This daisy cake design would make the sweetest birthday party cake (just imagine it with cute birthday candles on top!) or the centerpiece for any special gathering. I’m thinking of Mother’s Day, a picnic in the park, a Sunday brunch, or any happy event on your calendar. You can use any of my cake recipes as the base of the cake and any light colored buttercream for the topping. Here are some of my suggestions, but feel free to use your favorite type of buttercream that’s pipeable and easy to color: 

• Vanilla Buttercream
• Vegan Vanilla Buttercream
• White Chocolate Buttercream
• Cream Cheese Buttercream
• Lavender Buttercream (it’s white if you don’t add the lavender color gel!)

The best part about this daisy cake is that the technique for piping the flowers is so easy. All you need is Wilton Tip 104 for the petals and Tip 10 for the centers. Watch this quick video tutorial to see how it’s done: 

If you’re into cake decorating videos like this one, be sure to check out my YouTube channel for further learning! I’m always rolling out new videos, so click the subscribe button while you’re there to ensure you never miss a new one.

You Will Need

• A layer cake that’s been crumb coated and chilled (mine is 6” diameter)
• Cake turntable
• Icing smoother
• Angled spatula 
• 3 Cups of light colored buttercream (I’m using one batch of this vanilla buttercream recipe)
• AmeriColor Egg Yellow (or yellow color gel of your choice)
• Wilton Tip 104
• Wilton Tip 10
• 2 piping bags 
• Palette knife or small food-grade paint brush (optional)

Step 1: Color the Buttercream

Reserve about ⅓ Cup of buttercream for piping the daisies, then add 3-5 drops of AmeriColor Egg Yellow (or other yellow food color gel) to tint the rest of the buttercream a medium yellow color. 

Step 2: Frost a Smooth Buttercream Finish

Place your chilled and crumb coated cake on the turntable and use the yellow buttercream you tinted in the previous step to frost a smooth buttercream finish onto the cake. Start by frosting a smooth layer on the very top of the cake with your angled icing spatula. Next, add buttercream to the sides of the cake and glide your icing smoother over them while turning the turntable to create smooth sides.

You’ll notice a crown of buttercream forming on the top edges of the cake, which is essential to getting sharp edges on the top. Use your angled icing spatula to swipe the crown inwards (toward the top center of the cake). Repeat until you’ve got nice sharp edges.

When your cake is looking ultra smooth, pop it into the refrigerator to firm up for at least 30 minutes. If you need more tips on creating a perfectly smooth cake finish, I’ve got a great tutorial for you here. 

Step 3: Pipe the Daisies

Place the white buttercream you reserved in Step 1 into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 104. Add another drop of AmeriColor Egg Yellow to any leftover yellow buttercream and mix it to make a slightly darker yellow for the daisy centers. Add this darker yellow buttercream to a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 10. 

Starting with the white frosting, hold the piping bag so that Tip 104 is parallel to the side of the cake, angled so that the larger part of the opening is the tip of each daisy petal and the smaller part of the opening is the center of the flower. Hovering the piping tip about ⅛ inch from the surface, pipe the first daisy petal by squeezing the bag and quickly releasing pressure once you see a petal shape form. Repeat piping the petals in a circular formation, rotating your hand slightly after piping each petal. 

Repeat piping the clusters of daisy petals 1-2 inches apart, all over the sides and top of the cake. 

Pipe a dot of the darker yellow buttercream in the very center of each daisy petal cluster to finish each flower.

Step 4: Smooth the Centers (Optional) 

If the centers of the daisies are too peaked, you can smooth them down using either a small angled spatula or palette knife, or a small paint brush dipped in a little bit of water. Simply swipe the peaks with the palette knife or use the small paint brush (dipped in water) to gently press each peak down. 

And that’s it! The happiest little cake for your next Spring celebration and it couldn’t be easier to whip up with the right tools and a sunny color palette!

I hope you have the best time making this daisy cake! If you do end up making it, let me know what you’re celebrating in the comments below + be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you create! 

The post Daisy Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

My favorite way to make fruit-flavored buttercream is always with freeze dried fruit. It gives the frosting the most authentic flavor without compromising the consistency of the buttercream. So whenever I’m perusing the freeze-dried fruit selection at my local grocery store, I always check to see what kinds are available. When I saw that freeze-dried blueberries were a thing I just had to snatch them up for a buttercream recipe!

Amazing Natural Color and Flavor

This blueberry buttercream has the most authentic flavor and the natural color is just unreal. You make it by grinding freeze-dried blueberries into a powder using a food processor, then adding them to the buttercream. 

One thing I’ve noticed is that different brands of blueberries can yield slightly different colors. This is because of a natural pigment found in all blueberries called anthocyanin. Different types of blueberries have slightly different pigments. For example, wild blueberries have more of a red-violet pigment (like you see here) and cultivated blueberries have more of a deep blue or indigo pigment. 

To give you some visual examples of how this can affect the resulting buttercream color, I made this lemon cake with blueberry buttercream using these freeze-dried blueberries from Trader Joe’s and got more of a bluish purple color.

Then for this buttercream recipe, I used Natierra Organic Freeze-Dried Blueberries and it turned out way more red-violet, but with the same amazing blueberry flavor. Pretty wild! 

What are Freeze-Dried Blueberries?

The process of freeze drying removes all the liquid from the berries while keeping the color and flavor intact. The blueberries are essentially frozen, and then the ice is vaporized after that. This preserves all the nutrients of the blueberries, since the only element eliminated is the water content. The process also makes the blueberries dry enough to grind into powder for flavoring and dying foods like buttercream. 

You can usually find freeze-dried berries in the snack section at your local grocery store. I’ve seen them at New Seasons, Whole Foods, Target, Costco, and Trader Joe’s. If you can’t find them locally, Amazon is also a great resource. Just make sure they’re freeze-dried and not just dried. 

Can I Use Fresh or Frozen Blueberries?

