How to make perfect coffee buttercream icing. Ideal for cupcakes, macarons and layer cakes – especially coffee & walnut cake.
One of my all-time favourite cakes is coffee and walnut. If I spot it in the cake cabinet in a cafe it takes a serious amount of willpower not to sneak it onto my tray. In my opinion, the key to a great coffee and walnut cake is a really good coffee buttercream, so I’ve been busy in the kitchen getting mine just right.
To get the coffee flavour into my buttercream I prefer to use instant coffee rather than stuff made in a proper coffee machine. The simple reason for this is that it’s the easiest way to get a really intense flavour into your buttercream. You dissolve it in the minimum amount of water possible to get as much coffee in as you can without making your buttercream too runny.
- Make sure you leave your butter out of the fridge to soften before attempting to make buttercream, otherwise it’ll be tricky to get it really smooth. I usually take mine out a couple of hours before I’m planning on using it.
- Make sure you let your coffee cool completely before adding it to the buttercream (otherwise it’ll melt the butter).
- Add the coffee very gradually and beat each addition in before adding more. This will help ensure that you get a nice smooth buttercream.
- Beat your buttercream on a low-medium speed. It’s tempting to turn the speed up high to get it made quicker but you’ll end up with lots of air bubbles. If you can, try and mix it by hand for a really smooth consistency.
- If your buttercream is still a little too thick once you’ve added all your coffee, add a little milk to get it to the right consistency.
What You’ll Need
Before you start, make sure you have all of the equipment needed.
NOTE – These are affiliate links which means that if you purchase from Amazon after clicking on one the product links below I may earn a small commission. All of the products linked are ones I use in my kitchen.
Weighing Scales- Measuring Spoons
- Knife – to cut the butter
- A small bowl or cup – to mix the coffee and water in
- Electric Mixer (or a bowl and hand mixer or wooden spoon)
- Sieve
- Piping Bags – if you’re planning on piping the cupcakes
- Piping Nozzle – To pipe the cupcakes as shown in the pictures and video you’ll need a JEM 1B nozzle.
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Coffee Buttercream
INGREDIENTS
- 250 g softened butter
- 500 g icing sugar
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp instant coffee granules
- 1½ tbsp boiling water
RECIPE VIDEO
INSTRUCTIONS
- Mix the instant coffee granules (3 tbsp) with the boiling water (1½ tbsp) and then set aside to cool.
- Cut the butter (250g) into cubes and then beat on a low-medium speed until soft. Gradually add the icing sugar (you add it gradually to stop it flying everywhere) and beat until fully combined.
- Add the vanilla extract (¼tsp) and add the coffee a teaspoon at a time, beating in each addition before adding more.
- Check the consistency of your buttercream. It should be soft and perfect for piping at this point. If it’s still a little stiff then beat in a little milk.
- Decorate your cakes (or just eat if off the spoon because it’s yummy!).
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Gluten-Free
- Egg-Free
- Nut-Free
- Soya-Free
The ingredients for this recipe are commonly available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.
Mekhala C says
Hi.. should I take a mix of salted and unsalted butter, or only unsalted butter?
Charlotte Oates says
I just use unsalted, but you can use a mix of both if you prefer.
Mekhala C says
Thanks 🙂
Jessica says
Amazing. This is the best coffee buttercream I’ve made. Really glad I found this recipe. Thanks, Charlotte. <3
Gabrielle says
Is this meant to be 3 tablespoons or teaspoons of coffee? Tbspn does seem a huge amount..?
Charlotte Oates says
It does seem like a lot but it definitely is tbsp. I like my coffee buttercream to really taste like coffee
Imogen says
Hey, I was wondering if you would be able to use margarine instead of butter.
Charlotte Oates says
You can but you’ll find your buttercream will be very soft, personally I’d always use butter.
Renu says
Fantastic icing! Best coffee flavored icing I’ve ever tasted or made.
Puja says
This was a fantastic Buttercream! Really Tasty! Had to hold myself back from licking it clean.. 🙂
I reduced the amount of icing sugar to suit my needs..but this ones a keeper!
Thanks for sharing!
Yvette says
But how do you reduce the icing sugar but not end up with a soupy mix? Do you also reduce the amount of coffee liquid?
Charlotte Oates says
You shouldn’t do, but add the coffee mix very slowly and keep a close eye on it. The coffee uses a lot of coffee granules to the amount of water so it’s very thick.
Charlotte Oates says
I’m glad to hear it. If there’s ever a flavour you’d like to see that’s not here then let me know.
Wanda says
Please give us a strawberry-lemon or lemon buttercream. I’ve had them but they weren’t balanced. I’d like to try yours
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve been working on both strawberry and lemon flavours. They’re not quite right yet but I’ll share them on here as soon as they are. Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter so you know as soon as they’re ready.
