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Maple Buttercream Frosting makes the perfect frosting recipe to highlight autumn dessert recipes. This Maple Buttercream Frosting recipe uses real maple syrup and can be adjusted for flavor.
Maple Buttercream Frosting makes a delicious addition to any autumn cake, cupcake or just smooshed between two cookies or graham crackers, truth be told.
This Maple Buttercream Frosting has a delicate maple flavoring, not overpowering in any way. Of course, you can adjust to amp up the maple flavor if you wish taking it anywhere from delicate to intense. Totally your call on that one.
Here’s my Maple Buttercream Frosting recipe. It is truly out of this world on my butter cake, my white cake, and definitely as a topping on my butter cookies. And that list just goes on and on. You probably should go ahead and just make extra frosting. You’ll want it, believe me.
Maple Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
- 2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- maple flavoring optional
Instructions
- Cream softened butter with the paddle attachment of your stand mixer or beat well with your hand mixer until the butter has lightened in color, about 3 minutes.
- Add confectioner's sugar and incorporate fully. Turn your mixer onto high speed to make sure the sugar is well incorporated and to lighten the mixture. Reduce the speed of your mixer and add maple syrup, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Turn your mixer back onto high speed and beat for about 30 seconds to lighten. Taste the buttercream to make sure it has the flavor you prefer, if you would like more maple flavor, add maple flavoring 1 teaspoon at a time until it has reached the flavor you prefer. You may need to incorporate additional sugar to have your buttercream at the proper consistency.
Nutritional Information
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Oh my gosh…this would rock on some spice cake! Thanks for sharing!
how many cupcakes should this frost?
I’d say just over a dozen depending on how you’re decorating them.
Oh yum!! I best this is good on pretty much anything!
Sounds simple yet delicious!
How lovely is this frosting? Perfect for this time of year!
I’ve been making a lot of cupcakes this season and this would go so perfect with some pumpkin cupcakes I was planning to bake!
This recipe sounds really good. Just to note though, just tried making it and I think the measurements are off. 1 cup of confectioners sugar is definitely not enough to make this frosting light and creamy. You might want to suggest 3-4 cups of sugar because with just 1, it looks like a goopy mess! Otherwise, once adjusted, tastes pretty damn good!!
Recipe called for 2 cups confectioners sugar
You are right Curt Sousa, I also had the same problem with the frosting being really runny. I tripled the batch so it took me forever to get it to the right consistency. But it was really good.
I thought that this recipe would be good to pipe on cupcakes for the fact that the photo shows the frosting piped out but when I tried it it was WAY to liquidy the measurements must be off. At the bottom of the recipe it said you may have to incorporate additional sugar and oh boy did I!
WOW! I have loved every recipe from Robin so far, but this one was so good I sat there eating this frosting and almost didn’t have enough for the maple cookies! Haha! I’ve never much liked maple syrup with pancakes, but these cookies with this frosting were to DIE for. We joked and called them breakfast cookies because I ate them every day when I woke up.
I topped banana muffins with this frosting and it was delicious! I halved the recipe, so I used 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup powdered sugar. Even after adding 1/4 cup of maple syrup, the consistency was thick! I actually added about 1 Tbsp of milk to make it smooth. I will definitely keep this recipe for future use!
I made this frosting to put on carrot cake. I usually use buttercream since cream cheese is not my favorite. This was an awesome addition to a new carrot cake recipe that I tried. I did not pipe it, but the consistency was perfect and would have piped quite nicely. I will definitely make this again!!!!
That sounds amazing, Craig! I’m so happy you shared this and glad you enjoyed it! Thanks!
This is an excellent maple buttercream icing! Not too overly sweet and not too buttery.
Only change I made was reducing the maple syup to 1/3 cup as I used dark maple syrup, which has more intense maple flavour, and I didn’t want it to be too overpowering. I started with a 1/4 cup but found there wasn’t enough maple flavor for my liking. I added the salt and vanilla then slowly added maple syrup all while whipping the frosting. Don’t forget to scrape the bowl frequently 🙂
Btw I topped my butter pecan cupcakes with this and it was delish!
That sounds heavenly! I’m so glad you loved it!
I agree that 1/3 cup maple syrup is the right amount. A 1/2 cup is too much. I know because I used 1/2 cup and i found it to be too over-powering.Â
I used a little less than 1/2 cup of syrup. It was Deeeeeeeeeelicious! Great recipe I will use again.
I’m so glad you thought it was “deeeeelicious”, Elizabeth!!! Love to hear that! Thanks! xo
Great! We tried it both with and without the maple extract, to top a spice cake, and in our opinion it was better with the stronger maple flavor. Without the extract this frosting is good on virtually anything. Or maybe everything. 🙂
Glad to hear that you enjoyed it, Jeff! Thanks!
I used this recipe but substituted this Irish cream for the maple syrup to top chocolate Guinness cupcakes. Delicious!
this sounds lovely, am planning to use this on my maple glased walnut cupcakes
Hello! *Vegan* over here. Not leaving a star review since I used this recipe as a guideline because vegetable margarine works differently than butter.
I used 1 cup softened Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, 3 cups organic powdered sugar, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, & 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. I was able to frost (piping the frosting) approximately 18 cupcakes.
I agree with above comments – 1/2 cup maple syrup would definitely be too much. I toyed with the idea of reducing 1/2 cup down to 1/4 cup on the stovetop but am glad I didn’t. The maple flavor still shines through.
I love a recipe that relies on the natural flavoring agent (maple syrup) and not an imitation extract. Thank you!
Delicious with plenty of real maple flavor!
Thanks, Cathy!
I have tried countless frosting recipes, and until finding this, I hated making buttercream. But, then I found this recipe. My family and I love this frosting! It goes perfectly with a vanilla cake. The tones are balanced, yet complex. The texture is unmatched. My mother who always eats around the frosting on a cake ate this frosting! This has become a family favorite. Thank you for a delicious recipe.
Thanks so much. I’m happy everyone loved this frosting.