A Frosting Recipe

Ok, ok, some back story. I. Love. Frosting. It's basically my favorite thing about cake. I mean, really, the cake is there to decorate the frosting in my opinion. My mom tells a story about when I was a kid, I went to a birthday party, ate all the frosting off my piece and went back and asked for "more frosting please." I love it. But really, really good frosting recipe are sometimes hard to come by. I have always struggled with vanilla buttercream. The recipe I usually used was always extra, extra sweet. Like, makes my cheeks pucker kind of sweet. It was good, but not awesome.

So then I tried a Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which was good, but very, very buttery, and a very involved recipe. I actually rather liked it, but Jordan thought it was too buttery (and I received mixed reviews overall). If you ever have extra time and want something a little different, I suggest trying it. (I got it from a foodie website I love: Annie's Eats. I don't try EVERYTHING from there, but if nothing else I just love to browse... her photos are SO beautiful).

Ok. So I can't use that recipe all the time. Well, I decided to check Annie's site again (because I get the feeling she loves frosting as much as I do), and I found a happy medium between the two. Not too sweet, but not too buttery for Jordan (because, basically, nothing can ever be too buttery for me), and less work. Here's the recipe:

Easy Vanilla Buttercream
Ingredients:
20 tbsp. (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds. Scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds. Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

I hope you like it!