• 500g Butter – salted, unsalted or half and half
• 1kg Icing Sugar
• 38cl Vanilla Extract (one of the small bottles)

Make sure your butter is nice and soft, but still holding it’s shape. Leave it out at room temperature for a couple of hours, but if it’s still very hard you can use your microwave on the lowest setting to soften it. Be sure to put it on for just a few seconds at a time and keep checking your butter so that it doesn’t heat too much (I’ve melted it a couple of times)!

Put the softened butter in your mixer with the paddle attachment and beat it on a medium to high speed for 2 – 3 minutes. Then stop and scrape down the bowl before putting it back on to beat for another 2 -3 minutes.

Now scrape down the bowl and sift in around half of the icing sugar. Put the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated.

Sift in the rest of the sugar and add the bottle of vanilla. Put the mixer on low until all the sugar is incorporated, then turn the mixer up to medium for around 10 seconds to make sure it’s well mixed.

Transfer the buttercream to a sealed container and store in the fridge. When you want to use it, bring it back to room temperature – and remember that you can use your microwave in very short bursts at a time to bring it to piping consistency.

The buttercream will last in the fridge for as long as the use by date on the butter, so make sure you label it! You can also freeze it in sealed bags or containers for up to 3 months.