30+ Sweet Recipes With Buttercream Frosting

Updated February 13, 2020
Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke

There's something magical about whipped butter and powdered sugar. No matter what kind of buttercream frosting you use (because there are a lot of variations), the sweet and fluffly concoction is not only perfect for topping cupcakes and cookies (like  these impossibly beautiful White Cupcakes with Rose Petals and these festive Eggnog Cookies), it's the glue that holds our favorite layer cakes together (we're looking at you, Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting). Take your baking game up a notch with our best dessert recipes with buttercream frosting.

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Coconut-Carrot Cake with Coconut Buttercream

Credit: Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas

Coconut-Carrot Cake with Coconut Buttercream Recipe

You’ve got dessert duty? We’ve got you covered with this lightly spiced sheet cake that serves a crowd and travels well too. Why choose between carrot cake and coconut cake when both flavors work so well together?

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Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake with Caramel Buttercream

Credit: Victor Protasio

Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake with Caramel Buttercream Recipe

If you're looking for an easy, decadent, and oh-so-yummy chocolate fudge cake, this is the perfect recipe. The key to this layer cake’s lusciously messy look? A short spell in the freezer, which allows the ganache to set over the cake layers so that the buttercream can be spread on top of it.

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Eggnog Cookies

Credit: Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall and Kady Wohlfarth; Prop Styling: Kay Clarke

Eggnog Cookies Recipe

Even if you don't love eggnog, you'll love this festive cookie. The shockingly easy eggnog-bourbon buttercream frosting is what holiday dreams are made of.

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Snowy Vanilla Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream

Credit: Greg DuPree

Snowy Vanilla Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream Recipe

Cake flour, egg whites, and a generous amount of vanilla extract make these layers light, tender, and aromatic. Save time by baking the cake layers in advance; freeze them until you are ready to assemble the cake. This year’s white cake is topped with Cream Cheese Buttercream.

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Eggnog Spice Cake with Bourbon Custard Filling and Eggnog Buttercream

Credit: Greg DuPree

Eggnog Spice Cake with Bourbon Custard Filling and Eggnog Buttercream Recipe

This towering four-layer cake is creamy and slightly boozy. Use a Microplane grater to create the finest dusting of nutmeg on top.

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New Year's Cake with Champagne Buttercream

Credit: Kelsey Hansen; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson; Food Styling: Pam Lolley

New Year's Cake with Champagne Buttercream Recipe

While this elegant, Champagne-infused cake is absolutely perfect for a New Year’s celebration, it would be equally wonderful for any number of other special occasions. We love how radiantly the Champagne’s flavor shines through in the layers and frosting, and would recommend using a Demi-Sec or dry Champagne for best results.

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Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Credit: Kelsey Hansen; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis

Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting Recipe

This vibrant pink layer cake is pure strawberry-on-strawberry goodness, with fresh strawberries going into the cake batter and frosting. One thing to note about the buttercream frosting—it is absolutely bursting with berry flavor, but is easily over-mixed.

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Vanilla Buttermint Poke Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Credit: Daniel Agee

Vanilla Buttermint Poke Cake with Buttercream Frosting Recipe

This sweet poke cake looks and tastes just like Christmastime. It's everything you love texture-wise about a poke cake, but it's also delightfully soft and minty with a gorgeous pure white color pallete. End your holiday dinners with a buttermint-- in cake form!

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Rum Cake with Key Lime Buttercream

Credit: Greg Dupree; Styling: Lindsey Ellis Beatty

Rum Cake with Key Lime Buttercream Recipe

But what about one topped with sugared key limes and cranberries and a delectable buttercream frosting? Place a sweet treat that stunning—and tasty—on the dessert table, and it might just take the cake.

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Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream

Credit: Greg DuPree; Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream Recipe

Filled with banana cream, topped with peanut butter buttercream, and drizzled with chocolate, these cupcakes are outrageously rich. Skip the buttercream and turn these cupcakes into "muffins." You can use the base of the cupcake batter and add chopped pecans, shredded coconut and dried fruit for a morning pick-me up.

