Honey Buttercream Recipe
My honey buttercream contains butter, honey, powdered sugar, and salt, and it’s a variation of my American Dreamy Buttercream. It comes together in minutes and tastes like a rich, creamy honey butter that you can frost onto cakes and pipe on cupcakes.
This frosting is wonderfully simple and complex at the same time. It’s simple: all we have to do is add honey and powdered sugar to whipped butter. The underlying technique relies on my American Dreamy Buttercream concept: the butter can hold a liquid-based sugar in an emulsion. In this case, instead of using corn syrup, we’re using honey.
This buttercream is very butter-forward, so I’d make it for those who really enjoy honey butter. It’s also a good frosting for heavier and spicy traditional holiday cakes such as pumpkin or gingerbread. Otherwise, I’d recommend it for smaller cakes, such as cupcakes, or maybe smearing atop a small sheet cake. This will help lessen the overall sweetness if you like honey butter but don’t want it to be overly heavy.
What ingredients do you need for my Honey Buttercream?
Unsalted butter is the main ingredient of this recipe. The butterfat in butter allows us to frost and smooth the frosting onto large layer cakes like a dream, and it also adds that creamy mouthfeel. The reason why I always use unsalted butter is that salt content varies between brands. Also, what may not be salty for me, maybe incredibly salty for you. It’s best to customize based on taste and add salt at the end.
Honey is the primary sweet flavor profile for this buttercream. You can buy wide varieties of honey, all of which will taste different based on the flowers the bees visit. The flavor I see most commonly in the US is clover honey, which has a light floral essence. Honey is a supersaturated sugar solution mainly containing fructose. If you’re used to my American Dreamy buttercream, you may notice that honey is much sweeter than corn syrup. This is because fructose is sweeter to humans than glucose.
Powdered sugar is added at the end of making this frosting to round out the sweetness. We can’t use all honey because the buttercream can only hold a finite amount of liquid before the emulsion breaks. The frosting becomes too runny to frost or pipe.
Salt is a flavor enhancer and is added at the end. Don’t skip adding the salt... I promise it works wonders in taming sweetness and giving your buttercream a complex flavor profile, especially when it comes to honey, which is super sweet.
How to whiten buttercream
This buttercream naturally has a yellow-cream color due to the butter and honey. This will depend on the brand and variety of honey you choose. I think the natural color is beautiful, but you can whiten it a tad if you want.
The best way is to color correct by adding purple food coloring to offset the orange/yellow tones. I use a toothpick and add a tiny amount to the finished buttercream. Let it mix for a couple of minutes to incorporate fully, and you’ll notice that the buttercream will whiten slightly.
Step by step:
How to make Honey Buttercream:
Step 1. Whip up butter.
Add the slightly softened butter to a large bowl (1a). Using the whisk attachment (I know, I’m using a paddle attachment here, I was having a brain fart while filming... you can still use a paddle, but a whisk is far more efficient.) Whip for at least 5 minutes (1b) until the butter is whiter in color and lighter in texture (1c).
Step 2. Add honey.
Continue with the whisk attachment and add the honey slowly while mixing at low speed (2a). Scrape the bowl down at least once (2b) and mix on high for another minute when all the honey is added (2c).
Step 3. Add sugar and salt.
Add the powdered sugar and salt and mix on low speed. The amount in the recipe is the right sweetness for me, but you can add more powdered sugar to add more structure and sweetness, so be sure to give it a taste to check.
Step 4. Smooth out buttercream.
Mix the frosting on low speed with the paddle attachment for 2-3 minutes until silky smooth. It’s now ready to use or store for later.
Here, I'm using this frosting on a pumpkin spice cake. You can see the smooth sides and the pipeability. I colored this honey buttercream with orange ColourMill oil-based food coloring.
Below is the recipe to make 3 cups of Honey Buttercream - that's plenty for about 1 dozen cupcakes (maybe more) as well as a small 6 inch cake with 2 layers. If you need another quantity, use my Cakeculator to choose the pan size of cake you're making and "Honey Buttercream" for the the frosting.
