Buttercream vs whipped cream frosting? When do I use which? This is the most common problem for all bakers. The most important aspect of cake decorating is selecting the appropriate frosting.
Many cake decorators commonly use buttercream and whipped cream frosting as their main frostings. Some prefer buttercream over whipped cream, and vice versa. I’ll go over each in depth so you know which frosting is ideal for your baked goods.
Let us start!
What is frosting?
The frosting is more than just a sweet topping for cakes, cupcakes, and other dessert. It will take your plain dessert to a fantastic masterpiece.
Why frosting is important?
Imagine serving a plain cake versus a decorated cake that reflects your birthday theme. Which one will win hearts? Undoubtedly, the decorated one, right? It not only improves the presentation but also the flavors and textures.
But you need to know which one to use that complements your underlying dessert. Buttercream, for example, is rich and creamy and works well with butter cakes, but whipped cream frosting is light, and airy which pairs beautifully with sponges.
Types of frosting
There are various types of frosting, but most bakers use buttercream and whipped cream frosting in the baking industry.
Buttercream is a rich, creamy, buttery, stable, and sweet frosting, whereas whipped cream frosting is light, airy, and not too sweet.
So which one is the best and will you choose? Well, it depends on the type of dessert. We will see buttercream frosting and whipped cream frosting in detail so that you can choose the right one for your desserts.
What is buttercream frosting?
Buttercream frosting is rich, creamy, and usually made from very simple ingredients, butter and powdered sugar. It’s adaptable, allowing bakers to add different flavors and make a range of buttercream frostings
For example, use melted chocolate to make fudgy chocolate frosting, while some add salted caramel to make salted caramel buttercream frosting.
Here are some of the buttercream frosting that cake decorates use. Some of them are extremely simple buttercreams, while others are a little complicated and need skills.
American-style buttercream
American buttercream is the most popular, widely used, and easy buttercream frosting to make. Just whip up the butter, add icing sugar and a splash of milk or cream, and your American buttercream is ready. It holds its shape nicely so it is best for any kind of intricate decorating on cupcakes or cakes.
Key ingredients – Butter, icing sugar or confectioners sugar or powdered sugar, and whole milk.
Pros – Easy to make, stable, pipeable, can stay outside (no refrigeration required), and spreadable.
Cons – Can be too sweet.
Ideal uses – It is ideal for use as a filling or frosting on butter cakes or regular cupcakes.
Swiss meringue buttercream
This buttercream is less sweet. It is fluffy, silky and made with egg whites, sugar, and butter. It is prepared by heating egg whites and sugar together over a double boiler, beating them until stiff peaks form, and finally, gradually adding softened butter after the first is incorporated.
Key ingredients – Egg white, sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt.
Pros – Silky, stable, less sweet, pipeable, can stay outside (no refrigeration required), and spreadable.
Cons – Requires more time, needs to pasteurize egg whites at a certain temperature.
Ideal uses – It is ideal to use as filling or frosting on butter cakes, regular cupcakes, or macarons.
Italian meringue buttercream
This is glossy, less sweet, and identical to Swiss meringue. The only difference is, that hot sugar syrup is poured over the whipped soft peaked meringue and finally room temperature butter is added gradually.
Key ingredients – Egg white, sugar, butter.
Pros – Glossy, stable, pipeable, can stay outside (no refrigeration required), and spreadable.
Cons – Requires more time and skills, needs to pasteurize egg whites at a certain temperature.
Ideal uses – It is ideal to use filling or frosting on butter cakes, regular cupcakes, or macarons.
French buttercream
To make this French buttercream, you follow the same process as you would for Italian buttercream, except pour the hot sugar syrup over whipped egg yolks. Since it is not meringue-based, it lacks the stability of Swiss or Italian buttercream.
Key ingredients – Egg yolks, sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt.
Pros – Glossy, less sweet, spreadable, and richer than Swiss or Italian.
Cons – Skills and time are necessary because you are going to pasteurize egg yolks at a certain temperature. They can melt in warm weather and have a shorter shelf life.
Ideal uses – It is ideal to use as filling or frosting on butter cakes, regular cupcakes, or macarons.
German buttercream
This is a mixture of custard and butter. Prepare the pastry cream first and then whip it with softened, room-temperature butter.
Key ingredients – Egg yolks, milk, sugar, corn starch, butter, and a pinch of salt.
Pros – Rich flavor, less sweet, stable, spreadable.
Cons – Needs more time as we need to prepare pastry cream first, shorter shelf life, needs refrigeration.
