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Home » Baking & Desserts » Icing » Whiskey Buttercream

16 March 2019

Whiskey Buttercream

1.9K shares

Whisky Buttercream – Smooth sweet buttercream with a delicious kick of Whiskey.

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Whisky Buttercream - Smooth sweet buttercream with a delicious kick of Whiskey.

I now have a new favourite flavour of buttercream – Whiskey buttercream. It truly is absolutely delicious.

I hadn’t originally planned on making a Whiskey buttercream. I had the idea in my head to create a new alcoholic buttercream flavour (as you all seem to like my Baileys and Brandy versions). Given the popularity at the moment of both gin and rum, these were the obvious choices for my new flavour, but seeing as I was recipe testing, I raided my drinks cupboard and tested a few others too.

Sadly the gin and rum buttercreams didn’t work out as I’d have liked. Despite adding A LOT of alcohol to both, the gin and rum got a bit lost in the sweetness of the buttercream, I needed something with a more powerful flavour. Enter Whiskey.

I’m not really a huge fan of Whiskey as a drink, I find it a bit too bitter on its own – I’m definitely more of a Baileys girl. However, it tastes simply amazing as a buttercream as the powerful flavour of the Whiskey goes perfectly with the sweetness of the buttercream. That buttercream is then perfect on some coffee cupcakes to make a kind of Irish coffee cake like the ones in these pictures. It also tastes great with vanilla, chocolate or caramel cake too.

If you really like the sound of gin and rum buttercream, fear not, I’ll keep working on them and I’ll share the recipe as soon as it’s ready.

A coffee cupcake topped with whiskey buttercream. There are more cupcakes and a bottle and glasses of whiskey in the background.

Whiskey Buttercream, Whisky Buttercream or Bourbon Buttercream?

I was in two minds whether to go for Whiskey or Whisky when I named this recipe. In the end, I deferred to the knowledge of my Insta followers and did a poll in my stories. Whiskey with an e was the clear winner.

In reality, it doesn’t matter which you buy; the recipe works equally as well with any. You can also use Bourbon if you prefer. However, there was no way I could call it Bourbon Buttercream as if I saw that written down I’d always assume it was flavoured with the classic British chocolate biscuit (which while I’m thinking about it, would make a brilliant flavour – I’ll have to add it to my to-make list).

A close up of a coffee cupcakes topped with whiskey buttercream. There are more cupcakes in the background.

Other recipes for Whiskey lovers

If you’re a lover of all things whiskey-filled then why not try some of these other delicious recipes:

  • Whisky Truffles from Tin & Thyme 
  • Whisky Fudge from Only Crumbs Remain
  • Orange Bundt Cake with Salted Caramel Whisky Drizzle from Recipes from a Pantry
  • Scottish Oaty Cranachan with Strawberries from Tinned Tomatoes
  • Yorkshire Barm Brack from Farmersgirl Kitchen

Whiskey buttercream being piped onto a coffee cupcake.

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Whisky buttercream being piped onto a coffee cupcake.

Whisky Buttercream

Whisky Buttercream - Smooth sweet buttercream with a delicious kick of Whiskey.
5 from 2 votes
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Active Time: 10 minutes minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes minutes
Servings: 12 servings
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INGREDIENTS

Metric - US Cups/Ounces
  • 175 g butter - soft at room temperature
  • 350 g icing sugar
  • 60 ml whiskey - choose your favourite as the flavour will come through in the buttercream

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Beat the butter (175g) on a low speed until it's soft. 
  • Add the icing sugar (350g) and beat it into the butter on a low speed until it is combined. I like to add the sugar a little at a time as it's easier to mix into the butter.
  • Add the whisky (60ml) no more than 1 tsp at a time and beat it into the buttercream mixture (again on a low speed). 
    If you find that you've accidentally added your Whiskey a little too fast and your buttercream has gone a little grainy, don't worry, there's an extra tip below the recipe for rescuing it.
  • Once all of your whisky has been added, your buttercream is now ready to use.

NOTES

This recipe makes enough buttercream to decorate 12 cupcakes as shown in the picture. These cupcakes were decorated using a JEM1B nozzle.
It also makes enough to fill and top my coffee cake.
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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 236kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 0.1g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7.6g | Sodium: 9.3mg | Sugar: 28.4g

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.


Author: Charlotte Oates

FREE FROM/SUITABLE FOR

The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary, and product recipes can change over time.

