Jill Bakes The Alphabet | ‘I’ is for icing - Jill’s perfect buttercream icing!

‘I’ is for Icing - the perfect vanilla buttercream for delicious cakes and cupcakes!

For those of you who don’t know, I used to make occasion cakes so I have a fair bit of experience making icing! I’m sharing my recipe and tricks for the first time as being able to make icing is an important life skill - in my own opinion. If you can master this, you’ll be able to impress every time a special occasion comes round!

All the cakes in this post use this buttercream recipe and hopefully will give you some cake decorating inspo!

Jill Stewart (@jillbakes_)

INGREDIENTS…

Makes enough for a 4 layer 8 inch cake plus some piping

300g unsalted butter, at room temp

600g icing sugar, sifted

2 tsp vanilla extract

Milk (quantity varies but ~ 3 tbsp)

Food colouring (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS…

Leave the butter out of fridge for a few hours to soften to room temp. This is important! Don't use cold butter as it changes the texture.

Mix the butter in a stand mixer on a fairly high speed or with a hand mixer for 5 minutes until pale. Scrape down the bowl and make sure all the butter is mixed in.

Add the sieved icing sugar, vanilla extract and 1 tbsp milk.

Mix for 5 minutes. Start with a low speed so the icing sugar doesn't go everywhere and gradually increase to a fairly high speed. You can cover your mixer bowl with a tea towel to help trap the icing sugar (optional).

Add more milk as needed and mix to desired texture.

To get a nice smooth buttercream, fold the buttercream with a spatula for a few minutes to push out any air bubbles.

That's your icing ready to use!

You can use this recipe to fill between layers of cakes, pipe for decoration and also to semi-naked or fully coat the outside. You can also use for piping cupcakes but you may want to add a splash more milk to make it easier to pipe.

JILL BAKES THE ALPHABET…

Other recipes in the ‘Jill Bakes the Alphabet’ series:

A is for Apple Caramel Crumble

B is for Brownies

C is for Caramelitas

D is for Double Chocolate Muffins

E is for Eton Mess

F is for Fifteens

G is for Guinness Chocolate Cake

H is for Honeycomb Rocky Roads

MEET JILL STEWART…

Jill Stewart, from Portglenone, is a true Foodie who brings her passions together to create a unique balance of both healthy dishes and sweet treats on her Instagram social media blog, Jill Bakes.

Jill is passionate about creating and sharing recipes on her Instagram platform (@jillbakes_) which are easy to follow, quick to make and not using hundreds of ingredients! And with almost 58,000 followers, a lot of people are enjoying Jill’s food journey.

The County Antrim lady has been a keen baker from a very young age, learning many skills from her late Grandma who was a fantastic baker.

Jill is a regular recipe contributor for Ireland’s Homes Interiors and Living magazine.

CLICK HERE to head over to INSTAGRAM to discover JILL BAKES - it is a fantastic blog where you'll discover enough inspiration to keep you baking and cooking for months!