a jar of Vaseline (and the texture to match). Recently, I made bacon and baileys cupcakes – a play on my social media handle @baconandbaileys. I baked coffee-flavoured cupcakes and topped them with Baileys frosting and candied bacon. I used what I thought was a decent buttercream recipe but it turned out to be so sweet I couldn’t eat it!
RELATED RECIPE: Homemade Vanilla Extract
Nanny Burke’s Vanilla Frosting Recipe To The Rescue
When I told a friend about my frosting fiasco she said, “Oh – you need Nanny Burke’s Buttercream recipe!” She emailed her grandmother in Cape Breton and Nanny Burke graciously shared her recipe with me. Nanny Burke said that, over the last 50 years, she’s tried a TON of vanilla frosting recipes and this one is by far the best and easiest.
RELATED RECIPE: Cardamom Vanilla Brown Butter Spread
Cupcake Baking Tip
On a side note, here’s a weird and interesting cupcake baking tip that I discovered when I was making my cupcakes for Nanny Burke’s Buttercream. I used Ina Garten’s recipe for Coconut Cupcakes and baked the first dozen at 350ºF until golden, about 22 minutes. While they were in the oven I had another look at the recipe and realized that I was supposed to bake them at 325ºF. I reduced the temperature in a panic for the second batch and here’s what happened:
Does The Cupcake Baking Tip Work?
This cupcake baking tip was just a random fluke that happened to me, however, hundreds of people on Pinterest swear it works! Did it work for you? Let me know in the comments below!
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Nanny Burke's Buttercream
Ingredients
- 2 cups butter
- 4 cups icing sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place everything in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low until sugar and butter are combined. Increase speed of mixer and mix 2-3 minutes.
Notes
Halving the recipe also works and frosting freezes well.
Icing sugar is also called confectioner's sugar or powdered sugar.
This post was originally published on April 5, 2011 and was updated on June 19, 2019.
I can't wait to try this buttercream recipe….They look amazing Kelly!
two cups of butter 🙂 that's how you make great frosting!
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear my Swiss meringue buttercream didn't work for you! If you're inclined, shoot me an email; I'd love to troubleshoot it and get to the bottom of what went wrong for you. Cheers!
Just a note about Swiss Buttercream… when it gets curdled like that, it usually means your meringue wasn't cool enough or your butter was too warm. But have no fear! Just pop the curdled mess in the fridge for about 15 minutes and then whip, whip, whip it! I PROMISE that it will come together.
good it be so simple. I've tried to make a good buttercream many times…maybe I'll give this one a try soon.
when you bake at a lower temperature, whatever you're baking rises more slowly, and therefore much less. that's why you should lower the oven temperature a little to get level cake layers, but you should bake at a slightly higher temp for cupcakes so that you get the pretty dome.
also, if your swiss meringue buttercream seemed curdled, chances are you just didn't keep whipping it long enough. it will seem like it will never come together, but then it finally does and it's amazing. i highly recommend trying again sometime.
If you check out Stella's awesome blog BraveTart (linked above as Swiss Buttercream) you'll see she has tons of great recipes and gorgeous photos to boot!! I'm pretty sure J is right though. I didn't let my buttercream cool long enough – in fact, I'd bet money on it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Stella's recipe – it was just my patience level that day!! Thanks for the comments 🙂
I also tried swiss meringue buttercream ! it did curdle and look like porridge BUT it cam back together BEAUTIFULLY I almost threw mine out BUT I just let the kitchenaid do its thing and VOILA! perfection here is the recipe I used! ( this woman even has Pictures!! ) I shall try your version of american buttercream but for now its all SWB for me!! great cupcakes BTW 😀 http://sweetapolita.com/2011/04/swiss-meringue-buttercream-demystified/
I made _tried_ to make chocolate cupcakes (i added some melted chocolate and cocoa powder to the recipe) but they didn't turn out pretty. instead the batter just made a horrible mess. I'll still make buttercream and try to make them pretty, but i wonder what went wrong >:
what is "icing sugar" ?
thx
Cannot wait to try this recipe!!
made it, so easy so delicious, thank you for sharing it!
ooh… what's vanilla PASTE?
I saw this on Pinterest and I just had to click over! What a difference. I'll be making my fav chocolate cupcakes at a lower temperature next time to see if they rise even more. Thanks for the great visual side by side!
Hey, the buttercream recipe looks delicious. I worked my way through a fair few that looked good & met disaster every time. Now I have a few fail safe pieces of heaven in my repertoire. As for your swiss buttercream, I make it all the time for the bakery. The trick is, when it looks like it's starting to curdle, just keep on beating it. At some point it stops curdling & starts turning into this silky, fluffy, amazing goodness. It's like it goes from disgusting to amazing by the use of sheer will power.
I liked this post so much I pinned it twice (without knowing) on my Pinterest boards. LOL Can't wait to try it, thanks for sharing!!
On the pictures that compare how high the cupcakes bake, the one on the left with the higher peaks- do they start off baking at 350 and then the temp is dropped down to 325? If so, after how long? Or preheat to 350 and once the cupcakes go in, drop it down to 325 right away? Thanks for any information 🙂
@Christina – I baked two pans of cupcakes – the first one at 350 degrees. While they were in the oven, I was re-reading the recipe and realized I was supposed to bake them at 325 degrees. I left the first batch in at 350 because I didn't want to disturb them. When they were golden on top I took them out and turned down the temp to 325. Then I popped the second pan into the oven – the side by side pic is the result.
