Do you need a great buttercream frosting recipe? Buttercream icing is great for frosting almost any kind of layer or sheet cake. Good buttercream is sweet, creamy and buttery, as its name suggests. Many commercially made buttercreams don't actually contain butter, using hydrogenated vegetable shortening as the base for the icing. When you make homemade buttercream, you can make sure you're getting the real deal!

You can make buttercream icing with or without eggs and vary the consistency and color for different decorating purposes. Buttercream is an easy, must-know recipe for bakers. How to make buttercream icing shows you how to make both meringue-style and eggless buttercream icings. Both of the processes listed below will make enough buttercream frosting to cover 24 cupcakes, one 9x13 sheet cake or a two-layer round cake. Feel free to increase or reduce the amounts should you need more or less icing.

After reading this guide you should have a handle on the process for making buttercream icing. Of course, icing shouldn't be eaten alone, so you'll have to bake up something to spread it on. Check out Mahalo's pages on red velvet cake, chocolate cake, cupcakes and wedding cakes.

This buttercream frosting recipe will frost two single cake layers, on 9x13 cake, or 24 cupcakes.

• 2 cups granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup water

• 5 egg whites at room temperature

• 2 cups butter at room temperature

• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (optional)

• Pinch of salt (optional)

• Medium saucepan

• Candy thermometer

• Electric mixer

• Large bowl

1. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and heat until the temperature of the mixture reaches 240°, or what's known in candy making as the soft-ball stage.Epicurious: White Elephant Cake with Buttercream Frosting (March 2006)

2. While the sugar solution is heating, whip the egg whites and salt until the whites hold soft peaks.FoodNetwork.com: Whip Egg Whites

3. When the sugar solution reaches the right temperature, slowly pour it down the side of the bowl with the egg whites while continuing to beat with the electric mixer. Stop beating when the mixture (a meringue) is nearly cool.

4. Once the meringue is completely cool, gradually beat in the butter. Don't worry if your icing starts to look lumpy and a bit of a mess.FoodNetwork.com: French Buttercream Simply continue to beat until the mixture is thick and looks homogeneous.

5. Beat in the vanilla.

• 1 cup butter at room temperature

• 4 cups confectioner's sugar

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

• Pinch of salt (optional)

• Electric mixer

• Large bowl

1. Combine butter, sugar, salt and vanilla in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in milk one tablespoon at a time until the mixture reaches the desired consistency.FoodNetwork.com: Vanilla Buttercream

• It's easy to play around with the flavor and color of your buttercream.

1. Add white chocolate to your buttercream.Epicurious: White Chocolate Layer Cake with Apricot Filling and White Chocolate Buttercream (June 2003)
2. Substitute brown sugar for white sugar.Epicurious: Brown Sugar Buttercream (January 2001)
3. Add coffee and chocolate for a mocha buttercream.Epicurious: Mocha Buttercream (January 2001)
4. Make buttercream fondant to decorate cakes.Allrecipes: Rolled Buttercream Fondant
5. Replace the vanilla extract with mint, hazelnut, almond, raspberry or any other extract or flavoring you desire.Allrecipes: Mint Buttercream Frosting with Dark Chocolate Glaze
6. Make stiffer decorating buttercream to pipe flowers and other decorations.MarthaStewart.com: Meringue Buttercream Frosting for Buttercream Flowers
7. Add food coloring to change the icing's color.