Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

My five-year-old son, Jack, has red hair. And the personality to go with it. All of you moms with redheads out there know exactly what I'm talking about. At least I hope you do, because I blame a lot of his excess energy on his hair color. It's my go-to excuse when I get old ladies staring at me in the Target check-out line when Jack is running from one end of the store to the other practicing his ninja moves on helpless store displays. So when it's dinner time and I give him anything with hamburger in it and he won't eat it, but he'll devour a cheeseburger in no time flat, I just tell my husband "it's the hair color" and then make him eat it anyway.

I'm the same way with cake. Make a cake and give me a slice and I think "meh, it's okay" and eat a few bites, but give me a cupcake and I will eat all of it in like two bites. I know they are the same thing but there is just something about that little morsel of cupcake heaven that makes it so much better than cake. I know I'm not the only one out there like this, am I?

So my mother had her birthday party a couple weeks ago and I was in charge of the cake. She wanted the lemon cake from Olive Garden, so I obliged and made the copycat recipe (I'll post it later, I promise!) and it is really good! But then I realized we needed something else to feed everyone (12 adults, 2 teenage boys and 7 kids) so I threw some cupcakes in the oven. I didn't have any frosting (normally I don't love canned frosting anyway unless I'm in a pinch) or cream cheese to make my go-to cream cheese frosting, so I made up a batch of super easy buttercream. It was so easy and super yummy! The best part about it, I had all this in my pantry and refrigerator. If you don't have whipping cream, just use milk (not nonfat, but 2% would work).

Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

submitted by Carissa- from foodnetwork.com

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency. (At this point you could add gel food coloring if you want to be fancy).

Cooking With The Girls Tutorial: Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I have a confession to make -

I used to use store-bought frosting.

Phew - it feels good getting that off my chest! I feel like a new woman!

But seriously, homemade frosting is comparable or cheaper to make than store-bought frosting, and even if it cost just a little bit more to make it would still be worth it because it is SO. DANG. GOOD. It will put your store-bought frosting to shame and you will wonder why you never made your own before. Really, have you ever compared the flavor of canned cream cheese frosting to homemade? You will never buy store-bought again!! {My one exception is Funfetti frosting - I just can't seem to recreate the awesomeness of those little rainbow colored goodness!}

This past weekend was my son's 4th birthday. I usually let me kids scour the internet for pictures of a cake they want me to make, and I try to appease them with my substandard cake decorating skills. Usually they turn out decent (I try not to compare mine to the pictures my kids find!) but this time my son wanted a "treasure chest"cake. Sure. No problem.

It didn't turn out exactly like the picture, but really, who cares! The frosting was delicious, and when your frosting is delicious no one remembers what your cake looked like!

Your ingredients. The shortening will help the frosting keep its shape.

Cream the butter and shortening together.

Mix in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder a little at a time, scraping the sides so it all gets incorporated. Add the milk and vanilla and mix until creamy.

My treasure chest cake! The frosting is so good, and even though I'm no professional cake decorator, it sure helped being able to stuff all that candy to hide the mistakes!

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
by Celeste - Girls in Aprons

*This recipe makes 6 cups of frosting, which is a little more than you'll need for a two-layer cake or if you are piping frosting on 24 cupcakes (piping always uses more frosting than if you are just spreading some on with a knife). It is easily halved to 3 cups if needed (or you could make 6 cups and eat the leftovers).

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening (I used Crisco butter-flavor)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder if I can find it)
4 cups powdered sugar (about 1 pound)
4 T milk
1 tsp vanilla

Start by creaming your butter and shortening together. Cream it to death. Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time (or you will have a huge white mess in your kitchen). Add cocoa a little at a time, scraping the edges often. Add milk and vanilla and mix until creamy. Refrigerate leftovers. It spreads best when at room temperature.

Hint: To make it fudgier add 1 to 2 cups of hot fudge topping. Mix to combine.