Ideal uses – It is ideal to use as filling or frosting on butter cakes, or regular cupcakes, filling for éclairs or cream puffs, topping on tarts, and layered desserts such as trifles.
Russian buttercream
This is very easy frosting, similar to American buttercream, and does not require any cooking. Combine equal parts of butter and condensed milk to make this buttercream, with no added sugar.
Key ingredients – Butter, condensed milk, and a pinch of salt.
Pros – Easy to prepare, rich, less sweet, stable, spreadable.
Cons – Heavy compared to others, can not stay out for long, shorter shelf life because of dairy content.
Ideal uses – It is ideal to use as filling or frosting on butter cakes, or regular cupcakes, topping on tarts, cheesecake, and scones.
What Is Whipped Cream Frosting?
Whipped cream is light, airy, less sweet frosting with a fluffy texture. Prepare by whipping heavy whipping cream, sugar, and flavoring, especially pure vanilla extract. Some recipes call for gelatin to make it firmer and stable frosting but store-bought icing sugar will do that for you.
Key ingredients – Heavy whipping cream, icing sugar, and flavoring.
Pros – Easy to prepare, light, airy, fluffy, melt in mouth, less sweet.
Cons – Not ideal for intricate design, temperature sensitive, short shelf life, needs refrigeration as it uses perishable ingredients.
Ideal uses – It is ideal to use as filling or frosting on sponge cakes, genoise cupcakes (as seen in the above image), topping on tarts, cheesecake, and scones.
Nutritional facts – buttercream vs whipped cream frosting
As stated above, buttercream is usually prepared with butter and sugar. Some use egg whites or egg yolks, making it less sweet but it also contains butter and sugar at the same time. Hence, any type of buttercream is high in fat and calories.
On the other hand, whipped cream is made from whipping cream and icing sugar. Although it contains sugar, it is significantly less than that found in any buttercream, making it ideal for calorie-conscious people or diabetics.
| Sr. No. | Nutrition Label (for 1/4 cup) | Buttercream Frosting | Whipped Cream Frosting |
| 1. | Calories | 200 to 300 | 50 – 100 |
| 2. | Fat | 20 – 30 gms | 5 – 10 gms |
| 3. | Saturated Fat | 10 – 20 gms | 3 – 8 gms |
| 4. | Carbs | 30 – 50 gms | 4 – 6 gms |
| 5. | Sugar | 20 – 30 gms | 2 – 4 grams |
| 6. | Protein | 0.5 gms | 0.5 gms |
PS – I am not a nutritionist so these numbers might not be the exact match. I obtained these from a nutritional calculator. I have given a comparison of 1/4 cup of American buttercream and whipped cream. If you use any other buttercream, the numbers may vary.
When to use buttercream and whipped cream
Utilize the buttercream for any dessert that is sturdy, butter-based, and able to support the weight of rich buttercream.
Use the whipped cream frosting for any light, sponge-based cakes or cupcakes.
Imagine you want to impress your guests by creating a stunning layer cake for your next gathering. That is, you do not want to make a layer cake collapse after cutting or does not hold its shape after frosted.
The weight of the buttercream prevents it from holding up when applied on light sponges. You’ll need something lightweight that stays intact. Similarly, if you place whipped cream frosting on butter cakes, the top will become soggy due to the high water content of the whipped cream, causing the cake to collapse before or shortly after cutting.
So, choose the one that compliments your base! And I am confident that it will excellent choice for your dessert 🙂
The ultimate comparison of buttercream vs Whipped cream frosting
| Sr. No. | Different Factors | Buttercream Frosting | Whipped Cream Frosting |
| 1. | Key Ingredient list | Butter, sugar, egg whites, or yolk, and a pinch of salt | heavy cream, icing sugar, and flavoring. |
| 2. | Ideal dessert pairing | Butter cakes, chocolate cake, cupcakes, macarons, or anywhere where we need to do kind of fancy decorating, | Sponge cake such as genoise, angel food cake, chiffon cake, topping for hot chocolate, coffee or cheesecakes. |
| 3. | Mouthfeel | Rich and heavy mouthfeel | Fluffier mouthfeel |
| 4. | Stability | Stable, and can be kept at room temperature, no refrigeration required. | Must be refrigerated, less stable. |
| 5. | Storage | Can be stored in an airtight container in a refrigerator or freezer or at room temperature | Must be refrigerated |
| 5. | Shelf life | Great shelf life, usually 4 to 5 days. | Shorter shelf life, usually a day or two. |
| 6. | Nutritional facts | Calorie-dense, contains saturated fats | less calories |
