Flowers and Vanilla Buttercream Icing

I was making some Vanilla Cupcakes the other day, and I had no idea how I was going to decorate them.  I then remembered that I had learnt how to make all sorts of flowers in my Wilton class, but I had not made them since!  

I whipped up a vanilla buttercream recipe that I had heard of on a couple different sites/youtube videos, and it tasted absolutely amazing.  This buttercream is softer and lighter than the traditional Wilton Buttercream Icing, so it would not work well if you were making roses or other decorations that require stiff icing. It was a little soft for some of my petals, but since they were laying flat on the cupcakes, all you needed to correct that is to mix in a little bit more icing sugar to the colors you will be using using for them.

This icing recipe would be great for spreading icing on cakes or cupcakes, or for basic details.  Again, if you would like to thicken it a bit, you can just add more icing sugar.  If you require really thick icing for decorating, I would recommend leaving the whipping cream out, and adjusting the stiffness with teaspoons of milk or water.

Vanilla Buttercream Icing

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1/4 cup whipping cream

1. Beat the butter until it is light and fluffy
2. Add the vanilla, and beat on high for a minute or two
3. Add the icing sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until each cup is completely mixed in before adding the next
4. When all the icing sugar has been added, pour in the whipping cream and beat until very light and fluffy
5. If you would like to thicken the icing, you can add less whipping cream, or add more icing sugar 
6. You can also switch up the flavor of the buttercream by using different extracts: Maple, Mint, Rum, Orange, Strawberry, etc!