No-Fail Fluffy Buttercream

**Image: Birthday cake that I made for my good friend two years ago (ombre petal cake)

For those of you who ask, 'how did you make this frosting?' this post is for you.

It's extremely easy and no different from any other buttercream recipe, however it is a lot easier if you have a stand mixer (KitchenAid)

Ingredients

+ 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

+ 2 cups of icing sugar

+ 1 tsp vanilla extract OR any other flavour you would like to add

  (I like to use vanilla beans-- and I swear by this website for ordering beans/extracts) 

+ 2 tsp milk/cream 

Directions

+ Place the butter in a stand mixer fitted with an paddle attachment and beat at medium-high speed for about 8 minutes-- yes! 8 minutes. The butter will get very fluffy and lighten over this time. If you are doing with with a hand-held mixer, your arm might hurt a bit after, but it's still totally sufficient.

+ Add the icing sugar. If there are a lot of clumps in it, sift it first with either a sifter or by tapping it through a mesh strainer into the bowl. Beat for another 2-3 minutes.

+ Add your flavour of choice + milk + any colouring you want the icing to have. Beat for another minute or so (or until colour is uniform throughout)

Tip: If you need more icing, use about 2 cups of butter and 4 cups of icing sugar. This recipe is enough to frost just over a dozen sugar cookies. You would need to double it for a cake or cupcakes.