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Homemade White Cake

Credit: Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Christina Lane; Food Styling: Torie Cox

Homemade White Cake Recipe

For this year’s Big White Cake, we decided to trade in the bells, whistles, and bling for a layer cake that’s as simple as a walk in the woods. If you're a seasoned pro at making our white cake or a beginner, this is the perfect cake to serve your friends and family.

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Lemon Naked Cake with Flower Crown

Credit: Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke

Lemon Naked Cake with Flower Crown Recipe

Perfect for birthdays, showers, or special get-togethers, this flower-topped layer cake is so pretty you won’t want to cut it! Made with a lemon cake mix and Lemon Buttercream frosting, it’s incredibly simple to make, even though it looks impressive. Top with a ring of edible flowers and prepare for complements.

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Lemon-and-Chocolate Doberge Cake

Credit: Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Cindy Barr; Food Styling: Torie Cox

Lemon-and-Chocolate Doberge Cake Recipe

This multi-flavored, multi-layered cake is truly a labor of love. Our Test Kitchen adapted Guas’s recipe to include store-bought lemon curd and chocolate pudding in between the layers, which taste great and save you a few steps in the kitchen.

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Mrs. Billett's White Cake

Credit: Iain Bagwell; Styling: Heather Chadduck

Mrs. Billett's White Cake Recipe

Use a heavy-duty electric stand mixer for best results. Also, lining the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper ensures that the layers come out of the pans with ease.

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Santa Belt Cake

Credit: Time Inc. Video Studios

Santa Belt Cake Recipe

This darling Santa Claus-inspired cake is sure to be a hit at any holiday party. We opted to keep the baking simple by using a box cake mix, but feel free to dress up any of your favorite layer cake recipes with this simple Santa attire. 

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Classic Birthday Cake

Credit: Aaron Kirk; Prop Stylist: Sarah Elizabeth Cleveland; Food Styling: Sarah Epperson

Classic Birthday Cake Recipe

For a festive occasion, few treats can match the celebratory spirit of a classic birthday cake—and this easy-to-follow formula is the only one you’ll ever need. Our birthday cake recipe yields two dense layers of buttery, vanilla-forward white cake wrapped in classically rich buttercream frosting.

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Coconut Layer Cake

Credit: Mark Thomas; Styling: Susan Vajaranant

Coconut Layer Cake Recipe

This moist, 2-layer Coconut Layer Cake is worthy of any special occasion. With sweetened flaked coconut in the filling and sprinkled on the top and sides of the  cake, it makes a striking presentation.

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Unicorn Cake

Credit:  Daniel Agee; Food Styling: Pam Lolley

Unicorn Cake Recipe

This colorful unicorn-inspired layer cake is the pinnacle of cuteness—perfect for a birthday party or for anyone who’s just super into the current unicorn craze. While this cake is fantastically wow-worthy, and does take some time and loving dedication to construct, you don’t need to be a pastry chef to pull it off. In fact, creating this mythical masterpiece really is totally achievable for a home baker—just follow the instructions and don’t be afraid to have a little fun with it! You’ll be amazed what you can achieve with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, some colorful candy, and a little bit of fondant. 

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Peppermint Cake with Seven-Minute Frosting

Credit: Hactor Manuel Sanchez; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas

Peppermint Cake with Seven-Minute Frosting Recipe

Cool peppermint-vanilla cake and fluffy pink buttercream make a merry combination. Finish with whimsical dollops of mint frosting. The cake layers and buttercream can be made ahead to save time.

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Basic Naked Cake

Credit: Emma Crist; Styling: Emma Crist

Basic Naked Cake Recipe

Instead of completely coating the entire cake, this unique cake decorating technique spreads the frosting thin enough to leave the layers exposed--i.e. 'naked.' If you added too much frosting at first, firmly scrape excess frosting away while smoothing it out at the same time using a metal bench scraper or offset spatula.

