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Berry Buttercream Frosting

berry buttercream frosting

So, I realize I’ve been completely MIA with absolutely zero explanation for the past week. Oops.

I have no real excuse for skipping out on you — I had posts planned, photographed, etc. and then just got distracted in preparation for a killer ski weekend in Big Sky! My bad. In my defense, I did have a lot of house-cleaning to do in order to get our ridiculously messy house into a state where I can feel only mild embarrassment rather than incapacitating embarrassment. Really, it was bad.

berry buttercream frosting

Before spending the weekend skiing down vertical faces off the top of a freaking huge mountain (seriously, we skied off the VERY top of Lone Peak. I may have cried.) I made what is, literally, the best buttercream frosting I have EVER had. Ever.

I’m generally more of a cream cheese frosting kind of gal; however, this recipe might change all of that. I wanted a punch of flavor in my frosting, so I cooked some blackberries down, added them to some buttercream and was AMAZED at how much the berry flavor stood out. No messing around! You could use any type of berry, hence the generic title, but I personally prefer blackberries and raspberries. Frozen berries work wonderfully, if berries aren’t in season!

berry buttercream frosting

In case you need inspiration, this frosting is incredible on these flourless chocolate cupcakes and these vanilla bean cupcakes! Get on it!

Berry Buttercream
 
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Cook time
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Recipe:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup berries
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
  1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the berries and sugar together. Use a wooden spoon to break the berries apart.
  2. Simmer until significantly reduced — you should have about ⅓ cup of liquid.
  3. Remove from the heat and let cool before proceeding.
  4. With a mixer, cream the butter together with the cooled berries and 1 cup of powdered sugar.
  5. Mix until completely smooth, then add the vanilla and remaining powdered sugar to your desired consistency.
Notes
If you don't want the texture from the fiber and seeds in the berries, double the amount of berries you use and press them through a sieve as soon as they are broken up. Continue to cook just the juice to reduce.

 

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  3. So I made it this weekend for Easter dessert (atop your vanilla bean cupcakes). The problem I had with it was that once you stop mixing, it begins to separate. I let the frosting sit out for a good 15min while I did some youtube research on the frosting techniques I wanted to use, and when I finally put it in the bag to pipe, it came out quite chunky. I put it back in the kitcheaid to remix, but even after thoroughly mixing it again, it still came out cracked and started to separate.

    It tasted delicious, don’t get me wrong, but the cracked appearance wasn’t as pretty on my cupcakes as a smooth frosting. Did this happen to you, or did you not pipe it through a bag? Also, FYI, I pressed my berries through a sieve to get rid of seeds before mixing with butter and sugar.

    • Very weird! I didn’t have that problem at all, and used mine over the course of a week with no issues. Sorry yours acted funny! My first reaction would be the question if it was mixed enough, but it sounds like you had that handled. I’ll have to think on this – I’m not sure how to fix it!

      I did use a bag and piped it all over cakes and cupcakes, without any cracking/separating issues. Weird.

  4. Hi,
    Love this recipe and photos! Recently came across the blog and have to say I follwed it for my own frosting, using guava instead of berries and it turned out fabulously! Rich and smooth, yet suberbly whipped and light…and it was the first time I ever made butter cream frosting! I made mention of this recipe on my own post(hope you don’t mind). Please check it out to see how great the guava butter cream frosting turned out
    🙂 http://thehiddencook.com/citrus-guava-cake/

  5. Yum! Made this my husbands workmate because loves berry icing!
    It was amazing!

  6. Do you think this will work with strawberries? It’s strawberry season here in maine and I’ve gone a bit over board 🙂

  7. I would love to try this frosting on a chocolate cake. I do not like the seeds, so should I press two cups of broken raspberries through a sieve, and then add the sugar and continue to cook? If I’m using more berries, do I have to add more sugar?

    • This would be delicious on a chocolate cake! I would definitely keep the proportion of sugar and berry, so yes: increase sugar if you add more berries. You’re right on for getting rid of the seeds – you could even wait until after adding the sugar (when it’s really cooked and smooth), then pour the final product through the sieve before letting it cool. Good luck!

  8. Hi,
    Thanks for sharing the recipe! It tasted delicious and I used it on chocolate cupcakes. The tangy taste definitely complimented the chocolate. My only qualm was the consistency. It just doesn’t get that smooth, no matter how much I mixed it. Looking from your pictures, I can tell it didn’t get all that smooth either. Not as aesthetically pleasing on the cupcakes as some other frostings, but the taste made up for it!

  9. This looks great! I’m entering a baking competition at my secondary school and I’m going to use this. I have one question: How much frosting does this make (in cups)?

  10. Hello, I would also like to ask whether this would be suitable for a plain sponge cake and will it keep its shape if I pipe it? I’m going to use a star tip. Thanks!

    • Hi Athena! This makes about 1.5 cups, if I remember correctly. You may need to add more powdered sugar to get a consistency suitable for piping! Add as much as you need to get it thick enough! Enjoy!

  11. Hi,
    I’ve been looking for a recipe like this!
    Just wondering, do you think it will be stiff enough to survive as a cake FILLING?
    I’ve tried a few things that looked promising but ended up being squished out the sides! Normally I wouldn’t be bothered but this is for my wedding cake! ?

    • Hi Layla! You can definitely make it as stiff as it needs to be — just add more powdered sugar! Make sure you cook the berries down for a long enough time, so they reduce and are pretty syrupy, before proceeding. Let me know how it goes! xo

  12. Made this frosting for my daughter’s 1y birthday cake and it turned out wonderfully using raspberries (unstrained). Gave such great flavor in a very short time, and a beautiful color amd texture. Additionally, I made a tart raspberry-lime filling for the middle layer.

    Thanks for publishing this, she (and everyone else) loved it.

    /T

  14. Hi Mary,

    Do you think I can pipe do the frosting on the cake a day ahead and leave it in the fridge to be eaten the next day? Her party’s at lunch time and wouldn’t have enough time to prep other things and frost the cake. Thanks

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