  • Suitable for Vegetarians
  • Gluten-Free
  • Egg-Free
  • Tree Nut-Free
  • Peanut-Free
  • Sesame-Free
  • Soya-Free
  • Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
  • Lupin-Free

Some brands of Whiskey can contain allergens due to their particular manufacturing process so please check your chosen brand carefully.

Coffee cupcakes topped with whiskey buttercream.

Tip – How to rescue your buttercream if it starts to go grainy

In order to create a Whiskey buttercream that’s packed full of flavour, you have to add a decent amount of Whiskey. Unfortunately, butter isn’t a big fan of liquid so if you’re not careful your buttercream can start to split as you add more.

The solution to this is very simple – to add the Whiskey very slowly (no more than a teaspoon at a time). By adding the Whiskey slowly, you can make sure each addition is completely beaten in before adding more, and you’ll find the buttercream can incorporate a surprising amount of liquid.

However, you may have a moment where you accidentally add a little more than intended in one go, and your buttercream starts to look a bit grainy. If this happens, don’t panic as you can easily fix it.

  1. Firstly, if you haven’t added all of the Whiskey, stop adding more, fix the buttercream and then finish adding it.
  2. Then simply give it a quick blitz with a hand blender, and you’ll find it should come together again.
  3. You can then finish adding any more Whiskey needed (still only a small amount at a time).

Whiskey buttercream being piped onto a cupcake.

1.9K shares

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alina says

    March 17, 2023 at 10:13 pm

    I would like this with whiskey. But would like it more as a glaze( something I can drizzle). Will this work

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      March 27, 2023 at 3:37 pm

      You would be better off making a thick water icing with icing sugar and the whiskey to create a glaze.

  2. Debbie says

    September 20, 2021 at 1:47 am

    Can I use jagermeister instead of whiskey

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      September 21, 2021 at 5:43 pm

      I don’t see why not. However, I have found that the flavour of some types of alcohol can get overpowered by the buttercream, I haven’t tested this one so I don’t know how flavoursome it would be.

  3. Kristal says

    May 26, 2021 at 4:48 am

    What whiskey did you use

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      May 26, 2021 at 10:36 am

      I can’t remember which one it was – sorry.

  4. Elizabeth Mercado says

    December 30, 2020 at 8:32 am

    What can I do if the buttercream starts to separate a bit??

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      December 30, 2020 at 6:32 pm

      Do you have a hand blender? If you do, then give it a blitz with that and it should start to come back together. In future, you may need to add the Whiskey more slowly to stop it happening.

  5. Lynn says

    December 29, 2020 at 2:08 am

    5 stars
    Very smooth and creamy buttercream frosting with a nice whiskey flavor. The better the whiskey, the better the flavor!

    Reply
  6. Susan says

    October 31, 2020 at 5:34 pm

    Chocolate Screwball buttercream! Im attempting it now…

    Reply
  7. Jen says

    February 06, 2020 at 1:29 am

    I’m totally going to make a whiskey frosting for my dad’s birthday cake that I’m going to make … thank you for sharing this recipe with us! I do have a request though – can you plz break down the measurements into cups & spoons instead of grams & such? I would very much appreciate it.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      February 06, 2020 at 8:06 am

      Click the button above the ingredients that says “Us Cups/Ounces” and it gives you the conversion.

  8. JackieBonass says

    December 20, 2019 at 8:43 pm

    This sounds amazing, but what’s the tip to rescue the buttercream? I think something may have gotten typed over accidentally in that section as the tip isn’t mentioned?

    “However, you may have a moment where you accidentally add a little more than intended in one go, and your buttercream starts to look a bit grainy. If this happens, don’t panic as you can easily fix it.
    Firstly, if you haven’t added all of the Whiskey, stop adding more, fix the buttercream and then finish adding it.
    Then simply give it a quick blitz with a hand blender, and you’ll find it should come together again.
    You can then finish adding any more Whiskey needed (still only a small amount at a time).”

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      December 21, 2019 at 10:37 am

      The tip is to give the buttercream a blitz with a hand blender. The speed of the blades helps to bring everything g back together. I can’t guarantee it’ll work but it has always helped save mine if I’ve got a little too heavy handed when adding liquid to buttercream.

  9. Chloe says

    March 16, 2019 at 3:52 pm

    5 stars
    How about Bourbon Bourbon Buttercream? I’m in!

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      March 20, 2019 at 3:43 pm

      Hmmmm, now there’s an idea!

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