Perfect Piping Buttercream Recipe (2024)

November 30, 2015 by Danielle Green 274 Comments

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Perfect Piping Buttercream is the absolute best recipe for frosting cakes and cookies with a great consistency just right for piping your beautiful designs. This luscious buttercream frosting is light and airy with added flavor from vanilla and almond extract.

Best Buttercream

Frosting cut-out cookies for holidays is both my favorite and most dreaded activity. I LOVE frosting the first couple dozen cookies with beautifully ornate piped designs with buttercream.

I am alone in this process though becauseno one else in my family is willing to help. They claim they “can’t do it as well” and therefore are unwilling to even try. Total cop out!

Frosting for cookies

So 5-6 dozen cookies and hours later I am completely burnt out. The cookiesare beautiful and taste amazing, but man oh man are my hands tired and eyes weary.

Frosting cookies should totally be a family affair and it would be much more fun. When I have children, I will happily let them slather on the frosting in the ugliest of designs, mostly because that means I won’t have to frost as many cookies! 😉

Best Buttercream for piping designs

Over the years my mother and I have perfected the recipe for frosting. We were looking for a balance of taste and how it piped. We used to use a royal icing, but it didn’t taste as good.

We later moved to buttercream for flavor but our original recipe was too thick to get nice piping shapes from. We altered that recipe over the years and finally landed upon this recipe that is absolutely perfect.

How to make the best buttercream?

I could pretty much lick abowl of this buttercream and be one happy woman. The addition of vanilla AND almond extract gives it a great flavor that we all love. It sets it apart from plain frosting.

It is important to only use gel or paste food dyewhen making your frosting, because the liquid dyes will alter the consistency a surprisingly great deal. Liquid dyewill take your luscious buttercream from the perfect consistency, to arunny consistency that won’t hold it’s shape in a quick hurry.

How to pipe buttercream?

I separate my batch of buttercream into 5 or 6 bowls and dye each bowl of frosting to my desired consistency. I have never found a dye that will get me a true red, so if you have any secrets for a rich Christmas red, I would love to hear them!

Grab your piping bagsand decorating tipsand you are ready to fill them up. I like to turn the bag half way inside out and set it in a tall glass. This makes it easier to scoop the buttercream into the bag if I am doing it along.

After your bags are filled it’s time to dream up all sorts of amazing designs for your cookies or cake thathave the added bonus of tasting great!

More baked goods perfect with buttercream!

While we could eat buttercream right from the spoon, it’s probably best to serve it on a cake or cookie. Here are some other great recipe that you can use buttercream with.

Fresh Strawberry Ombre Cake
Frosted Sugar Cookies
Pumpkin Cake Bars – Swap out the cream cheese frosting for buttercream

Perfect Piping Buttercream Recipe

Yield: 5 -6 cups

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 c. shortening, butter flavored
1 c. butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
7 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. heavy whipping cream
gel or paste icing dyes

Instructions

In a large bowl, beat the shortening and butter until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla, almond extract and cream and mix until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar 1-2 cups at a time, mixing well between each addition. Beat the frosting for an additional 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Using a toothpick, add the tiniest amount of dye at a time to the bowl of frosting to control your color. These dyes will color the frosting quickly, so there is no need to add too much.

Notes

This makes a very large batch for a layered and decorated cake. If you are making 24 cupcakes or a small cake, cut the recipe in half.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield: 48Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 155Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 15mgSodium: 35mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 0gSugar: 18gProtein: 0g

Provided nutrition data is only an estimate. If you are tracking these nutrients for medical purposes, please consult an outside, trusted source.

Did you make this recipe?

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Perfect Piping Buttercream Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you get the perfect consistency for piping buttercream? ›

If you stick your spatula into the buttercream, your frosting should maintain a stiff peak. If your buttercream is too thick and can't flow through a piping tip, add more milk – about 1 teaspoon at a time – to slightly thin it out.

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What buttercream is best for piping? ›

TRADITIONAL AMERICAN BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

It's softer and more spreadable than most frostings, but can also be stiffened to pipe flowers and roses.

What consistency should icing be for piping? ›

Especially if you're using a two consistency, I recommend making a piping consistency somewhere between a soft and medium peak, and a flood anywhere in the thick/thin region.

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Why is my buttercream too soft to pipe? ›

So, whether your buttercream is a veritable soup or just a touch runny, the answer is to cool it down. If the buttercream is thin enough to run off a spoon, refrigerate the whole bowl for 20 minutes, just until the frosting begins to harden around the edges.

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