Since both fresh and frozen blueberries still contain a ton of water, you can’t do a straight substitution in this recipe. Adding all that water content will make your buttercream split, plus the flavor won’t be as powerful. If you can’t find freeze dried blueberries locally or online, I’d recommend trying a reduced blueberry pureè to flavor the buttercream instead. That will mean pureèing the blueberries, then cooking them down in a saucepan to remove as much liquid as you can. 

What to Pair with Blueberry Buttercream

Here are some of my favorite cakes to pair with this blueberry buttercream:

• Lemon Cake
• Vanilla Cake
• Chocolate Cake
• Vegan Vanilla Cake
• Vegan Chocolate Cake

Print

Freeze-Dried Blueberry Buttercream

This delicious blueberry buttercream is packed with amazing flavor, natural color, and is the perfect consistency for decorating cakes and cupcakes.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Servings 3 Cups

Ingredients

• 3/4 Cup (18g) freeze-dried blueberries
• 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 Tbsp (45ml) whole milk, room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 Cups (360g) powdered sugar
• pinch of salt

Instructions

• With a food processor, grind the blueberries into a powder and set aside.
• Whip the butter using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until it’s creamy and light in color (5 minutes). Add vanilla, milk, and blueberry powder and continue to mix on medium until fully combined.
• Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix on low speed, scraping down the bowl and paddle after each addition. Add a pinch of salt and mix on low speed until fully combined and smooth, 1-2 minutes. 

Notes

Make it Ahead: This buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for one day, or in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Bring it back to room temperature and re-mix with your mixer on low speed to bring it back to frosting consistency. 

Make it Vegan: you can easily substitute the butter in this recipe with your favorite vegan butter sticks. I like to use Earth Balance brand. Then substitute the whole milk in this recipe with your favorite non-dairy milk. Coconut and soy milk yield the best results in my opinion. 

Yield: This buttercream makes enough to:

• Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
• Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake. To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe. 

What will you do with your blueberry buttercream? Let me know in the comments or tag me on Instagram if you make this recipe!

The post The Best Blueberry Buttercream Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Here’s a quick video that explains the differences between each buttercream consistency and shows you how to make it before we get into the details below:

If you want to see more videos like this one, check out my YouTube Channel. I’ve got a growing collection of recipe videos, cake decorating tutorials, and my Cake Basics series in video format. Click subscribe while you’re there so you never miss a new video! 

3 Types of Buttercream Consistency

There are three different consistencies of buttercream that each play a different role in cake decorating. All of the info you’ll find on this post can be paired with any of my buttercream recipes, since they’re all American buttercream recipes. If you’re wanting to work with a different type of buttercream (such as Swiss Meringue, Whipped Cream, etc.), you’ll want to search for info that’s specific to your buttercream type. Here’s everything you need to know about when to use each consistency and how to make it: 

Medium Consistency

I’m starting with medium consistency because it’s the consistency you’ll end up with when you make my vanilla buttercream recipe as-is. It’s also the most versatile of all the consistencies – perfect for filling and stacking a cake, crumb coating, frosting a smooth buttercream finish, and even decorating cupcakes with piping tips. 

If you’re working with an American buttercream recipe that isn’t one of mine, you can check to see if your buttercream is medium consistency by dipping your spatula into it and observing the shape of the peak. It should be a soft peak that holds its shape for at least a few seconds when you turn it right side up. 

Thin Consistency

Thin consistency is perfect for a few things: painting with buttercream (this floral buttercream cake is a good example), writing out a message, or for frosting a super thin final layer of buttercream onto your cake. The second reason is more of a cake hack, which I shared in this YouTube video on how to get an extra smooth buttercream finish. 

To make your buttercream thin consistency, add it back into the bowl of your stand mixer (if it’s not already there) and mix it on low speed while you add room temperature milk, 1-2 teaspoons at a time, until the desired consistency has been reached. To test it, you should be able to dip your rubber spatula into the buttercream and it will come out with super soft peaks that don’t really hold their shape, but also aren’t melty (see the troubleshooting tips below if it is). This consistency should spread very easily, which makes it perfect for more painterly textures.

Stiff Consistency

If you’re piping buttercream flowers, especially ones with petals that need to stand upright, or piping intricate designs like a lambeth cake, you’ll need a stiff consistency buttercream. Thickening your buttercream when necessary will help it to hold its shape and prevent your piping from looking droopy. 

Another time that stiff consistency comes in handy is in the filling and stacking process, when you’re working with a soft filling that needs a piped buttercream dam around it to uphold the weight of the cake layers above. By slightly thickening your buttercream for the dam, it will be extra effective against the weight of gravity. This way, your filling won’t bulge out between the layers.

To create a stiff consistency buttercream, add powdered sugar to your batch of buttercream, 2-3 Tablespoons at a time, until the desired consistency is reached. You can add as much powdered sugar as you’d like depending on how thick you want the buttercream. If you are concerned about making it too sweet, you can use cornstarch as an alternative. It won’t add any flavor to your buttercream. 

To test the consistency, you should be able to dip your rubber spatula into the buttercream and it will come out with stiff peaks that hold their shape. It should pipe easily without having to put a lot of pressure on the bag and the piped details should not look frayed. If they do, you’ll want to thin out the buttercream slightly (see details on that in the next section). 

How to Fix Buttercream 

When you’re altering buttercream consistency, it’s entirely possible to overdo it. The good news is that whether you make your buttercream too thick or too thin, it’s easy to fix. I’ve thrown in some additional common problems just in case you need troubleshooting tips for those too: 

If it’s Too Thick 

You’ll know your buttercream is too thick if it’s ripping the cake layers while you’re trying to frost with it or the details look frayed when you pipe with it (like in the picture below). To fix it, simply add room temperature milk, 1 tsp at a time, until the consistency is just right.

If it’s Too Thin or Runny 

There are a few ways you’ll know your buttercream is too thin: it looks soupy, bulges out from between your cake layers when used as a filling, or the details droop when you try to pipe with it. Buttercream might end up too thin if you add too much liquid or if you’re working in a warm kitchen. Butter starts to break down above 75 degrees, so any environment above that will have an effect on your buttercream consistency.

