This recipe was adapted for style from ‘Hey There, Cupcake!’ by Clare Crespo. Baking a birthday cake? Use food coloring to dye it pink, purple, or any color of the rainbow. Baking a chocolate cake? Add in melted chocolate and cocoa powder to make chocolate buttercream. But you can also use this simple frosting to decorate sugar cookies, construct gingerbread houses, or sandwich whoopie pies. Yes, you can use it for frosting cakes ( layer cakes, sheet cakes, or vanilla cupcakes). There are endless uses for classic American buttercream icing. Of course, it wouldn’t be vanilla frosting without vanilla: We call for extract here, but you can swap in vanilla bean paste or powder for a bolder vanilla flavor and those telltale specks. Don’t forget to add a pinch of salt, which is essential for balancing the sweetness. Sifting the powdered sugar before combining it with butter guards against lumps, but it’s not entirely necessary just be sure to start your electric mixer on low speed so the sugar doesn’t explode into a cloud. The butteriest buttercream starts with softened butter, so be sure to set those sticks out a few hours before you plan to bake (if you forgot, we’ve got a few tips to soften butter quickly).

Bonus: You only need five ingredients and five minutes to make this tried-and-true homemade buttercream frosting recipe. Creamy, dreamy American buttercream is one of the easiest ways to finish off a cake, build a cookie sandwich, or ice a tray of chocolate chip cookie bars.

Sweet vanilla buttercream frosting