I never use a recipe for butter cream...I just allow as much butter to soften as I think I will need. One stick for 24 cup cakes unless you are going to really frost heavily with Alexa style roses.
Start adding sifted powdered sugar to the butter...I use a hand held mixer....after you have added about a cup of sugar, add a tablespoon of liquid. what you add depends on what you want it to taste like...orange juice and grated zest is good as is a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons of cream, or lemon juice...or add a liquor of your choosing. Then continue adding sugar and beating until it's the consistancy you like.
Some add more liquid and more sugar....but I like a frosting that doesn't get too stiff so that it falls off the cake.
Linda C

I just made this frosting for the first time last Monday.

This recipe frosted 12 regular size cupcakes. You can probably double it easily. It came out really delicious, was easy to work with and it set up easily, too.

1 stick of salted butter, softened to room temp
2 C powdered sugar
1 1/2 oz cream
1/4 C vanilla extract

Cream butter, slowly add in powdered sugar, half cup at a time until incorporated.

Beat in vanilla, and with mixer running, drizzle in chilled cream.

Continue to beat a minute or two until frosting is light and fluffy.

The photo below is the Cherry Frosting that I made on Monday. I added about 6 drops of LorAnn cherry flavoring, and a couple drops of almond extract to the basic recipe.

This is what I learned from my Grandmother. She'd take a stick of soft butter, a little vanilla (maybe a t), and beat in as much of a 1 lb box/bag of confectioner sugar. SHe called it 10X. If it gets too thick, add the TINIEST bit of milk or cream... like a t at a time, or you'll be adding more powdered sugar and repeating. This made enough to frost a 2 layer cake, but not heaped up like the picture in this post. Ya might wanna consider 2 sticks of butter?? If ya end up with left-over, why not try freezing it for a later time? Have NO idea how it would freeze, but figure worth taking a chance... maybe a good beatin once thawed?

Sooz, did you mean 1/4 CUP of vanilla or 1/4 t or T spoon of vanilla?

Oh, goodness! Thanks, westsider, for catching that!!

I meant to type 1/4 TEASPOON vanilla (1/4 tsp) .... Is there any way I can get that boo boo corrected, and if so, how??

Sooz

Great buttercream recipe..making this for my bake sale cupcakes. Love the photo too!

Sooz, I doubt that you can have it corrected but it might be helpful to start a new thread, something like "Mamalou-alert-alert- correction in the frosting recipe"

I kinda was thinking about that, too, westsider, and then figured anyone who read this thread would likely read it in it's entirety and see the correction. Hope so, anyway!

Smiles,
Sooz

Our favorite buttercream frosting recipe came from my grandmother. I think she said she got it from the side of a box of Domino's 10X sugar, maybe back during WW2.

6 tbsp butter
1 box (1 lb) powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt (I now leave this out, makes no diff)
2 - 3 tbsp milk if needed

Use a mixmaster. Cream the butter and the sugar, add the salt, vanilla. If the consistency is too stiff for you, add the milk one tbsp at a time. Add 2 tbsp cocoa for chocolate buttercream, drops of food coloring for colored buttercream.

Donna

All of the above recipes are very similar, but I am adding mine to the mix as another choice with slightly different ratios. I always use it for decorating sugar cookies, and both the plain and chocolate versions get rave reviews.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
(Double these quantities for a two-layer cake)
1/4 pound butter or margarine
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon salt (which cuts the sweetness a bit)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound confectioner's sugar, sifted

Cream butter thoroughly. Gradually add milk, salt, and vanilla alternately with confectioner's sugar until all is well mixed.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM:
For each pound of confectioner's sugar in the above recipe, add:
6-8 Tablespoons sifted cocoa powder (not instant)
2 Tablespoons softened butter or margarine
dash of salt
milk, a teaspoon at a time until right consistency

Mine is about the same as Alice's. A stick of butter per pound of confectioners sugar. Teaspoon or so of flavoring. I like the combo of vanilla and almond. Dash of salt. I do think it makes a difference. Smiles. I won't say how much milk though because I think you need to add it as needed for the consistency you want.