In The Kitchen: Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

October is my favorite month. I love everything about it – the changing leaves, cooling temperatures, football, pumpkins, plus it’s my birthday month! Along with my birthday on the 25th, my sister’s birthday is 5 days earlier (today!) and one of my best friends from college celebrates her birthday in October! There’s certainly a lot of celebrating going on, so I thought it was fitting to bring our L&V Vanilla Buttercream Happy Birthday card to life by creating the recipe. Following the ingredients listed on the card, I combined 1 cup of butter with 3 cups of powdered sugar in my Kitchenaid standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Tip: First cream the butter, then add the powdered sugar a little bit at a time. This way you won’t get caught in a cloud of powdered sugar dust!

Once the sugar was combined, I added the vanilla and milk. More milk can be used based on the desired consistency.

And that’s it! The frosting is thick, rich, and creamy. If you are a butter lover (like I am) you will absolutely love this frosting with its delicious buttery flavor. It’s good enough to eat by itself from the bowl, but I used it to ice yellow cupcakes.

To make the cupcakes just a bit more special for my friend, candy buttons were the perfect topper. Yes, these buttons are made of candy! Can you believe it?! The talented confectioners of Andy’s Specialty Sweets make these buttons in a wide array of colors and styles along with the most spectacular candy creations. Each piece they design is truly an edible work of art.

These cupcakes are anything but plain! I love that Lily & Val recipe cards are both functional AND pretty. It’s a great way to send happy birthday wishes or even keep for yourself. 🙂

For the past couple weeks on Instagram, I have been teasing a new Lily & Val product called the Keepsake Kitchen Diary! It has been on my heart to create this diary for years and I’m thrilled to share it with you all very soon. Visit keepsakekitchendiary.com and enter your email address to be notified when it is available in November 2015.