I have to say you have made me laugh! This is a great recipe for a quick buttercream! Now, with the Swiss buttercream there is a chemical reactions that happens midway finishing the buttercream It will curdle and it looks like a separated mess like you described. I guess that whomever gave you the recipe did not tell you to continue the whipping process it takes a few seconds to all homogenize into a silky and the most delicious buttercream anyone can taste! i am a pastry chef and i am sorry that you wasted good ingredients! Swiss buttercream is my basic filling cream in my shop. Ad chocolate ganache for a delicious chocolate filling, lemon curd for a citrus one, and the list goes on and on… 🙂
do you preheat the oven at 350 and after you put them in reduce it to 325. or do you automatically preheat it to 325 and bake????? please help
What state should the butter be in? Softened, melted?
I'm in the middle of trying out different frostings too! Looking for that perfect one that doesn't take forever, doesn't taste like plastic, but still holds shapes beautifully. I'm sure I'll be blogging about it, so feel free to check it out next week. (I'll link back to your recipe when I post about it.) Do you think the frosted cake/cupcakes should be stored in the fridge?
for the round domes you got on ur cupcakes, did u set at 350 and when u put them in, dropped it to 325? Or was it 325 the whole time? thanks. I'm trying to get my cupcakes to have the dome and getting the flat tops =( thanks!
I have been searching for forever for a buttercream frosting that tastes great but also keeps it's shape after I pipe it onto cakes/cupcakes. This recipe with the Crisco substitution is perfect. I adjusted the amount of ingredients slightly to appeal to my own tastebuds, but the basic recipe is pretty darn close to perfect. The little cupcake trick at the end was a great help, too. My cupcakes came out with a nice dome on top that was ideal for piping frosting. Everyone loved the cupcakes, and I have this post to thank!
For the few questions I see above on this page:
I used butter straight out of the fridge, but room temperature butter would have made mixing easier. Chilled butter left me mixing for more than 2-3 minutes, which the article says not to do. You don't want to use melted butter.
For the oven temp question, I preheated the oven to 350 and then reduced it to 325 when I put the cupcakes in the oven. Worked like a charm.
what recipe do you use for your vanilla cupcakes? I can't seem to find a good one.
@Molly – the butter should be room temperature. I like to soften mine a little further in the microwave because we keep our house pretty cool.
@Ani – I don't put mine in the fridge. They also don't seem to last very long around here 🙂
@Bridget – if you read the post you'll see that I started at 350 and then realized that the temp was supposed to be 325 so I lowered it for the second batch.
@Kristen – I always use room temperature butter for baking and frostings unless the recipe states otherwise.
@Ashley – I made these cupcakes tonight – http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2011/09/ultimate-vanilla-cupcake-test-baked-by.html – and they were great! Light and fluffy with the perfect amount of vanilla flavour. I didn't have any sour cream in my fridge so I used 35% Whipping Cream (aka Heavy Cream) instead and they turned out fine.
no cream in the frosting? I've never made buttercream with out cream . I'm curious to try this.
one other question, who is Nanny Burkes? there is no link to her and I've never heard of her, is she someone I should know?
Ha! No Cheryl – Nanny Burke is my friend's grandmother. She is a tiny elderly lady that lives in Cape Breton and has sent me a few wonderful recipes!
No cream in the buttercream. Try it – you will love it 🙂
This is my "go-to" Vanilla Buttercream for all the cupcakes I bake. I've used the recipe for work gathering, birthdays, and fundraisers all with rave reviews. People think the frosting was whipped forever because it's so smooth and delicious. In my opinion it's the best tasting vanilla buttercream frosting-not too sweet with just the right amount of butter flavor (even with the shortening substitution). I am going to attempt to add some raspberry preserves or a raspberry reduction to this recipe for an upcoming birthday. I tried out two other raspberry recipes and they haven't been good. I love this recipe so much I'm going to try and MAKE IT INTO my "go-to" raspberry buttercream! Haha! I'll let you guys know if it works out.
Thank you so much Kelly for sharing this recipe, love it!!
How did adding the raspberry puree work out?
Thanks so much! I feel the same way about it – it's my #1 go to. Good luck with the raspberry!!
I was wondering whether this buttercream crust enough for the "viva paper towel" method of smoothing for cakes. Do you know?
Hi Hillery – I'm really not sure but I can tell you, if you have extra, you can just freeze it! I've done it before – when it thaws you just re-whip a bit 🙂
Is icing sugar regular sugar or powdered sugar?
Hi Kim – it's powdered sugar. I've always heard it called icing sugar in Nova Scotia.
This is so great! I reduced the time and WOW did those cupcakes pop up!! So amazing!
Does this mean to preheat the oven to 350, and then reduce it to 325 when you put the cupcakes in? Thanks! 🙂
I was wondering how many cupcakes you can frost with this recipe?
With this buttervream recipe, can you leave it unrefridgerated once you ice the cake?
This icing had a funky taste. My husband thinks so too. It also melts very easily and turns watery looking. The temperature is in the 40’s. I do not recommend. I had to toss it out and all that expensive butter was wasted.
Hey there still confused read through all the comments still not getting it so in I shoild start by preeheating the oven for 350 then once the cake is in I should reduce it to 325 to achieve a domed cup cake right and does this method work with ne recipe or does it have to b the ina gathen recipe if so would you b able to give me the recie in grams and where im at I cnt find crisco can I use normal butter to achieve the fluffy butter cream truly appreciate uou effort n id b over the moon if I can achieve the dome look in my cupcakes thanks a ton