Buttercream recipe - Recipes - BBC Good Food

Beat the icing sugar and butter together, with your chosen flavouring and colouring if using, until smooth. Choose unsalted butter for a celebration cake. Salted is good for cupcakes. Fill a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe onto cupcakes or smear in the middle and over the top of a 20cm cake using a palette knife.

QUANTITIES FOR BUTTERCREAM A ratio of equal quantities of icing sugar and butter works well unless you're adding a significant quantity of a liquid eg juice of an orange or lemon or melted chocolate. If you are, you can increase the quantities of icing sugar. You might want to add as much as double. Add gradually if you like, and make sure it is sifted, to get the consistency you want.