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Praline Layer Cake

Credit: Greg DuPree

Praline Layer Cake Recipe

The "cooked" buttercream in this cake is an old-fashioned method that yields delicious results. The "praline" is one of the South's most beloved sweets, and in this show-stopping layer cake, it certainly does not disappoint. Candied pecans add a toasty crunch to the top of the cake.

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Orange Sherbet Cupcakes

Credit: Hector Sanchez Styling: Heather Chadduck

Orange Sherbet Cupcakes Recipe

Spring has officially sprung with gorgeous Orange Sherbert Cupcakes. Throwing a baby shower? What great (gender neutral) dessert to surprise the mom-to-be! 

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Rainbow Sprinkle Cake

Credit:  Thomas J Story

Rainbow Sprinkle Cake Recipe

"Baking and icing a cake from scratch can be daunting. But you don't have to do it all in one day," says Rosie Daykin, the cheerful and talented owner of Butter Baked Goods, in Vancouver. Bake the cakes first and let them cool; the next day, make the frosting and assemble the cake.

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Butter's Vanilla Cake

Credit: Thomas J Story

Butter's Vanilla Cake Recipe

To frost more evenly and efficiently, use a sturdy rotating cake stand. Also very helpful: a round cardboard cake board to build the cake on--"it makes frosting, moving, and slicing the cake so much easier"--and a large offset spatula. You can find all these in kitchenware shops and online.

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Rainbow Layer Cake

Credit: Beth Branch

Rainbow Layer Cake Recipe

Actually taste the rainbow with a vibrant 7-layer rainbow cake! Tip: Use liquid gel or gel-paste food coloring for a deeper, richer color as opposed to its traditional liquid counterpart.

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The Lemon Cheese Layer Cake

Credit: Hector Sanchez; Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas

The Lemon Cheese Layer Cake Recipe

Expecting a twist on cheesecake? You're in for an even sweeter surprise. These cake layers are filled with a buttery rich lemon curd instead. 

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The Coconut Chiffon Cake

Credit: Hector Sanchez; Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas

The Coconut Chiffon Cake Recipe

Coconut is the doyenne of Southern layer cakes, a masterpiece of home cookery that has crowned dining room sideboards for more than a hundred years. Purists sing the praises of simple but divine, opting for coconut water-doused cake layers and dreamy swirls of meringue. With this latest creation, we opted for a thick and rich filling. 

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Strawberries and Rosé Cake

Credit: Jessica Colyer

Strawberries and Rosé Cake Recipe

This impressive blush-tone cake is inspired by two of our favorite summer treats: rosé wine and fresh strawberries. Perfect for a bridal shower, birthday party, or any number of other special gatherings, this cake is as spirited as it is elegant.

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Tropical Beach Cupcakes

Credit: Kelsey Hansen; Prop Styling: Torie Cox

Tropical Beach Cupcakes Recipe

Coconut and fresh mango puree give these cupcakes a beachy twist. Decorate as you please with brown sugar, blue icing, and candy shells and sharks. Your vaction begins with the first bite.

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Hummingbird Cake

Credit: Victor Protasio

Hummingbird Cake Recipe

There are a few rules for success in this recipe that make it truly stand out. First, vegetable oil is used instead of butter to get the moist, quick-bread-like texture of the layers. The original recipe, as printed below, calls for 1 1/2 cups of oil.

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White Cupcakes with Rose Petals

Credit: Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke

White Cupcakes with Rose Petals Recipe

A fancy dessert doesn’t get much easier than these White Cupcakes with Rose Petals. Made with a white cake mix and Vanilla Buttercream and topped with edible fresh rose petals, they are simple and stunning. Choose petals that coordinate with your party’s signature colors.

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