The Best Maple Buttercream Frosting
The Best Maple Buttercream Frosting is creamy and delicious and it tastes just like the icing on a Maple Donut. What a great frosting for your Fall desserts!
Maple is a classic fall flavor that was crying out to be featured in a Two Sisters buttercream frosting. And we absolutely LOVE how this Maple Buttercream Frosting turned out. It is sweet and creamy with a delicious hint of maple. What a great topping to any fall cake cookie or cupcake.
How to Make
Step 1: Add the “slightly softened” butter (somewhere in between straight out of the refrigerator and room temperature) to the mixing bowl along with the Mapleine Extract and the Vanilla Extract. A note about the Maple flavoring for this icing. There are two types … Crescent Mapleine Imitation Maple Flavoring or Maple Extract. Here is a great article that goes into a lot of detail on the differences between the two. We tried both in our Maple Frosting recipe and we ended up liking the flavor of the Mapleine better. It was closer to the taste of a Maple doughnut. But individual tastes vary obviously, and either will work for this frosting.
Step 2: Mix the butter, Vanilla, and Mapleine Extract together until they are fully combined (about 2 minutes on medium speed.) You want the extract to fully meld with the butter to get the best-flavored frosting possible.
Step 3: Scrape the sides of the bowl down before moving on to the next step of the recipe.
Step 4: Measure 1 pound of Powdered Sugar. If you don’t have a food scale, the equivalent is 4 cups. Do you need to sift the Powdered Sugar? We don’t normally do that but instead rely on our mixer to break up any lumps during the mixing process.
Step 5: Add the powdered sugar to the mixing bowl.
Step 6: Start your mixer (or electric beater) on the lowest setting. (Two Sisters Tip: place a clean dishtowel around your mixer to keep the sugar from flying out.) Keep on low until the butter and sugar are incorporated (about 30 seconds), remove the dishtowel, and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix for 30-45 more seconds until the frosting starts to be light and fluffy.
Step 7: If the frosting is too thick at this point, add a teaspoon of milk and mix again.
Step 8: Always taste your frosting! You are trying to determine if the consistency is correct or if it needs a tiny bit more Mapeleine Extract. Depending on how it tastes, you will take the next step. If the frosting has the right taste but is too thick, add some milk and mix again to check to see if it is now the right consistency. How much milk? That depends on the state of your frosting. A good rule of thumb is to add the milk a teaspoon at a time. You can check out our FAQ section below to see some other advice on making the perfect batch of frosting.
How to Serve
How much frosting will you need? That always depends on how thick or thin you apply the frosting or how much decorating you do but here are a couple of guidelines. Our recipe should make enough Maple Frosting to cover a 9″ x 13″ sheet cake or a two-layer 8″ cake. If you are making cupcakes, you should be able to frost 24 cupcakes if you apply the frosting with a knife. If you swirl on the frosting with a pastry bag you should be able to frost 15-18 cupcakes depending on the size of the swirl.
Expert Tips and FAQ’s
No, the frosting does not need to be refrigerated. For example, brownies frosted with this Maple Icing would be fine left out on the counter for 2-3 days if the pan was tightly covered with aluminum foil. That said, we usually refrigerate our frosted desserts to keep the baked good from going stale even if the frosting would be fine. We think frosting tastes best at room temperature so we will then remove the item from the refrigerator a couple of hours before we will serve them.
Frosting stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator should be good for up to a week. If you carefully wrap the frosting in order to avoid freezer burn, the frosting should be fine in the freezer for 3-4 months.
Buttercream is a sweet frosting. One thing you can do if it seems too sweet for your palette is to add a pinch of salt to the frosting. But please note that a little salt goes a long way. We cannot stress enough that a pinch (10-15 granules of regular table salt) is all you usually need. Even 1/4 a teaspoon of salt would probably ruin the frosting. Add the salt and mix again and see if that has cut down on the sweetness level.
Add another teaspoon of milk and mix again. Continue to add the milk, a teaspoon at a time, until the frosting is the consistency that you like it
Temperature plays a big part in the consistency of frosting. A thin frosting could mean that the butter has gotten overworked and is too melted. The first thing to do is refrigerate the frosting for an hour and then check to see if the frosting has set back up again. If not, the next step is to add more powdered sugar or cornstarch. Start with either 1/2 cup of Powdered Sugar or 1 tablespoon of Cornstarch. Mix again and see if the consistency is better.
Yes. You can use Half n’ Half or Whipping Cream or even almond milk or another milk substitute.
Other Frosting Recipes You Will Love
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The Best Maple Buttercream Frosting
The Best Maple Buttercream Frosting is creamy and delicious and it tastes just like the icing on a Maple Donut. What a great frosting for your Fall desserts!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter, slightly softened (We use Salted Sweet Cream Butter)
- 1 teaspoon Crescent Mapleine Imitation Maple Flavoring or Maple Extract
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 pound Powdered Sugar (or 4 cups)
Instructions
- Add the “slightly softened” butter (somewhere in between straight out of the refrigerator and room temperature) to the mixing bowl along with the Mapleine Extract and the Vanilla Extract. A note about the Maple flavoring for this icing. There are two types ... Crescent Mapleine Imitation Maple Flavoring or Maple Extract. We tried both in our Maple Frosting recipe and we ended up liking the flavor of the Mapleine better. It was closer to the taste of a Maple doughnut. But individual tastes vary obviously, and either will work for this frosting.
- Mix the butter, Vanilla, and Mapleine Extract together until they are fully combined (about 2 minutes on medium speed.) You want the extract to fully meld with the butter to get the best-flavored frosting possible.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl down before moving on to the next step of the recipe.
- Measure 1 pound of Powdered Sugar. If you don’t have a food scale, the equivalent is 4 cups.
- Add the powdered sugar to the mixing bowl.
- Start your mixer (or electric beater) on the lowest setting. Keep on low until the butter and sugar are incorporated (about 30 seconds), remove the dishtowel, and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix for 30-45 more seconds until the frosting starts to be light and fluffy.
- Taste your frosting! You are trying to determine if the consistency is correct or if it needs a tiny bit more Mapeleine Extract. Depending on how it tastes, you will take the next step. If the frosting has the right taste but is too thick, add some milk and mix again to check to see if it is now the right consistency. How much milk? That depends on the state of your frosting. A good rule of thumb is to add the milk a teaspoon at a time.
Did you Make this Recipe? Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @twosisterscrafting on Instagram so we can see it!