To thicken your buttercream when you’ve added too much liquid, simply add more powdered sugar, 2-3 Tablespoons at a time, until the desired consistency is reached. If it’s more of a matter of the kitchen temperature being too warm, pop your buttercream into the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes. Then, remix it in your stand mixer on low speed for a minute or two to bring it back together. The refrigeration should help the butter in the recipe firm up and stabilize the whole batch.

If it’s Filled with Air Bubbles

Sometimes when you’re making a batch of buttercream, extra air can get trapped inside, resulting in visible air bubbles throughout the mixture. This mostly happens when the buttercream is whipped on too high of a speed after adding the powdered sugar. To fix it, place the buttercream into an airtight container, let it rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes, then add it back into the bowl of your stand mixer and let it mix on low speed for about a minute. I don’t know why this works exactly, but the whole process somehow forces out all the extra air like magic. 

If you didn’t realize your buttercream had air bubbles in it until you started frosting the cake, fear not. Frost a super thin layer of buttercream, air bubbles and all, and place the cake into the refrigerator while you fix the rest of the buttercream using the process described in the paragraph above. By the time you’ve got a smooth buttercream to work with, your frosted cake should be chilled to the point where you can frost an additional layer of buttercream over the top and fill in all of the air pockets in the buttercream layer beneath. 

To prevent air bubbles in the future, always mix on low speed from the time you add the powdered sugar until the end of the recipe. Low and slow is the ticket. 

If it Looks Curdled 

Typically, the buttercream becomes curdled if you start with butter that’s too soft or add milk that’s too cold. Both of these ingredients must be at room temperature for the buttercream to have a cohesive, smooth consistency. To fix it, place the entire batch of buttercream into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, then re-mix it with your stand mixer for 2-3 minutes. It should look well-blended and smooth at this point. 

If it Feels Grainy or Gritty

Buttercream looks and tastes gritty if you haven’t given the powdered sugar enough time to dissolve. The powdered sugar will dissolve easiest if you sift out any large lumps prior to adding it. To fix the grainy consistency, add 1-2 additional teaspoons of room temperature milk and mix the buttercream on low speed for an additional 1-2 minutes. This should help the powdered sugar dissolve completely. 

Hopefully this post solves every buttercream consistency question you could ever have! But, if you’ve got more questions, feel free to post them in the comments below. I’m happy to help!

The post How to Make the Perfect Buttercream Consistency + Troubleshooting Tips appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

2021 was not a particularly easy year for me or for Sugar & Sparrow, but at the same time it was truly life giving and rewarding. My newborn baby became an infant at the beginning of the year and is now a very curious toddler who is happily into everything. The kid loves life and it’s been so fun to watch him discover more and more. I have been loving motherhood despite it being the hardest job I’ve ever had, and juggling cake blogging on top of it has been a real challenge, but I’m giving myself a lot more grace. I’m learning my limits and how to create a work-life balance I feel good about, all while keeping the creative inspiration for Sugar & Sparrow alive. Thank you tremendously for sticking with me through all of the transition!

As for Sugar & Sparrow, this past year was a lot about re-discovering my passion for cake. Specifically, a passion for teaching you how to make pretty cakes that spread joy. Nothing makes me happier than hearing that one of my recipes has become your go-to or that someone has used my Cake Basics series to make their very first successful cake. I love helping you learn and grow in your cake making skills, and that will be my main focus in 2022 – more Cake Basics, sharing trusted recipes, posting video tutorials, and creating resources you can reference again and again. Other things I have planned: a major kitchen remodel (praise be!) + something else BIG and exciting that I can’t wait to share more about, so stay tuned! 

All of that said, I’d love it if you would comment below what you want to learn this year in regards to cake. I’ve got a running list of ideas and would be thrilled to add your suggestions to it! In the meantime, while we wait to ring in 2022 together, let’s take a little trip down memory lane. Here are the posts you loved the most in 2021: 

Cake Basics: How to Transfer Cakes to a Stand (or Box)

So you’ve decorated the perfect cake. Now how do you get it into a box or onto a cake stand without messing up all the details? Because I know the anxiety that transfer can bring, I whipped up this Cake Basics post and video tutorial to show you how I do it. 

Cake Basics: Make Ahead Tips for Cake

When I ran a cake business from home many years ago, I remember obsessing over how far in advance I could make and decorate a cake while keeping it fresh for the client. Now that I run Sugar & Sparrow, I get questions all the time regarding cake timelines like this. I wrote out these make ahead tips so that you’d never have to wonder about when to start your baking and decorating, how to make your elements (cake layers, buttercream, decorations, etc) ahead of time so they’re ready to go on decorating day, and essentially how to plan your cake out and reduce the stress of it. There’s even a sample cake timeline that you can use as a reference!

Chocolate Ganache Drip Recipe + Video

While this recipe is not new per se, it has become my most loved of all time. This past year, I finally whipped up a video to go along with it! In it, I teach you my recipe for go-to chocolate ganache, show you how I drip a cake with it, and cover all the troubleshooting I can think of. This one should help you create flawless chocolate ganache drip cakes every time. 

Heat Stable Vanilla Buttercream Recipe

After one of my cakes full-on melted at an outdoor party last summer, I set up the ultimate experiment in hopes of finding the perfect heat resistant buttercream recipe. I frosted four different cakes with various buttercreams and set them out in the sun to see what would happen over time. Not only did I find a new go-to recipe that takes the heat and doesn’t sacrifice flavor, I had a whole lot of fun along the way. 

Raspberry Chocolate Cake Recipe

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, you’re going to want to stick this Raspberry Chocolate Cake recipe in your back pocket: layers of moist, fudgy chocolate cake + my favorite raspberry buttercream recipe, decorated with rich chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries. It’s romantic, decadent, and the buttercream has the most beautiful natural color ever. 

Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe

2021 was the year I finally attempted vegan cake recipes! It was one of my new years goals one whole year ago, and I’m so happy with the results. This cake, along with the two other vegan cake recipes on my blog, were featured in the print edition of PlantBased Magazine last summer! You truly cannot tell that this Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe is vegan – it’s rich and decadent, moist and fudgy, packed with chocolate flavor, and so easy to whip up. 