Jessi says
I’ve made delicious strawberry buttercream using freeze dried strawberries that you process into a powder
Rabia Shoaib says
Can I use regular sugar or grind the sugar instead of icing sugar plz reply
Charlotte Oates says
Personally I wouldn’t do this as I’m not sure you’d be able to get the sugar fine enough to ensure that the buttercream wouldn’t have a grainy texture (I’ve tried it before with a different buttercream using brown sugar and the texture wasn’t right for me).
Candy says
I am a professional pastry chef/artist..
Please Please Please.. Do NOT EVER add water to your buttercream recipe! Never ever!! This is a great recipe in general but, adding water to your buttercream will ruin it!! Butter is an Oil.. A fat.. It will not mix or blend with water! If you need or want a stronger coffee flavor.. Simmer your coffee grounds in with a tiny bit of whole milk or cream as it is a fatty content liquid(strain through a filter if you do not want granules) Then add it slowly in partial additions to your buttercream.
Charlotte Oates says
Hi Candy, Thanks for your feedback. Have you actually tried this recipe or are you speaking from your own experience? I have made this buttercream many times and it is perfectly smooth (I’ve also had lots of positive feedback from others that have tried it too with the same results as me). The secret is to add the liquid very slowly (as suggested in the recipe), I take the same approach when adding any liquid to my buttercream.
Jessie Vega says
I made this frosting and the flavor was great but it was so soupy! I wish I could thicken it up without using powdered sugar, because that’s just going to make it more sweet. Any ideas what I did wrong? I followed the recipe as far as I noticed….
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve made this buttercream many times and not had the same problem. My only thought is whether your butter was too soft when you started.
celest says
How soft should my butter be then?
Charlotte Oates says
Soft enough that you could easily beat it by hand.
Nicole says
I can safely say i ate half this frosting straight from the bowl. I want this frosting to be my husband, not even kidding. Used vegan subs and added a bit of orange zest and everything turned out fantastic.
Charlotte Oates says
Ha ha, I hope you had some left for whatever you made it for 🙂
Sue says
Could you please post the grams to cups. I am in the US. Thanks so much. I will use instant espresso powder. Would I use the same amount as you have listed?
Charlotte Oates says
They’re just underneath the grams recipe ingredients. If you click the bit in green where it says “CLICK HERE FOR US CUPS MEASUREMENTS” the cups should appear. You should be able to substitute espresso powder for coffee granules and keep the same quantities.
Thanks,
Charlottes
Diana says
There isn’t a conversation tab on this particular recipe.
Charlotte Oates says
It was there but it seems that it randomly disappeared. I’ve fixed it now so you should find the conversion tab at the bottom of the ingredients list.
Sorry about that, I hope you enjoy the buttercream.
Diana says
Thank you!!!
Pamela says
Perfect taste not strong/bitter… the cakes are perfect. Made these for charity cake sale and sold out very quickly… I doubled the cake recipe and managed 34 cakes… the buttercream mix was more than enough for all these and I didn’t double that… still got half mixture left….
Love love love
Charlotte Oates says
I’m glad you enjoyed them (and raised some money too 🙂 ). I’m very generous with the buttercream on my cakes but it can easily be stretched a lot further.
Maxine says
This has to be the best coffee buttercream recipe I’ve ever done! Thank you for posting the recipe!! Oh and living with metric since starting maths at primary school, I appreciate the metric measures!!
Sarah Hunt says
Coffee flavour is an absolute dream – my favourite cake (besides maybe ginger?) and a hit when combined in buttercream. That being said, I hate the drink – something about the watery consistency with a big punchy flavour just seems off to me! Would love to one day get my buttercream swirls as voluminous as yours!
Charlotte Oates says
I quite like coffee as a drink but I much prefer coffee cake and I adore coffee ice cream. The swirls are voluminous as I used a lot of buttercream in them, also I used quite a big nozzle which helps to get them nice and tall.
Gerle says
So where’s a good walnut cake recipe to go with this delicious buttercream?
Charlotte Oates says
Coming soon.
jacqui bellefontaine says
I’m with you Charlotte I do like a coffee cake and walnut cake and a good coffee buttercream is essentail. The key is not to look at the calories and just enjoy.
Charlotte Oates says
I only ever glance at them quickly. I’m always tempted just to leave them off cakes completely.
Louise Fairweather says
Now I do love coffee buttercream – especially on walnut cake #cookblogshare
Charlotte Oates says
It’s one of the best isn’t it!
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
I love coffee cake and this buttercream sounds like the perfect topping! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Ali says
This looks so good – I love coffee, as well as cupcakes, so this seems the perfect combination to me. Your other buttercream recipes also look awesome!