Video
Read this before you begin
Measure by weight, if possible.
Measuring by weight is the best way for you to replicate my recipes. I develop recipes using ingredients (even liquids) measured in grams, which is why you see them listed first in the recipe cards. For measurements under 5 grams, I will typically only list the volumetric measurements (teaspoons, etc.), as most home scales are not precise for such small weights.
In most cases, I have converted grams to volumetric measurements (aka US customary units) for bakers who prefer this method. However, the measurements are not as precise and may have awkward proportions. The recipes should still work, but for the ultimate precision, try to use weight.
This is the OXO scale I use daily. I also purchased this budget version of a good scale, which I keep at my Mom’s house for baking. If you’re interested in other tools I use for my baking, I’ve compiled a list here.
Use room temperature ingredients.
All my ingredients should be used at room temperature, or 65-75 °F/18-24 °C. I will always indicate if you need something outside this range. If no details are given, room temperature is the default.
Pay attention to the ingredient descriptions.
I try not to be brand-specific, but I will always note an interesting result from a type of ingredient, be it negative or positive.
A specific note regarding salt: I use Diamond Crystal Kosher salt for everything on this site except for frostings. In frostings, you want the salt to dissolve more easily, and kosher salt tends to leave granules behind. If you substitute table salt (more finely granulated) for recipes that list kosher salt, you must use half the volume indicated in my recipes.
Substitutions are hard.
That’s not to say they’re impossible, though. For instance, in many cases, substituting reduced fat for whole milk (and thus reducing fat by less than 2%) will probably be fine. Using applesauce for oil or even Greek yogurt when sour cream is listed will definitely alter the fat content and adversely affect the crumb texture and density of the cake.
I experiment for hours to get these recipes to work for us. First, try to make them as written or use one of my tested substitutions, which I often dedicate a section to. Then, if necessary, you can make modifications afterward. Even then I would be pretty cautious, as substitutions are one of the hardest things to investigate in recipe development.
Read all the recipe instructions before beginning.
I’m in the “Pre-read the Chapter before Class Lecture” club... and I invite you to join! Baking new recipes can be intimidating, so let’s set you up for success. I want you to think about timeframes. Most fillings and frostings can be made ahead of time, and give you an extra day for mental space. Also, as you become a more proficient baker, you can anticipate and recognize steps. (“Oh, this has a meringue step, so I’ll need an extra clean bowl…” etc.) Ensure you go down the ingredient list and have everything at the right temperature.
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Honey Buttercream
- 1 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened slightly
- 1/3 cup (110g) honey*
- 3/4 cups (84g) powdered sugar, unsifted is ok**
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened slightly
- 1/3 cup (110g) honey*
- 3/4 cups (84g) powdered sugar, unsifted is ok**
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Add the softened butter to the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until it’s paler in color and slightly more voluminous.
- Add the honey in 3 to 5 additions. Stop the mixer, add a little bit first, and mix it in at medium speed (still using the whisk attachment). Repeat until all the honey has been added. Scrape down the bowl a couple of times to ensure everything is mixed well.
- Once all the honey has been added, mix at the highest speed for one minute.
- Add half the powdered sugar first, mixing on low speed to reduce the mess. Give it another taste. Do you want it sweeter or need a firmer consistency of buttercream?
You can stop here or add as much powdered sugar as you like. It can handle way more, but remember that the more you add, the sandier the finished frosting will be. - Now let’s flavor and color the buttercream. Add the pinch of salt and, optionally, a toothpick’s end of purple food coloring (to achieve a whiter shade). Mix on high speed for another minute.
- Switch over to a paddle attachment and run the frosting on low speed to get out any large air pockets. The finished buttercream will have minimal air bubbles and be ready to use.
Recipe Card - Adriana's Notes
*I use clover honey, which has a pleasant floral, sweet flavor profile. Use any honey you like but please remember, never feed honey, including foods made with honey such as this buttercream, to children under the age of 1. (Mayo clinic explanation here.)
**The amount I’ve given can be increased based on how thick and sweet you want this frosting to be. Start with this amount and add more at the end based on what you need.
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