Light and Airy Homemade Vanilla Frosting

Do you know what makes me happy?  Well, lots of things.  But, the one that I have in mind right now is my children’s great love for the vanilla frosting I make.  Jack, in particular, will sometimes say (just out of the blue), “Mom — you make the best frosting I’ve ever had.  It’s so much better than frosting from the store.”

Love that kid.

This vanilla frosting recipe is simple, and you probably have everything in your house right this moment to make it.

Ingredients for Homemade Vanilla Frosting:

• 3 cups powdered sugar (aka confectioners’ sugar)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, soft and at room temperature (this is important — so try to remember to set it out before you want to use it)
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla (sometimes I put in a tiny bit more)
• 3 tablespoons of milk (although I always end up adding a bit more than that — if you want very thick frosting though, you can even go less than 3 tablespoons)

Directions for Homemade Vanilla Frosting:

Put the butter in a bowl first.  Since I have a handy dandy Kitchen Aid mixer, I beat the butter pretty well after adding it to the bowl.  You can do this with a hand mixer as well, of course.  But, you know what?  I’m pretty spoiled by my Kitchen Aid.

Add the powdered sugar a bit at a time to the butter, and cream them together. 

Stir in the vanilla and milk.  Then, beat the mixture well.  If it is not thick enough, add in some more powdered sugar.  But, if you’re like me, you are always apt to add in just a bit more milk to make it slightly thinner.

If you want to add in food coloring, this is the time to do it!

So, at this point, I beat the frosting for several minutes.  I didn’t always do that though.  However, one time, I was trying to make the frosting orange, and I had a horrible time making it happen.  I just kept having to add more yellow, then more red, then more yellow, then more red, and so on.

All that time, of course, I was mixing it in my Kitchen Aid.  I was then rewarded with not only orange frosting, but light, airy, and delicious orange frosting.  I got so many compliments, and people even asked how it was so light.

Perhaps you don’t want to make orange cupcakes though.  Just keep in mind, there’s always blue cupcakes with monkeys instead.

Thanks to Party Cupcake Ideas for the Barrel Full of Monkeys cupcake idea.  I sent them in to Eric’s work, and everyone loved them.  (Plus, as a bonus, I filled the barrel they came in with extra vanilla frosting and sent in graham crackers.  Yum!)

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