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Marshmallow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

This Marshmallow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting is the perfect icing for many different cakes and cupcakes. Will ice 12 – 16 cupcakes (thickly), or 24 cupcakes if spread more thin.

If you’re looking for a soft, creamy and delicious frosting recipe, this Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting is it! This frosting is so fluffy and creamy and soft and vanilla-y and perfectly marshmallowy! Wonderful on cakes and cupcakes.

Marshmallow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting {A Pretty Life}

Marshmallow Buttercream = Delicious.

It seems to me that people are either icing on or icing off kind of people. Are you an icing person? I like icing, but I really just prefer cake and cupcakes naked. Unless there is some kind of marshmallow involved (or that white icing you get on cakes in the grocery store…I don’t know what it is about that kind of icing but I love it). But a marshmallow frosting? Sign me up.

Marshmallow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting {A Pretty Life}

Add Marshmallow Fluff!

On the weekend I made chocolate cupcakes and was trying to decide what kind of frosting to ice them with. As I pulled out the recipe card for my tried and true vanilla buttercream I wondered what it would taste like with marshmallow added. Marshmallow makes everything delicious don’t you think? Well it certainly made this frosting ah-mazing.

Marshmallow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting {A Pretty Life}

About this Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting.

It’s so fluffy and creamy and soft and vanilla-y and perfectly marshmallowy! This frosting will work on any cake or cupcake that you like. It’s a soft frosting.

Marshmallow Buttercream Recipe Tips

  • How much frosting does this recipe make? This Marshmallow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting is the perfect icing for either chocolate or vanilla cupcakes! Will ice 12 – 16 cupcakes (thickly), or 24 cupcakes if spread more thin.
  • The key is in the whipping! For the most fluffy, soft and creamy frosting, whip, whip, whip, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl often!
  • Marshmallow Fluff:  This is also sometimes called Marshmallow Creme. You can find it in small plastic containers in the candy aisle (sometimes it’s also in the baking aisle). The containers are usually 198 g (7 oz) which is what I use.
  • Butter: You can use salted or unsalted butter, at room temperature. If you use salted butter, you may not want to add any extra salt.
  • Icing Sugar: Also called powdered or confectioners sugar.
  • Flavour Tip: You can add 1/2 tsp vanilla to the frosting if you wish.
  • What if my frosting is too soft/thin? Just add more powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time.
  • What if my frosting is too thick? Add more cream, 1 tsp at a time until it’s the consistency you want.
  • Make Ahead: This frosting can be made ahead of time. Just store it in an airtight container in the fridge, then bring it up to room temperature before you use it.
  • Storage: Keep any leftover frosting in an airtight container in the fridge.
  • Do I need to keep my frosted cake/cupcakes in the fridge? This is a personal preference. I am comfortable leaving my frosted cakes/cupcakes out on the counter for up to 2 days. You can keep them in the fridge if you like.
  • Will this frosting crust? It will crust like any other buttercream, if left uncovered, but honestly, I haven’t found this to be a problem.
  • Can I add food colouring to the frosting? Absolutely. I like to add a bit of red to make pink cupcakes for Valentine’s Day.
  • Frosting Tip: I used a Wilton 1M icing tip for the icing roses.
  • Can I torch this frosting? NO. This is a buttercream base so it will just melt.
Marshmallow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting {A Pretty Life}

Make these cakes + cupcakes for the Marshmallow Buttercream

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Marshmallow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

This Marshmallow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting is the perfect icing for many different cakes and cupcakes. Will ice 12 – 16 cupcakes (thickly), or 24 cupcakes if spread more thin.

  • Author: Jo-Anna Rooney
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 3 cups 1x
  • Category: Cake

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 cups icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
  • 13 tsp heavy cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 (7 ounce) container of Marshmallow Fluff
  • salt to taste (optional)

Instructions

  1. Sift the icing sugar (confectioners sugar). Set aside.
  2. In a mixer, beat the butter until soft and fluffy. You’ll have to scrape the sides of the bowl several times. This process of getting fluffy butter takes at least 10 minutes.
  3. Add the sifted icing sugar, and mix until smooth.
  4. Add the vanilla and heavy cream and beat until smooth.
  5. Beat in the marshmallow fluff until smooth.
  6. Decorate your cupcakes and enjoy!

Keywords: buttercream, marshmallow buttercream, marshmallow frosting, marshmallow icing

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Have a delicious day!

This post was generously sponsored by Kendall-Jackson wines. But as always the voice, all content, the recipe and opinions are mine alone.

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136 Comments

  1. It’s so important to build up a repertoire of pipable (is that a word?) frostings because you never know when you need to make an impromptu, spontaneous cake, and there’s no time for recipe testing in those moments. Anyways, this frosting is beautiful, as is your piping!

          1. This recipe will ice 12 – 16 cupcakes (thickly), or 24 cupcakes if spread more thin. If you want thick icing on each cupcake, I recommend doubling the recipe.

