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Nutella Buttercream Frosting – for the Nutella lover like my son, this is the epitome of the perfect frosting.

Lighter in color than a full chocolate buttercream frosting, or even my espresso buttercream frosting, this Nutella Buttercream Frosting has enough Nutella flavor in it without being totally overpowering.

You get the delicious Nutella flavor without feeling like you are eating straight Nutella on top of your cupcake or cake or cookie. However, if that’s your thing, by all means, do it. It is delicious. I may or may not have tried that a time or two myself. But seriously, if I want that all I need is a knife or spoon and the jar of Nutella. Right?

So, if Nutella is your thing or a favorite of someone you love, then make this Nutella Buttercream Frosting for them soon. Like for their birthday, or anniversary, or to celebrate going back to school, or heading off to college, or a random Tuesday afternoon because you want to. Either way, they’ll love it.
I topped white cupcakes I made using my Best White Cake Recipe. They worked perrrrrfectly together. Mmmmmmmmm!

Here’s my Nutella Buttercream Frosting Recipe. Hope you love it.
Nutella Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3½ – 4 cups confectioner’s sugar sifted
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons half-and-half heavy cream or whole milk
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Cream together butter and ½ cup of confectioner’s sugar at a time. After each cup of sugar has been added, add Nutella 1 tablespoon at a time, then add vanilla and then beat on high for about 20 seconds to lighten the frosting.
- Add half-and-half, one tablespoon at a time until the buttercream has reached a consistency where it will hold it’s shape. Add pinch of salt and whip on high for a final 20 seconds.
- Use immediately or cover and refrigerate up to three days. To use once refrigerated, slowly allow to reach room temperature and then beat on low speed until the buttercream is smooth before using.
Notes
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
This is awesome!! My five year old sister would LOVE this frosting. The girl is a freak for nutella and I am thinking this frosting needs to be on here birthday cake next week!
My husband would be in heaven if I made him a cake with this frosting. Genius,
Do I need to refrigerate the cake or cupcakes topped with this?
Thank you. Have a great day!
I just want to eat that whole bag of frosting!!
Oh my goodness gracious does this look light & fluffy! Great recipe, Robyn!
I tried this frosting on the “Best Chocalate Cake Ever” and it was delicous!! Super easy to make and super sweet but not overpowering. Thanks for the recipe!
Could I just get a spoon and a big bowl of this frosting! Oh my!!!
This looks and sounds beautiful. I love the barely there color.
I like that its not the overpowering nutella taste, I do like it lightened up. and I know a 2.5 yr old boy who would love this 🙂
Perfect timing! Next weekend we’re celebrating my son-in-law’s birthday. I’m making the cake. He’s a big fan of Nutella! He won’t be expecting a cake with a Nutella buttercream frosting. Can’t wait to surprise him!
Hello, I’m sure not only kids will love these awesome cupcake, the pics are really beautiful, thank you for sharing, have a nice sunday, liên
Has anyone tried this with salted butter instead of unsalted with a pinch of salt?
If so, how’d it turn out?
It works out fine. You can use salted butter and don’t add the pinch of salt
what does half and half mean?. is it half heavy cream and half whole milk ? ty
The 1 tablespoon of vanilla has to be a typo. I made it with a tablespoon and it was way too overpowering. Made it with 1 teaspoon and it was fine.
Can you kindly explain more the “2 tablespoons half-and-half, heavy cream or whole milk” what do you mean by half-and-half.
Thank you
Regards
Half and half is half milk and half crwam. You can find it at any grocery store 🙂
Any idea if this will cover a standard 2 layer cake or would I need to double the recipe?
Thanks!
Wonderful. This icing is so delicious.
Do you have to add sugar to this? The nutella has enough sugar…why is it necessary to add sugar to it?
Could I substitute olive oil for the butter?
My 11-year-old daughter found this online and made it to top sugar cookies – amazing! The whole family raved about this.
The frosting was a little too sweet for me and I even cut down on the sugar to 2 cups and the vanilla over powered the flavor maybe only 1 tsp would’ve worked better its still a great frosting recipe but needs some tweaks to make it taste less sweet.
adding more salt would make the frosting less sweet.
Also you could use part shortening. Like half butter and half shortening. I always make frosting like that and it usually isn’t too sweet.
This frosting was so good! By far the best frosting if ever tasted. I used it on chocolat cupcakes and my family loved them! Thanks so much for the recipe! xo
Just made this icing and decided we all loved it. Out was a little sweet but that doesn’t hurt ever so often. I did add a little extra nutella just because I had it in front of me lol. Put it on the best white cake ever.
The cake was truly truly delicious. Everyone loved it. It was moist, had a great texture, and it held together great.Asked husband who is not a big sweets fan if he liked it and he said yeah, I was the only one to get seconds of it. Lol. He also said it was much better than a cake mix in a box. Going to make your chocolate cake next time.
Thank you for your site.
Sounds wonderful, going to make it tomorrow for Father’s Day, thank you.
What type of cakes would you use this icing on?
My son loves it on my yellow cake especially!
Love Love Love Best Nutella Buttermilk Cake EVER!
Frosting was way too sweet for me
Sorry you didn’t enjoy it, Nadia. Thanks!
Hi there!
I based in Sydney, Australia – am wanting to give this frosting a go! Can you explain what add half and half means?
Half and half can refer to a mixture of milk and cream, which is often used in coffee. In the United States, half and half is a common liquid product produced by dairy companies in premixed form.
Half-and-half consists of a mixture of milk and cream which contains between 10.5 and 18 percent milkfat. It is pasteurized or ultra-pasteurized, and may be homogenized.
Help! Where do you find confectioners sugar!?
Oh also. Recipe gets 5 billion stars! XD Class loved it! Thx for sharing this with the world!
Yay! That’s awesome news, Emma! So glad they all enjoyed it! Thanks! xo
Hi Emma,
It’s also called powdered sugar – it’s usually in the same area as the granulated and brown sugars. Thanks!
Such a delicious recipe! Thank you! The directions were easy to follow, even for a novice like me, and it turned out perfect. We haven’t had it on the cake yet, but can’t stop tasting it! Even after refrigerating overnight. Love that it doesn’t call for heavy cream, which I don’t normally stock. I have whole milk for my two year old, who is still asking for more!
Amazing frosting, everyone loved it ! Will definitely be using it again.
Isn’t it so delicious, Amanda?! So glad you liked it! xo
Will frosting be a enough to frost double layer cake
This recipe makes 2 cups frosting.
This is LITERALLY THE BEST!! This recipe, this website, is really helpful to me. Fathers Day Is Going To be a BLAST! Thanks again for this amazing recipe! The consistency was really good and the steps were super easy to follow. This again was really helpful to me!
Thank you. I’m so glad this site has been helpful to you. That’s what I always want it to be.