Buttercream icing

Foolproof cake frosting requires just butter and icing sugar – try out different flavourings and use our guide for quantities

Ingredients

• 600 g icing sugar, sifted
• 300 g unsalted or salted butter, softened
• finely grated lemon zest
• finely grated orange zest
• a dash of vanilla extract
• few drops food colouring
• cocoa powder, to taste

Steps

1. Beat 600g sifted icing sugar and 300g butter together with your chosen flavouring and colouring if using, add 2-3 tbsp of boiling water to loosen and beat until smooth.
2. Fill a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe onto cupcakes or smear in the middle and over the top of a 20cm cake using a palette knife.