  2. How would this hold up on a wedding cake? Is it overly sweet or a nice sweetness like a mccains cake. Those chocolate store bought delights, i’m not sure what the frosting is made of but i always feel it is a little marshmallowy!

  3. Just wondering if you could make the frosting a day in advance? And would you then refrigerate overnight then let come to room temperature before frosting the cupcakes? Thanks! Would like to try for my daughters bday this weekend.

    1. A small container of Kraft Jet-Puffed is 7 oz. or 198g. I’m making german chocolate cupcakes today and will be using this recipe. I can’t wait to taste them!

  4. Omg I tried this today to frost a b-day cake. The frosting came out perfect, the butter just melted and it isn’t too sweet. Thank you for my new go to recipe!

  5. Hi I was just curious how long this frosting will last like what’s the shelf life. And also does it have to be refrigerated after you Frost the cupcakes or can they stay in a sealed container on the counter

    1. Hi Karen! Sorry I missed your message! I think this frosting would last at least a week in the fridge. For the frosted cupcakes, I always leave mine on the counter for a day or so. Any longer and I would put them in the fridge.

  6. I am wondering if I can just melt my marshmallow since I have so many bags . And used it will have the same consistence or will change it.

    1. Hi Patricia! I’m not sure. I thought about doing this as well, and I think it likely would be fine as long as you didn’t completely melt the marshmallows. Just melt them slightly… just enough to make the consistency the same as marshmallow fluff. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!

    2. I tried this and heated the lage campfire marshmallows for 30 seconds mixed then let cool for about 8 minutes before incorporating into the recipe. I had to add double the powdered sugar to get the desired stiffness. (I have not made this recipe before to know what it typically looks like, will have to try the other way next time.) Plan to put it on GF cupcakes that I am making tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe. Tastes good!

  7. I just tested this recipe for my son’s 3rd birthday cake in march… wow! So good and easy! It almost tastes like a Swiss buttercream, but without all the extra work of cooking the egg whites and sugar! Totally the winner for the cake!

  8. Hi, I am looking for a new frosting for my coconut cakes. I normally make the 7 minute frosting…..egg whites, sugar. corn syrup, water,,,,etc,, but it does not lost long, 3 days max, before it starts ‘breaking down’. Do you think this would be a good substitute? I really think I should give it a try.

  9. Hi, this recipe sounds wonderful! I want to make a square cake with fondant on sides and piped frosting on top. Do you think I can use this frosting to attach fondant with/seal the cake with? Or would the marshmellow fluff melt the fondant! Now the other issue us if I can find fluff here in Copenhagen!

  10. Hello! I was wondering if the actual fluff brand would make it taste different from the cream? I tried it with fluff and couldn’t taste the marshmallow.

  11. Hi! I am pretty sure this is exactly what I am looking for. I have a couple questions tho. I want to make a three layer birthday cake. The cake won’t last long past the happy birthday song and blowing out candles. Do you think this would work or would the layers slide? Does the outside harden at all?

    Thanks,
    Cheryl

    1. Hi Cheryl! This frosting is quite thick, so it should be fine, with no sliding. It’s like a regular buttercream, so after some time in the air it will harden a bit…you could lightly wrap it with saran wrap to keep it moist.

  12. hi! i want to make a 1/2 birthday cake (6 months) so i am going to make a 9 inch round cake and then cut it in half and stack those two halves. so i am going to need to fill between the layers and then cover the tops and sides. do you think one recipe would be enough or should i double?

  13. Do you have any tips on an easy way to get the frosting inside a pastry bag? I seem to make such a mess every time and ending up wasting a lot of frosting.

  14. Do you think you could torch the icing and it would brown like a marshmallow or would it just melt?

  15. I’m just so glad I happened 2 run into your post about the marshmallow frosting. I love marshmallows and will definitely be trying it.

  16. omg, this was the best frosting ever.

    I did make a couple changes- because I was frosting almond flavored cupcakes for a friend. I added almond extract instead of vanilla and about 2 tablespoons sour cream, which cut the super sugary sweet-ness of the frosting a bit.

    Beautiful frosting. great texture. And beating the butter for 10 minutes totally made the difference as well.

  17. Can you make smooth sides with this icing? I need to have smooth sides and then a drip from the top. Will this work?

  18. I was so excited to try this but I don’t know how anyone was able to make this with just 2 cups of powdered sugar I had to use about 5 and once I added all that I couldn’t tell much of a difference in just regular butter cream :'(

  19. I’m making a three tier dark chocolate cake for my daughters 50th birthday (10”, 8”, 6”). I want to have a raspberry marshmallow buttercream filling. Could I use puréed fresh raspberries in this recipe? If not, what do you suggest?

    I will dirty ice the cakes with a regular buttercream and cover with fondant.

    1. Hi Diane! I think you could absolutely add fresh pureed raspberries to this recipe. But the extra liquid may make the frosting more soft (maybe runny), so you may have to add more icing sugar or marshmallow.

