White chocolate buttercream, easy to make and perfect for piping onto cupcakes, layer cakes, macarons or special celebration cakes.
My buttercream recipes seem to be very popular on here. I’ve had a few requests for a white chocolate version so not wanting to leave you without the recipes you need, here it is! If there’s a flavour of cake or buttercream that’s not on here but you’d like to see, then let me know and I’ll do my best to add it.
This white chocolate buttercream is based on my yummy milk chocolate buttercream, where equal quantities of butter and icing sugar are beaten together and then lots of melted white chocolate is added. It gives you beautiful smooth buttercream that is the perfect consistency for piping.
- Melt your chocolate over a bain marie (in a bowl over a pan of simmering water). When I use milk or dark chocolate I’m happy to melt my chocolate in a pan on the hob, but I find that white chocolate is a bit temperamental and can easily go a bit grainy. The heat over a bain marie is gentler. You could also use the microwave using short bursts (20 seconds at first and then 10 seconds, stirring in between each one).
- Use chocolate from the baking aisle in the supermarket (it’s less temperamental than the chocolate from the sweet aisle).
- Make sure you let your chocolate cool to room temperature before adding it to the butter and sugar, otherwise it’ll melt the butter and you’ll end up with runny buttercream.
- You should find that your buttercream is the perfect consistency for piping. If it’s a little stiff then beat in a little milk (no more than 1 tsp at a time). If it’s a little too soft then pop it into the fridge for a few minutes to firm up slightly.
What You’ll Need
Before you start, make sure you have all of the equipment needed.
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Weighing Scales
- Measuring Spoons
- Knife – to cut the butter
- Something to melt the chocolate in – either a bowl in the microwave, small saucepan, or bowl over a small saucepan.
- 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 you’ll need a JEM 1B nozzle.
White Chocolate Buttercream
Ingredients
- 250 g unsalted butter soft at room temperature
- 250 g icing sugar
- 200 g white chocolate
- A little milk to get the buttercream to the right consistency, this may not be needed
Instructions
- Break the white chocolate (200g) and melt it over a bain marie (in a bowl over a pan of simmering water).
- Once the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the pan and leave the chocolate to cool.
- Beat the butter (250g) on a low speed until soft and then add the icing sugar (250g), 1 tbsp at a time and beat until fully combined.
- Once the white chocolate has cooled to room temperature pour it into the butter and sugar mixture and beat on a low speed until fully combined. You should find that the buttercream has a soft, spreadable consistency, if not add a little milk a tsp at a time until it is soft.
- Your buttercream is now ready to use.
Notes
This recipe makes enough icing for 12 cupcakes or to fill and coat a 2-layer 20cm round cake. Here I’ve used this icing on my easy chocolate cupcakes, but it would go brilliantly on all sorts of cakes. Take a look at my mix-and-match cupcake creator to find all my recipes.Nutritional Information
Free From/Suitable For…
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Egg-Free
- Gluten-Free
- Nut-Free
The ingredients for this recipe are easily available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.
I need to make 3 batches of this white chocolate buttercream (making 36 cupcakes) should I triple the ingredients or just make 3 sperate batches ?
There’s no reason to split them unless your bowl isn’t big enough to hold all of the ingredients.
Hi! I was wondering if the frosting would withstand about an hour of travelling by car. It would be airconditioned though, but would refrigerating frosted cupcakes before travelling help? I’m looking for frosting stable enough for travelling. Thanks!
It depends on how warm the car is, but I would do this in my car with no worries.
Phenomenal recipe. Delicious flavor and great texture too. I used this recipe with a mud cake for a wedding as a regular buttercream made it too sweet. This was perfectly complimentary. Thanks
Hiya, my butte rcream tastes fine however its lumpy and runny but it needs to be done for tomorrow any advice on how to fix this without any wastage. Xx
It’s difficult to say without seeing it. If you have a hand blender you could try blitzing it with that to see if you can bring it together.
This is a just a tip for next time: sift the sugar before hand even if it doesnt seem too lumpy, add a little more icing sugar if it is runny or fridge it for a bit to see if it firms up. Alternatively, if you notice it thinning stop adding chocolate. x
I need green buttercream icing (I’m making a dinosaur cake!). Would the white chocolate buttercream be ok with some green food colouring in?
It’s absolutely fine. Use the gel colours as the runny ones will make your icing to soft.
Hi, I was wondering if this icing would work underneath a fondant? I am making a red velvet cake, and do not think standard buttercream would taste as good underneath! Is it suitable for a crumb cover? Thank you!
It should work fine as a crumb cover under fondant.
Hi Charlotte
I tried this recipe exactly as mentioned but mine just came out runny, even after leaving in fridge for a while as soon as I put it on the cake it was still very soft! Don’t know what went wrong? Taste was amazing though.
Hi Rifat, I’m not too sure what could have happened as I’ve not had the same problem with this recipe before. My only guess would be that perhaps the butter was too soft before making (it seems to soften up in now time in this hot weather), or that the white chocolate hadn’t cooled before being added to the butter which would have melted it.
Hey! southasian countries tend to have 80% humidity that makes the buttercream runny, dont keep your butter at room temperature for long and try using shortening and other agents that keep it stiff. Xx