Vegan Vanilla Cake Recipe

This fluffy, bakery style Vegan Vanilla Cake probably took the most testing of any cake recipe I’ve ever written, but it was worth all of it. I was so excited about the final results that I drove the cake around to all my vegan friends for confirmation (spoiler alert: they loved it!). It has a divine texture, moist crumb, and perfect vanilla flavor. If you’re looking for a good go-to vanilla cake for those who are plant based or need a dairy free option, I hope this becomes yours! 

DIY Food Photography Backgrounds

After searching the internet for food photography backgrounds, I came to the conclusion that I should try making them myself. The results? Amazing photo backgrounds at a fraction of the cost. Here’s how to make your own with some foam core boards and contact paper.

Black Buttercream Recipe (That Won’t Stain Your Teeth)

Love the look of black buttercream but hate how it stains your mouth when you eat it? Yeah, me too. That’s why I decided to experiment with black buttercream recipes in search of one that didn’t require too much black food color gel. Here’s my new favorite Black Buttercream recipe that won’t stain your teeth! 

Thanks again SO MUCH for sticking with me through this crazy year and cheering me on the whole way. I hope you had a wonderful 2021 and are looking forward to the year ahead. Whether cake making is a life giving hobby, your small business, or a skill you want to grow in, I am excited to share the journey with you and grow together. Stay tuned for more news of what’s to come for Sugar & Sparrow in 2022 and be sure to comment below with what you’d like to learn this year! 

The post Sugar & Sparrow’s Best of 2021 appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

This Summer, something happened to me that has never happened before (to my knowledge at least): one of my cakes melted in the outdoor heat. I made a birthday cake for a dear friend’s daughter – my vegan vanilla cake with vegan vanilla buttercream. The party was outdoors and the temperature was around 85 degrees. I refrigerated the cake up until I needed to drive it to the party, thinking that would be enough to preserve it for a few hours. But about an hour after the cake was displayed, the thing started melting (along with my heart). Thankfully, these were the kind of friends who were able to laugh about it with me as it all fell apart. Here’s a before and after:

Although it was a first for me, it got me thinking about so many of you who live in hot and humid climates. I’ve even gotten questions over the years from said people wondering how to make their buttercream more heat stable. The fact of the matter is, the butter in buttercream frosting starts to break down when it’s in an environment that’s above 82 degrees, and vegan butter has an even lower melting point. So, I thought I’d do some experimenting on how to add stability to your buttercream (both vegan and non) for those hot and humid days while keeping your frosting nice and tasty. 

For my experiment, I created four mini cakes and frosted them each with different frostings using my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe as a base: 

• All butter (aka the recipe as-is)
• Half butter and half shortening
• Half butter and half shortening + meringue powder for added stability
• Half vegan butter and half shortening (with coconut milk as the liquid)

I refrigerated each cake until firm before placing them in the direct sun on an 88 degree day with 35% humidity and here’s a video of what happened:

If you’re into cake videos like this one, head on over to my YouTube Channel. You’ll find all sorts of cake decorating tutorials, recipes, and my entire Cake Basics series in video format. I’m always adding new videos there, so be sure to hit the subscribe button so you’ll always be the first to know about a new one. 

Buttercream Heat Test Results

Over the course of the two hours I had the cakes in the sun, none of them completely melted, which was kind of disappointing because I wanted things to be more dramatic. The day just wasn’t hot enough. So in the end, I had to break out the hair dryer to see what would happen with more heat applied. 

After I cranked up the heat on these cakes, the all-butter buttercream frosted cake melted into soup:

The cake with the half vegan butter and half shortening got a huge air bubble in the frosting that started to melt:

The half butter and half shortening frosted cake looked pretty good after one hour but this is after two hours out in the direct sun + hair dryer:

And the half butter/half shortening with added meringue powder had relatively no change: 

I did try an all-shortening frosting because I hear that’s really heat stable, but just couldn’t get over how terrible it tasted. You’d have to use a lot of flavoring to get it to taste normal (and even then, the texture is a little weird).

I concluded that when you’re up against crazy heat (according to these test results at least), use half butter and half shortening with meringue powder. If you’re in need of vegan frosting, you can chance it with half vegan butter and half shortening or try the all-shortening route (with the meringue powder omitted) if you can get it to taste good. I’m going to add my preferred recipe below and in the notes, I will show you how to adapt the recipe for using all-shortening, making it vegan, etc. 

What is High Ratio Shortening?

When you think of shortening, what do you think of? Crisco is what I thought of before all my research into heat stable buttercream. It turns out that Crisco (and most shortening) is made with zero trans fat – in other words, it won’t add enough stability to your frosting. So in order to add that stability, you need what’s called high ratio shortening. That means the shortening has a high ratio of fat with added emulsifiers and no added salt or water. In other words, the micro emulsifiers in it help your frosting to hold more sugar and liquid and thus make it more temperature resistant. 

Unlike Crisco though, high ratio shortening can’t be found at your typical grocery store. I found this high ratio shortening on Amazon, which claims to be made specifically for cake making, but there are other brands (Sweetex is one I hear about a lot) that cake decorators use. You might be lucky and live close to a cake decorating shop that sells high ratio shortening, so check your local area to see.  

What is Meringue Powder? 

Meringue powder is basically powdered egg whites, but it also contains cornstarch, sugar for sweetness, gum arabic for thickening, and cream of tartar which helps with stabilizing. If you want to try just adding meringue powder to your buttercream without adding any shortening, add 1 Tbsp (per batch of frosting) by mixing it into the powdered sugar before adding it to the butter in the linked recipe. 

With taste and stability in mind, here’s my new go-to recipe for heat stable buttercream:

Print

Heat Stable Vanilla Buttercream

A tasty vanilla buttercream that stands up better to hot and humid environments. Makes enough to fill and frost a double layer cake, fill and crumb coat a triple layer cake, and frost about 20 cupcakes.