    2. I know I’m almost a year late in my reply, but I’ve seen raspberry frostings made by grinding freeze dried raspberries into a powder and sifting out the seeds.

  20. Thank you Jo-Anna for your reply to my question. I will definitely be using fresh puréed raspberries in your marshmallow buttercream icing recipe. Since I will be using this icing as the filling I want it to be thicker than a spreadable icing. This is going to taste sooo good with the rich, dark chocolate cake. 🙂

  21. Just made this frosting for my sons snowman cupcakes. I’m not a buttercream fan so I can definitely taste the butter, but otherwise it is so good! It is a bit soft so Ill keep the cupcakes in the fridge till I’m ready to take them to my sons school. Great recipe!

  22. Can you tell me who makes the marshmallow fluff used in this recipe? I live in UK. MY granddaughter loves marshmallow flavour so I really have to try this recipe.

  23. Thank you so much for this awesome idea!!! My husband is a marshmallow fluff junky 😉 though its hard to find in a german grocery store, I know where to get it and its mostly unknown… I’ll make it my new favourite secret ❤️

  24. This is definitely a hit and I’m not even a marshmallow fan. I decided to try this because I was making the cupcakes for kids and wanted to deter myself from snacking on the extras. That was a major fail because I have no self control and I like this icing better than the standard buttercream I can’t stay away from. My taste buds thank you for this recipe, however my waistline doesn’t.

  25. Hi, I’d like to try this frosting on the tops of s’mores cupcakes…do you think it would toast if I heated it gently with a torch?

  26. 5 stars
    This was exactly what I was imagining, and hoping to find. I took it to a dinner party tonight and wow what a success! This will also be one of my go-to recipes. It was messy and sticky to make but sooo worth it!

  27. Thanks so much! I bought a grocery store pumpkin spice cupcake in the fall and it had a lovely, fluffy icing. Yours is the first recipe to replicate it. I am grateful you shared. Now to find a beautiful poured fondant icing. Happy Easter.

  28. 5 stars
    I’ve never attempted a marshmallow frosting before…ive done the standard buttercream to death!! I now have found my one and only go to frosting!!! This is amazing and so easy!!! I had some left over and I was dipping everything in this frosting!! Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe!! 🙂 🙂

  29. Can this icing be used if you want a smooth look? Does the cake need to be refrigerated after its iced?

    1. The icing will only be as smooth as a buttercream icing can be…it’s not smooth like a fondant though. I don’t usually refrigerate my cakes, but you certainly can…

  30. I made this frosting and got rave reviews on the flavor, but my frosting fell flat after 5-10 minutes at room temp. Any tips to help it keep its shape? I’m adding 1.5 tsp of heavy cream and the second time I made this, I added an extra 1/3 cup of powdered sugar. I hope to use this on the s’mores cupcakes for my son’s birthday this month! Thanks!

  31. I rarely leave comments on food blogs, but this frosting is awesome! I used it to pipe rosettes on a pumpkin bundt cake & the vanilla-y, marshmallow-y flavor was delicious, as well as the texture being so light & fluffy! I can’t wait to use this on other flavors of cake! Thanks so much for a fabulous recipe!

  32. 5 stars
    I made this and it’s so good in my smores cupcakes but how do I’ll make it not runny..mine came out so runny they were good but messy

  33. 5 stars
    Made halloween cupcakes and I think I ate more than I frosted….. haha just worried about having them overnight for tomorrow. Hope they are still fresh. Not sure if I should put them in the fridge or not.

  34. This is my new favorite frosting! I used it inside of chocolate sandwich cookies for christmas and it is perfect. holds shape perfectly and is the perfect amount of sweetness with the cookies. I cant wait to try it on cupcakes. thank you!

  35. 3 stars
    This icing was way too sweet (and I have a major sweet tooth) and I only used 1.5 cups of sugar. I even added extra butter to cut the sweetness but it didn’t help much. I would try again but add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time AFTER the fluff.

  36. I am making an ice cream cake fir my grandson’s birthday. His request is a white cake with cookie dough ice cream and frosting. Can I freeze this frosting after I have put it on the cake?

  37. 5 stars
    I made this frosting for cupcakes last night. Everyone in my family loved it! My husband doesn’t usually like frosting and he said he loved that it wasn’t too sweet. I didn’t have the full 3/4’s c. of unsalted butter so I used 1/2 c. of unsalted and 1/4 c. salted butter and it still tasted delicious. It will definitely be my new go-to frosting!

  38. I tried to find anything about this in previous comments but didn’t see it. Can this frosting be made in advance and frozen until ready to use?

    1. Hi Becky! I’m not sure as I’ve never frozen it before, but I’m sure you can. I would store it in an airtight container in the freezer, then when you want to use it, let it come up to room temperature and remix.

  39. Hello Jo-Anna , I have tried your recipe several times..I really loved it.but, what I want to ask is if you can use any other flavor extract? Because I want to make an orange cake and want to pair it with an orange frosting.