A staple in my floral bakery, lavender buttercream is deliciously soft, creamy, and perfectly sweet. This simple American buttercream recipe will make any dessert truly magical and memorable. The floral flavor will add an elegant touch to your next cupcake or cake. It’s perfect for topping both simple vanilla layer cakes as well as more complex designs like layered desserts with different flavors in each level! Try it on Lavender Honey Cupcakes, Earl Grey Lavender Cake, or Lavender Apricot Cake

bag filled with buttercream on a concrete surface with lavender flowers coming out of the tip and peach colored roses in the foreground

I’ve found myself using lavender buttercream so often that I knew I needed to create a post for it! It’s easy to whip up, has delicate, floral-scented flavor, that’s so balanced with the butter and sugar, making it perfect for any occasion. Made with natural ingredients to give it that extra something special! Plus that creamy texture is out of this world good.

image of small layered cake with pink flower on top with vase with pink flowers in background — Earl grey cake with lavender buttercream

Table of Contents

Ingredients

Butter: With so few ingredients and butter being star of the show, use something delicious and high quality. It’s extremely important you use room temperature butter to get the correct consistency of buttercream needed. And use unsalted so you can control how much salt goes into this recipe to take the edge off of the sweetness.
Confectioners’ Sugar: Often referred to as powdered sugar. Sweetens vanilla buttercream and adds stability and pipe-ability to the frosting.
Dried organic lavender buds: For ease and accessibility, it’s always easy to find!
Heavy Cream: Though any milk will do the trick here, I always use heavy cream for maximum creaminess and richness. And make it top tier by using lavender infused milk.
Pure Vanilla Extract: Adds that glorious vanilla flavor.
Salt: Offsets the sweetness, takes the edge off. American buttercream is VERY sweet.

close up shot of a cupcake topped with lavender buttercream with a sprig of candied lavender garnishing it — Vanilla cupcakes with lavender honey frosting

How to Make Lavender (American) Buttercream Frosting

American vanilla buttercream is incredibly simple to make and is perfect for frosting cakes and piping onto cupcakes! And this lavender buttercream frosting will make any sweet treat a dream come true!

Make a lavender sugar by grinding / combining your dried lavender with your confectionaries sugar in a food processor, high speed blender or with a mortar and pestle.
Slowly sift in your lavender sugar to your butter. Beat your butter and lavender sugar together until creamy. Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature or you won’t get the smooth and creamy texture. Add some of your heavy cream as needed to help mix it smoothly. Add in your vanilla extract, and beat on low speed until all ingredients are well incorporated.
Bump up the mixer to medium-high speed and continue to mix for a minute or two. At this point, check the frosting consistency, you can add more confectioners’ sugar if the frosting is too thin or a splash of heavy cream if it’s too thick.
Taste and salt. Add a pinch of salt to offset the sweetness.

What to use lavender buttercream on:

On Lavender honey cupcakes
On Lavender lemon shortbread
On Soft lavender white chocolate cookies
On Lavender Apricot Cake
On Earl Grey Lavender Cake

How to store buttercream:

To store, place the buttercream frosting in a container that’s airtight. When stored properly, buttercream frosting can last in the fridge for up to a month, and in the freezer for up to three months.

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