Servings 3 Cups

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 Cup (100g) high ratio shortening
• 3 1/2 Cups (420g) powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp meringue powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp whole milk or heavy whipping cream, room temperature
• 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste

Instructions

• With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the butter and shortening on medium-high until it’s creamy and light (almost white) in color. About 7 minutes.
• Whisk the meringue powder into the powdered sugar. Then, with the mixer on low, add the meringue/powdered sugar mixture one cup at a time, scraping down after each addition and making sure each cup is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
• Add vanilla, milk, and salt and mix on low for another minute until fully incorporated.

Notes

Make Ahead Tips: This buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency. 

To Make It with Vegan Butter: substitute an equal amount of vegan butter (I love Earth Balance Sticks) for the unsalted butter, omit the meringue powder, add 1 Tbsp vanilla instead of 2 tsp, add 1 Tbsp dairy-free milk instead of 2 Tbsp whole milk (my favorite is unsweetened coconut milk), and salt to taste. 

To Make It All-Shortening: omit the butter and use 1 Cup of high ratio shortening, 1 Tbsp of vanilla (and ¼-½ tsp of any other flavorings you’d like, such as butter extract, almond extract, etc), 4 Tbsp of whole milk or non-dairy milk, and keep the salt amount the same. 

To Make It Extra White: After all ingredients have been incorporated, add 1-2 tsp of Americolor Bright White or icing whitener of your choice. 

Yield: This buttercream makes enough to:

• Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
• Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake. To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe. 

Did you try this recipe? I want to know that you think! Let me know in the comments below or feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram and show me. I love to see what you create! And if you have a go-to recipe for heat stable buttercream or technique that you swear by, let us all know in the comments. We’re all in this together!

The post Stable Vanilla Buttercream Recipe for Hot Weather appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

The right tool can be the difference between a cake and a caketastrophe.

All of the caking tools I’ve come to love over the years and use on the daily. Whether you’re brand new to cake baking or a seasoned pro, you’ll find something on this page to help on your journey.

Visit the Amazon Store

I’ve set up an Amazon Store that collects all my favorite tools in an up-to-date storefront.

VISIT THE STORE

Tool Section Shortcuts

Baking tools

5-Quart KitchenAid Mixer

The perfect all-purpose stand mixer for whipping up layer cakes, cupcakes, and up to three batches of buttercream.

Buy on Amazon

6-Quart KitchenAid Mixer

The perfect large batch stand mixer for whipping up layer cakes, cupcakes, and up to six batches of buttercream.

Buy on Amazon

KitchenAid Paddle Attachment

The ideal attachment for mixing cakes, cupcakes, and buttercream – it incorporates the least amount of air, making your cakes fluffier and your buttercream smoother.

Buy on Amazon

KitchenAid Whisk Attachment

The ideal attachment for whipping cream and meringue.

Buy on Amazon

4-inch Cake Pans

A set of four baby cake pans that have a removable bottom for easy release! The sides are straight as well (hard to find with smaller cake pans), which helps you bake straighter cake layers. The perfect size for smash cakes and small servings.

Buy on Amazon

6-inch Cake Pans

The most popular size for party cakes, as three layers will serve up to 18. I recommend having at least three of these pans for baking all your layers at once.

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8-inch Cake Pans

Perfect for adding a bottom tier to your 6-inch cake, or having a slightly larger party cake. I recommend having at least three of these pans for baking all your layers at once. A three layer cake in this size serves up to 30.

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24-cup Muffin Pan

A great pan for baking two dozen cupcakes at once, which is a life saver if you’re making larger batches!

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Wilton Cake Leveler

The easiest way to get perfectly torted cake layers. There’s an easily adjustable wire to ensure that you get the right height for your layer, and it’ll slide through your cake like butter to create amazingly level layers in seconds. Beats torting with a knife any day!

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Decorating tools

13-inch Angled Spatula

My go-to icing spatula for applying buttercream to cakes and smoothing the top.

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9-inch Straight Icing Spatula

My go-to icing spatula for making cake filling level.

Buy on Amazon

Wilton Cake Leveler

The easiest way to get perfectly torted cake layers. There’s an easily adjustable wire to ensure that you get the right height for your layer, and it’ll slide through your cake like butter to create amazingly level layers in seconds. Beats torting with a knife any day!

Buy on Amazon

13-inch Angled Spatula

My go-to icing spatula for applying buttercream to cakes and smoothing the top.

Buy on Amazon

9-inch Straight Icing Spatula

My go-to icing spatula for making cake filling level.

Buy on Amazon

6-inch Bench Scraper

My go-to for getting ultra smooth sides on buttercream cakes. Since it’s made of stainless steel, it’s easy to heat up if you need to smooth out wrinkles and creases.

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Culinary Torch

A must for torching meringue, toasting creme bruleè, and anything that requires a bit of fire.

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Wilton Turntable

The turntable I started with in the beginning of my cake making journey, and it still holds up after eight years and counting. There’s a built-in non-slip pad to keep your cake steady, and although it’s the cheapest cake turntable you’ll find, it’s great quality.

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Ateco Turntable

The smoothest cake turntable I own, and also the prettiest. Comes with a non-slip pad to place under your cakes and made from high quality materials (cast iron and steel) in a design that’s beautiful enough to display your cakes!

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Piping tools

Disposable Piping Bags

A pack of 100 disposable piping bags for those times you need twenty different colors of buttercream or royal icing. They fit quite a bit of buttercream at 12 inches long, and can easily be trimmed to create smaller piping bags.

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Reusable Piping Bag

The more environmentally friendly approach to piping. These reusable bags are completely washable and last for years.

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Wilton Tip 4B

My go-to piping tip for decorating cakes and cupcakes with open stars.

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Wilton Tip 1M

My go-to tip for piping rosettes and cupcake swirls.

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Wilton Tip 104 (Petal Tip)

My go-to tip for creating a huge variety of buttercream flowers that look realistic.

