These fat-filled luscious frostings are perfect for LCHF-style celebrations. These butter frostings are great for piping, making it easy to create gorgeous and delicious decorations on your low-carb cakes and cupcakes. Naturally, you can also use these scrumptious frostings as fillings, like I have done below with my whoopie pies.
You can easily create your own butter frosting variations by adding other flavorings, extracts or even powdered freeze-dried berries. For example, Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam works extremely well and makes a great frosting for example for the Valentine’s Day celebrations.
Moreover, these frostings are ready in a snap. No need to freeze or let them set. Just beat until fluffy and use immediately! You can store the leftover frosting in the fridge, but just remember to take it to room temperature at least half an hour before using.
Tips for making the frosting
These are really simple frostings to make. The progress photos below are for the basic frosting, but the orange frosting is not any more complicated to do: you just add the orange essential oil either in the very beginning with the butter and the sweetener, or then with the vanilla and the cream. It doesn’t really matter. Moreover, you can omit the vanilla extract from the orange frosting, however the extract does give a delicious hint of vanilla so that’s why I recommend to add some vanilla anyway.
Oh, and still a word about that orange essential oil: in any circumstances, don’t use more than 2 drops. The stuff is extremely powerful and does harm if used carelessly or in too big amounts.
But let’s take a look how to make this fabulously fatty frosting:
Place the butter and the sweetener in a deep and narrow bowl. That kind of bowl just works best because you don’t need to beat the ingredients too many minutes before the mixture is fluffy.
Beat with an electric mixer…
…just beat it…
…until very fluffy and pale.
Add the vanilla extract…
…and the cream.
Beat again…
…until all the cream is incorporated and the mixture is very fluffy again. However, don’t beat any longer, otherwise it will separate.
Use immediately as frosting or filling.
Ingredients
- 1 stick = 4 oz = 115 g organic unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup = 180 ml Natvia for Icing OR other erythritol-based sweetener
- 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons organic heavy cream
- (optional: 2 drops 100% orange essential oil)
Instructions
- Place the butter and the sweetener in a deep and narrow bowl.
- Beat with an electric mixer until almost white and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla extract and the cream (and the orange essential oil if you use it).
- Beat until just that all the cream has incorporated into the butter and the mixture is very fluffy. However, don't beat too long as the frosting might separate.
- Use immediately as frosting or filling.
- Store in the fridge.
Nutrition information | Protein | Fat | Net carbs | kcal |
In total: | 2.0 g | 104.0 g | 1.4 g | 949 kcal |
Per tablespoon: | 0.1 g | 5.5 g | 0.1 g | 50 kcal |
My frosting experiments
Like you see, my Natvia experiments continue (the Natvia sweetener review you can read here and the fluffy muffin recipe with Natvia you can find here). Since I happen to have Natvia for Icing, I naturally wanted to try what kind of frosting it makes. It’s a pity that they don’t sell that particular sweetener in the US (correct me if I’m wrong), but on the other hand there are very similar powdered erythritol-based sweeteners on the market. The benefit of Natvia is that it doesn’t have that weird cardboard-like taste of oligosaccharides, like some other sweeteners have.
I’ve made many different buttery frostings before. Butter just makes so great creamy and firm frosting which you can pipe on your cupcakes or cakes as beautiful decorations. When I thought of testing Natvia for Icing, I was immediately thinking of buttery frosting. Something very simple to see if the sweetener leaves any aftertaste. Butter-based frosting was perfect for the test because butter is so neutral and almost tasteless unlike for example cream cheese. You really feel even the tiniest additional or peculiar taste that the sweetener might give.
First I made basic frosting using butter, Natvia for Icing, vanilla extract and heavy cream. Well, I could have omitted the vanilla, but it somehow belongs to even the simplest frosting. First I used 4 oz (115 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (240 ml) Natvia for Icing, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream. The result was really sweet, far too sugary to my taste. Also my family thought it was overkill.
In the next experiment I used just 3/4 cup (180 ml) Natvia for Icing and reduced the amount of cream by half, since I thought 1/4 cup (60 ml) cream wouldn’t bring any more benefits than just two tablespoons cream. I also added 2 drops 100% orange essential oil to make orange butter frosting, and the result was just perfect! Yummy, creamy, firm, easy to pipe. I filled my lemony whoopie pies with the frosting. Oh, so heavenly!
Crystal
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for including METRIC measurements even though you’re based in the US. Seriously so much more convenient when I don’t have to convert every measurement before I make it. Sincerely, an Australian.
elviira
Hi Crystal, I completely feel your pain! Actually, I’m located in Finland where we also use the metric system, but since most of my readers are in the US, I simply had to learnt their system as well. So, I’m using two measurements to make everybody comfortable 🙂
Hélène
Oh my Gosh–MAPLE buttercream! (with maple extract) Awesome for pancakes.
ORRRR
Coffee buttercream with coffee extract, yes such a thing exists over here in the States lol
I think this buttercream could be used as a fat bomb 🙂
elviira
Great ideas 🙂 Yes, I think buttercream is the original fat bomb — before somebody came up with that sexier and trendier expression…
Hélène
You could use peppermint EO or lemon EO or any of the EOs to vary your frostings! I bet rosemary mite even make a good sweetened frosting.
Im going to try and come up with a chocolate frosting. I LOVE chocolate buttercream!
elviira
Yes, the possibilities for variations are endless! Happy experimenting 🙂
Anu
These frostings look so GOOD!
elviira
Thanks, Anu!
Thalia @ butter and brioche
An orange butter frosting sounds so incredible delicious. I have to try out the recipe!
elviira
Thanks, Thalia! It’s my personal favorite 🙂 Hope you like it too!