How Much Buttercream For A Wedding Cake?

Decorating By nbrockman Updated 9 Feb 2016 , 5:58pm by kakeladi

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nbrockman Posted 9 Feb 2016 , 3:30am
post #1 of 7

Hi everyone, I'm VERY new to this forum. I am making a couple wedding cakes for my sisters wedding coming up and I'd like to know how to figure out how many lbs or cups buttercream I would need for the cakes-- is there a rule of thumb or formula or there? I'm doing a WASC recipe for the cakes and American buttercream for the icing, no fondant.

The first cake is a square 10", 8", 6" which has two 2" layers each tier. 

The second cake is a round 12", 8", 6" which also has two 2" layers each tier. 

Also, do most of you do half and half of shortening and butter or all shortening for a true white icing? Thanks in advance!


6 replies
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ravery5807 Posted 9 Feb 2016 , 7:14am
post #3 of 7

I use a high ratio shortening "Alpine" then add butter flavoring. 


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costumeczar Posted 9 Feb 2016 , 12:34pm
post #4 of 7

For American buttercream I always estimate about 8 pounds of confectioner's sugar for an average three-tiered cake, and it's generally about right. Just have a little extra of the ingredients on hand in case you need to make some more, but for the most part it works out.

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640Cake Posted 9 Feb 2016 , 4:29pm
post #5 of 7

I use mostly butter for my ABC.  I cream the butter for quite some time to lighten it up and then just the smallest dab of violet to get it white.  The violet removes the yellow tinge that creaming did not get.

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-K8memphis Posted 9 Feb 2016 , 5:35pm
post #6 of 7

i also use all butter -- i tell my brides the icing will be an off white because it's food so i talk 'em into it -- well i mean i don't give them any room to order it otherwise --

and i often use buttermilk so it is not super sweet

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kakeladi Posted 9 Feb 2016 , 5:58pm
post #7 of 7

The thumb rule I was taught (passed on in when I taught) is one batch of b'cream using 2# of sugar per cake mix.  It's a good rule:)  You don't give us any idea what size the tiers are to be - or how many servings so we can't help any more than that.

If you use the recipe I posted "2 of everything' in the recipe section of this site it's perfect.  It's wonderful using  1/2 butter 1/2 Crisco and have a wonderful flavor and ease of use.  I tried to find the link for you be all I get 1/2 a million PICTURES instead of recipes :(  |After I post this I'll try going through google and if I find the link I'll come back and post it for you.

The walls of my shop were off white (almost a creamy white) and I would point out that that's the color the icing would be. Plus the could see the icing in the tasting samples they got.   In over 20 year I have only *1* bride who was unhappy.  I arrived to find All the linens used for her outdoor wedding were sooooo *blue* white there was no way I could have come even close to matching it.


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