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Wilton Tip 352 (Leaf Tip)

My go-to tip for piping leaves to accent buttercream flowers and succulents.

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Wilton Tip 1M

My go-to tip for piping rosettes and cupcake swirls.

Buy on Amazon

Wilton Tip 104 (Petal Tip)

My go-to tip for creating a huge variety of buttercream flowers that look realistic.

Buy on Amazon

Wilton Tip 352 (Leaf Tip)

My go-to tip for piping leaves to accent buttercream flowers and succulents.

Buy on Amazon

Wilton Tip 3 (Tiny Round)

The perfect sized tip for piping the centers of buttercream flowers, tiny dots, or for writing with buttercream and royal icing.

Buy on Amazon

Wilton Tip 2D (rosette)

A great tip for piping realistic rosettes on cakes and cupcakes.

Buy on Amazon

Wilton Tip 1A

A great size open circle for piping swirls on cupcakes, large dots, and borders on cakes.

Buy on Amazon

Photography tools

Looking for the perfect tools to capture your baking or other recipes? I searched high and low to find the best combo that was affordable and wouldn’t break the bank. These are the tools I use to capture all of the photos you see on my blog!

Canon T7i Body

Switching from iPhone to a DSLR camera has grown my food photography tremendously! This is the perfect (affordable!) beginner camera with a low learning curve that takes incredible photos with ease. There’s a flip out screen with touch focus capability, and also films videos in 1080p.

This kit gives you the best bang for your buck and comes with tons of goodies: a tripod, camera bag, handheld shutter button, camera strap, memory cards, and more!

Buy on Amazon

Canon 50mm Lens

The ideal lens for food photography and portraits. I researched lenses a TON and this was the one recommended across the board. The nifty fifty.

Buy on Amazon

The post My Favorite Tools appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I know I’m not alone when I say my love for chocolate cake runs DEEP. I’ve just always had a soft spot in my heart for a good chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (bonus if it has sprinkles!). So when I went about making this Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe, I made sure it had all the essentials: extra moist, rich chocolate flavor, just the right balance of sweet and decadent, and has that melt-in-your-mouth crumb we all want in a chocolate cake. It’s a true rival to my (full-dairy) One-Bowl Chocolate Cake recipe and I could not be more satisfied with how the vegan version turned out! 

My ultimate goal with this recipe was to make it so tasty that you couldn’t tell it’s vegan. I’m so happy to say that this cake definitely knocks it out of the park on taste, texture, and all the things! After topping it with Vegan Chocolate Buttercream, even my (non-vegan) husband agreed that you truly can’t tell a difference between this recipe and the full-dairy version. Maybe we need to do a blind taste test to compare, but I feel like this Vegan Chocolate Cake is everything I was hoping for. 

This cake recipe actually dates back to the depression era (it’s sometimes called Wacky Cake or Crazy Cake), when ingredients like eggs and butter were too expensive to have on hand. Even though it’s super simple and basically the kind of cake you can throw together with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry, it makes the perfect vegan cake because it doesn’t need dairy to be amazing. It gets its moist crumb from a vegetable oil base, and while you can use any kind of oil you want, be sure that you like the taste of whatever you’re using, as it will end up flavoring the cake. I always opt for canola oil or generic vegetable oil, because they have the least amount of flavor and I want chocolate to be the star of the show in this recipe. 

Why NON Dutch Process Cocoa? 

Speaking of chocolate, it’s really important that you use non Dutch Process cocoa powder in this recipe. This is because there’s an amazing chemical reaction that happens between the cocoa powder, baking soda, and vinegar that’s responsible for giving this cake its rise. The chemical reaction doesn’t work properly with Dutch Process cocoa powder because of how it’s made – Dutch Process involves washing the cocoa beans in an alkaline solution called potassium carbonate, which neutralizes the acidity. In other words, it prevents that cool little science experiment from happening when you bake it, resulting in a deflated cake. Just be sure to use a natural, unsweetened cocoa powder for this recipe. Any brand will work, but Hershey’s is what I use.

This Vegan Chocolate Cake pairs well with pretty much any frosting flavor, but it’s pictured here with my Vegan Chocolate Buttercream, which is lick-the-spoon amazing. I ate an embarrassing amount of it (zero regrets though!). This cake also pairs super well with the Vegan Oreo Buttercream from this recipe as well if you’re more of a cookies and cream kind of person. 

To decorate, I frosted the cake smooth, added some Fancy Sprinkles in the “Hey Jude” mix (also vegan!), and used Wilton tip 4B to pipe swirls around the top before adding even more sprinkles. If you want to grow in your cake decorating skills, be sure to check out my Cake Basics series – it’s a collection of videos and blog posts that will show you how to build and decorate a cake just like this one from start to finish. However you decide to decorate, this Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe is sure to impress both vegans and non-vegans alike. Enjoy!

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Vegan Chocolate Cake

A simple yet decadent vegan chocolate cake that's moist, ultra-chocolatey, and basically everything you could want in a chocolate cake (but completely dairy-free!)

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 Cups (400g) all-purpose flour
• 2 Cups (410g) granulated white sugar
• 1/2 Cup (45g) natural, unsweetened cocoa powder NOT Dutch Process
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 Cup (180ml) vegetable oil
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 Cups (480ml) water, room temperature

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare three 6-inch or two 9-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and fitting the bottoms with a wax paper or parchment cake circle. 
• Place all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and stir on low for 30 seconds to fully combine them. Add the vegetable oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water and mix on low until combined.
• Pour into prepared cake pans no more than 2/3 full and bake for 35-40 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely before filling and frosting with a double batch of Vegan Chocolate Buttercream (or frosting of your choice).

Notes

Make ahead tips: This Vegan Chocolate Cake can be made ahead and stored at room temperature, covered tightly in plastic wrap, for up to two days. Alternatively, you can cover with plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to two months before thawing to room temperature. 

Make it extra chocolatey by filling and frosting with a double batch of Vegan Chocolate Buttercream. 

Did you make this Vegan Chocolate Cake? I want to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco in your Instagram photos to show me. I love to see what you create!

