(Photo by Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures)
Did you know making your own cake frosting is a breeze? We make our own for most of our cakes using this simple recipe.
Creamy Butter Frosting
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pound (3 1/2 cups) powdered (confectioner’s) sugar – NOT granulated!
- 3 to 4 tablespoons milk
Chocolate Frosting Variation
- Add 2-4 Tbsp. cocoa powder to above powdered sugar.
- Beat in additional milk, a little at a time until creamy.
Preparation:
- Cream butter, salt, and vanilla, beating until light and fluffy.
- Add sugar gradually, beating after each addition.
- Add 3 tablespoons milk, beating until smooth. Beat in more milk until desired spreading consistency is reached.
Makes about 2 1/3 cups of frosting, enough to frost tops and sides of of an 8-inch 2-layer cake or a 10-inch tube or bundt cake, or about 1 dozen cupcakes.
You can make just about any flavor or consistency you want. Use it to frost a funfetti cake from scratch!
This post is linked at A Soft Place to Land.
Don’t forget to check back on Thursday for the kickoff of “4 Moms, 35 Kids – How Moms of Many Manage”.
{ 22 comments }
Now please don’t take this the wrong way………but you Americans are hilarious. I’m not sure any other country would suggest making your own frosting was something other than completely normal! You guys sure do love your convenience food.
I’m not sure that sounds the way I meant it….I say it with much affection. I think I’d better mention what I LOVE about Americans. Compared to us Australians you are much more generous and definitely much better at encouraging people.
As a Brit, I agree, I had a moment of…errrr….what other kind of frosting is there other than home made!
Yep! Same here – as a Scot, I thought there was gonna be some amazing revelation, but I saw the recipe and thought….. Oh – same as I make all the time. You mean… you can *buy* it ready-made? !!
Don’t feel bad, Connie… the frosting *is* delicious, and if folks don’t make it themselves as a rule, then it was worth posting
Yum and so easy! And yes, we Americans do tend to be a little lazy and love just grabbing something at the store! Lol Sometimes though, being frugal means giving up a little convenience!
You can buy frosting?
Yeah DISGUSTING STORE BOUGHT FROSTING!!!!!!!!!!
When I want to be frugal I go store bought since a pound of confectioners sugar costs me more than store bought frosting (store brand sale) and that doesn’t include the price of the other ingredients. And if I whip the store bought frosting it goes twice a far as homemade. However if I want to feel more satisfaction from my baking I go homemade.
Homemade frosting also has a taste advantage! 
Homemade frosting is the only frosting worth eating!!
I had never made frosting before a couple of years ago. It’s funny — though my Mom would never have used canned frosting, she also never showed me how to make frosting. So, I would just buy canned frosting, and think it wasn’t really very good. Then, I started making frosting and thought, “Oh my goodness! This actually tastes like frosting.”
This frosting is the only one my family will eat! They would pass up a cake anywhere that doesn’t have homemade frosting on it. Its so yummy!
I am ruined for the tubs of frosting-even if I can get them for free. Homemade is infinitely better!
I’m such a sucker for homemade frosting… lovely! Thanks for sharing!
We have a friday fun find party (that’s still going)- if you’re interested, we’d love it if you’d link up!
buying frosting from a store is 10x better than homemade frosting
we are making frosting never tried it before because we can’t go too store too buy some. Uhmm what color is it suppose too be
This did NOT turn out for me, but I think it is because I used skim milk.
Micah- the pic looks like chocolate frosting. If you follow the recipe it will be vanilla. Your frosting will be white to a lite ivory depending on the color of your butter & vanilla. If you used crisco and clear vanilla it would be pure white like from the bakery. if you want chocolate try adding coco powder maybe 2-4 tablespoon and then adjust the amount of milk to get right consistency.
thanks for the chocolate advice. I have a 4 yr old chocolate lover with a birthday tomorrow. gonna try this for the first time
We make our own powdered sugar. It’s not hard and way cheaper than buying it.
Connie how? I am need to know how to do that!
ok found this recipe
so much cheaper for icing sugar this way 
awesome! http://www.ehow.com/how_2247612_make-powdered-sugar.html
Elizabeth,
To answer your question: It is better if you make it because you don’t know what is in that frosting that you can buy and it is cheaper if you make it.
To Everyone: Great recipe! Tastes good so good! Tastes like store bought frosting.
Oh I am going to have to try this recipe the next time I need frosting as it doesn’t need a huge amount of butter (which is only a factor because butter is super expensive in China) like some recipes I’ve tried.
If I make my homemade powdered sugar:
http://www.thedoityourselfmom.com/2011/07/diy-powdered-sugar.html
I think this would be even more frugal and still incredibly delicious.
Thanks for sharing, the recipe looks great!