The post Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I am a chocolate lover to the core, so when I decided to create a vegan version of my favorite chocolate buttercream recipe, I was extra careful to make sure that not an ounce of flavor was sacrificed in the process. Rest assured, this Vegan Chocolate Buttercream is every bit as delicious as the real deal – it’s the kind of buttercream that I have to hide from myself so I don’t end up eating spoonful after spoonful! Whether you enjoy it straight out of the bowl or pair it with a cake (this Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe is it’s soul mate), it’s a frosting that’s sure to satisfy. 

This Vegan Chocolate Buttercream recipe could not be easier to make, yet the results are outstanding – super silky, ultra decadent, and packed with chocolatey flavor goodness. It’s perfect for filling and frosting cakes, piping onto cupcakes, and pairing with anything that would be made better with chocolate buttercream. All it takes is five simple ingredients and about ten minutes of your time. 

It all starts with a good quality vegan butter. I love Earth Balance sticks for this recipe, but you can use whatever brand that takes your fancy. Just be sure that you like the flavor of the vegan butter you’re using, as it will end up flavoring the buttercream. Another ingredient that will impact the overall flavor of this Vegan Chocolate Buttercream is the non-dairy milk you choose. I absolutely love this recipe with unsweetened coconut milk and soy milk the most, but any non-dairy milk will do. 

This Vegan Chocolate Buttercream goes with anything that pairs well with chocolate, but my all-time favorite pairing is with this Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe. It is irresistible for a chocolate lover, vegan or not. Whatever you’re making this Vegan Chocolate Buttercream for, just beware – you’re gonna want to eat the extra by the spoonful. Consider yourself warned!

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Vegan Chocolate Buttercream

A silky smooth, decadent chocolate buttercream that's dairy-free and vegan. The perfect addition to cake, cupcakes, and anything that pairs well with chocolate buttercream.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 3 Cups

Ingredients

• 1 Cup (227g) vegan butter, softened to room temperature I use Earth Balance sticks
• 3 1/2 Cups (420g) powdered sugar
• 1/2 Cup (42g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 Cup (80ml) unsweetened non-dairy milk, room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

• With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the vegan butter on medium-high until it’s creamy and light in color. About 5 minutes. 
• Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, unsweetened non-dairy milk, and vanilla extract. Mix on medium-low for a minute or two, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed, until fully combined and silky smooth.

Notes

Make Ahead Tips: This buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency. 

Dairy-Free Milk Suggestions: My favorites to use with this recipe are unsweetened coconut milk and unsweetened soy milk. You are free to use any dairy-free milk you’d like, but make sure you like the taste of whatever milk option you choose, as it will end up flavoring the buttercream. 

Yield: This buttercream makes enough to:

• Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
• Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake. To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe. 

Did you make this Vegan Chocolate Buttercream? I want to know what you think and how you used it! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco in your Instagram photos to show me. I love seeing what you create!

The post Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Ever since I published my favorite fluffy Vanilla Cake Recipe, I’ve gotten lots of questions about how to make it eggless or full-on vegan. The truth is, I’d been wanting to make a vegan vanilla cake for years, but everything I read about vegan baking scared me into thinking it was going to be a huge mountain of recipe testing I was going to have to climb (spoiler alert: it was). Still, I kept it on my list, mainly because I wanted an option to offer those asking for the vegan version of my vanilla cake recipe. But it wasn’t until I had my son and had to cut out dairy shortly after that it moved from the bottom of the list to the top. I rolled up my sleeves, put on my apron, and began my absolute OBSESSION with creating the perfect, fluffy, easy, flavorful, can’t-even-tell-it’s-vegan cake recipe. I can say with assurance after what seems like a hundred recipe tests that this is the one.  

During my recipe testing, I tried a few different vegan vanilla cake recipes to see what the methods, ingredients, and results were like. The problem that I kept running into was that they were so easy to overmix, resulting in a dense cake, plus they just didn’t have that perfect vanilla flavor and bakery-style fluffiness I was after. After weeks of testing and many failures, I decided to simply swap out the dairy in my Vanilla Cake Recipe with vegan ingredients – Earth Balance sticks for the butter, aquafaba for the eggs, and soy milk for the whole milk. I did have to tweak the leavening agents a bit, but once I got those figured out I just about squealed with delight when these layers came out of the oven! 

This Vegan Vanilla Cake recipe is exactly what I was after: extra soft and fluffy, perfectly moist, beautiful vanilla flavor, and just a delight to eat for vegans and non-vegans alike. It tastes like something you’d find at your favorite bakery, yet it’s so simple to whip up and pair with your favorite frosting (it’s paired with my Vegan Vanilla Buttercream here). I enlisted some of my vegan friends and their kiddos to taste test and they all agreed that this cake is an absolute hit, which makes me all the more excited to share it with you.

What is Aquafaba? 

I had never heard of aquafaba before I started on this vegan cake recipe journey, so I wanted to take the time to explain what it is and why it’s used in this recipe. Basically, aquafaba (which is Italian for “bean juice”) is the juice from a can of chickpeas that acts as an egg replacer in vegan recipes.

Once whisked until foamy, the aquafaba acts as whole eggs in this cake recipe to bind the other ingredients together and create a little volume as well. And trust me, you cannot taste it at all. Quite miraculous if you ask me! 

Details on Decorating 

I decorated this cake using my Vegan Vanilla Buttercream recipe, which is super easy to add color to. I added a little AmeriColor Sky Blue to create a buttercream ombrè before decorating the sides with Fancy Sprinkles in the Roller Disco mix (also vegan!) and piped some swirls on the top with Wilton Tip 4B.

If you want to grow in your cake decorating skills, I recommend checking out my Cake Basics series! It’s an ever-growing collection of blog posts and YouTube videos that show you the basics of decorating, like how to frost a smooth buttercream cake, and how to decorate with sprinkles. However you decide to decorate and whatever flavors you decide to pair it with, this Vegan Vanilla Cake is sure to impress. Enjoy!

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Vegan Vanilla Cake

Layers of soft, fluffy, and extra flavorful vegan vanilla cake, perfect for any vanilla cake fan (vegan or not)! The kind of cake you'd find at your favorite bakery, only homemade and super easy to whip up.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

Vegan Vanilla Cake

• 1 1/4 Cups (300ml) unsweetened soy milk, room temperature
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• 2 3/4 Cups (290g) cake flour, sifted before measuring* DIY recipe in notes
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 Cup (120ml) aquafaba** see notes
• 1 Cup (227g) vegan butter, room temperature I use Earth Balance sticks
• 1 3/4 Cups (355g) white granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 6-inch or two 8-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with a cooking spray (Baker's Joy is my favorite) and a wax paper circle fitted to the bottom of the pan. Alternatively, you can grease and lightly flour the pans. 
• Stir together the white vinegar and soy milk and set aside. Sift the cake flour and then measure by spooning and leveling it in your measuring cup. Add the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. 
• Make the Aquafaba: Pour the juice from a can of chickpeas into a medium sized bowl (either discard the actual chickpeas or store them to use in another recipe). Whisk the juice vigorously for one minute, after which it will look foamy. Set aside.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer (a handheld mixer works fine too!), cream the vegan butter with the white granulated sugar for two minutes on medium-high, scraping down the bowl and paddle once in between. Measure out 1/2 Cup of the aquafaba (you can discard the rest) and add it along with the vanilla extract. Mix on medium for one minute. The mixture may look curdled at this point, but don't worry – it will all come together in the next step!
• With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, then add the soy milk mixture in a steady stream and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give it a few more stirs to combine (without over-mixing). A few lumps are ok. The batter will be slightly thick, but pourable.
• Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans (no more than 2/3 of the way full) and bake for 30-35 minutes. They're done when they spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for five minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack for an additional few hours of cooling. Make sure they're entirely room temperature before applying any frosting. 

Notes

*DIY Cake Flour Recipe: To make your own cake flour, spoon and level one cup of all-purpose flour and remove 2 Tbsp. Add 2 Tbsp of cornstarch. Repeat per the amount of cake flour you need, then sift the flour and cornstarch mixture 4 times (don’t skip that step!). After sifting, spoon and level to re-measure the amount of cake flour you need. 

**For the Aquafaba: the juice from one 15.5oz can of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) is perfect. Note that you’ll only use 1/2 cup of it in the recipe once prepared. Please read the paragraph about aquafaba in the body of this blog post if you’re unsure of what it is or why it’s used. 

To Make Ahead: These cakes can be baked, cooled, wrapped in plastic wrap, and left out at room temperature up to two days ahead of decorating. Unfrosted cake layers can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer for up to two months before thawing and frosting. 

Did you make this cake? I want to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco in your Instagram photos to show me. I love seeing what you create!

The post Vegan Vanilla Cake Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I am a firm believer that having a go-to vanilla buttercream recipe is essential for cake making, and this Vegan Vanilla Buttercream is the one I reach for when I’m in need of a trusty vegan frosting. Not only does it frost like a total dream, it also holds its shape beautifully when piped and can be easily tinted any color under the sun. Oh, did I mention it tastes amazing too? Cause that’s pretty important! 

There’s nothing complicated about this Vegan Vanilla Buttercream recipe, but the powerful vanilla flavor and silky texture make it seem complex. The truth is, I simply swapped out the dairy in my favorite (non-vegan) Vanilla Buttercream Recipe with vegan friendly ingredients and the results ended up being so perfect. It’s just four ingredients: a good vegan butter (I love Earth Balance sticks), powdered sugar, a quality vanilla extract, and your favorite unsweetened dairy-free milk. 

One of the secrets to success with this recipe is making sure your ingredients are room temperature before starting. That means you’ll need to take the non-dairy milk and vegan butter about an hour ahead of time so they can come to room temperature before you start the recipe. Want to really knock this recipe out of the park? Invest in a great quality vanilla for flavoring. You can use any kind of vanilla extract or paste, but I always use bourbon vanilla (I get mine from Trader Joe’s!) to give it a rich vanilla flavor. 

This Vegan Vanilla Buttercream is extra versatile in the sense that it can be used for filling cakes, frosting cakes extra smooth, piping cupcakes and intricate decorations, and any other kind of dessert that calls for buttercream. It’s as easy to work with as it is to make. It can be paired with any cake flavor (everything pairs well with vanilla!), but if you’re looking to make an all-vanilla cake be sure to check out my Vegan Vanilla Cake recipe! It’s a tried and true crowd pleasing combination. Enjoy!

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Vegan Vanilla Buttercream

A silky smooth, flavorful vanilla buttercream that's dairy-free and vegan! Perfect for pairing with cakes, cupcakes, and any dessert that pairs well with vanilla buttercream.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 3 Cups

Ingredients

• 1 Cup (227g) vegan butter, softened to room temperature I use Earth Balance sticks
• 3 1/2 Cups (420g) powdered sugar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp unsweetened dairy-free milk, room temperature

Instructions

• With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the vegan butter on medium-high until it’s creamy and light in color. About 7 minutes. 
• With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, scraping down after each addition and making sure each cup is fully incorporated before adding the next one. 
• Add the vanilla and unsweetened dairy-free milk and mix on low for another minute until fully incorporated. 

Notes

Make Ahead Tips: This buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency. 

Dairy-Free Milk Suggestions: My favorites to use with this recipe are unsweetened coconut milk and unsweetened soy milk. You are free to use any dairy-free milk you’d like, but make sure you like the taste of whatever milk option you choose, as it will end up flavoring the buttercream. 

To Make It Extra White: After all ingredients have been incorporated, add 1-2 tsp of Americolor Bright White or icing whitener of your choice.  

Yield: This buttercream makes enough to:

• Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
• Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake. To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe. 

Did you make this Vegan Vanilla Buttercream? I want to know what you think and how you used it! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco in your Instagram photos to show me. I love seeing what you create!

The post Vegan Vanilla Buttercream Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.