This five-ingredient vanilla buttercream is the perfect macaron filling everyone will love. It's a versatile filling for macarons that can be eaten alone or paired with jam or curd, and it's made in just 30 minutes.
I love making macarons at home. These light and delicate cookies are made from meringue and then stuffed with a macaron filling of choice.
With all of the work that goes into making macarons, I often want a simple macaron filling that I can quickly whip up. This five-ingredient vanilla buttercream is the perfect and easy solution.
In under 30 minutes, you'll have the best buttercream for macarons ready to pipe. Don't forget to check out my five ingredient chocolate ganache filling if you're looking for other easy filling ideas.
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What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- How to make your macaron buttercream filling light and fluffy.
- The secret ingredient to use in order to have vanilla bean seeds throughout the buttercream.
- Storage instructions for making the buttercream ahead of time.
If you enjoy baking macarons, don't forget to sign up for a free e-book with my top five macaron filling recipes of all time!
What Is Buttercream?
Buttercream is a type of frosting that's a mixture of sugar and fat. Traditionally, buttercream is known for having a light and smooth texture.
A good buttercream, like this macaron filling, is not too sweet. It has the perfect balance of butter and sugar.
This recipe is an American-style buttercream that's made with butter as the fat source as well as confectioners' sugar.
Ingredients You Need
Here are the ingredients you'll need to make vanilla macaron buttercream:
- Unsalted butter: Before making the vanilla buttercream, allow the butter to soften to room temperature. If you're using salted butter, be sure to adjust the amount of added salt.
- Confectioners' sugar: Sifting the confectioners' sugar will help you achieve a light and smooth buttercream. First measure the confectioners' sugar, then sift.
- Heavy cream: This ingredient helps thin out the buttercream. Make sure your heavy cream is as fresh as possible so your buttercream will last up to 1 month after preparing it.
- Vanilla bean paste: This is my secret ingredient for the buttercream filling. Since vanilla beans can be very pricey, we're opting for vanilla bean paste. The paste is cheaper and still gives us beautiful vanilla seed specks throughout the buttercream.
- Fine sea salt: Salt is an important ingredient that helps balance out the sweetness of the buttercream.
Check out the recipe card below for the full details on the ingredient quantities.
How To Make This Recipe
1. The first step is the beat the butter until it's light and fluffy, which usually takes about 2 - 3 minutes. Remember to scrape down the side of the mixer bowl as needed so all of the butter is evenly creamed.
2. Slowly add confectioners' sugar to the butter, ½ cup at a time. Allow the sugar to incorporate with the butter. During this step, I like to leave the mixer on medium-low speed so the confectioners' sugar doesn't explode everywhere.
3. Next, it's time to thin out the buttercream with some heavy cream, as well as add in flavoring with vanilla bean paste and fine sea salt.
4. Beat the buttercream on medium-high speed for a full 5 minutes. This will give the buttercream a light and fluffy texture.
5. In order to smoothly pipe the buttercream, it's important to deflate it using a silicone spatula. Press the buttercream around the side of the mixer bowl until most of the air bubbles have been pushed out.
6. Finally, pipe the buttercream on one side of the macaron shell using your favorite piping tip. If you need an easy macaron shell recipe, check out my French method macarons or Italian-style macarons.
Expert Tips
- Vanilla buttercream filling can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month, as long as your heavy cream is fresh. Allow the buttercream to come to room temperature before piping on the macarons.
- In order to achieve a light and pillowy buttercream, beat for a full 5 minutes after all of the ingredients have been incorporated. Don't be tempted to cut this time short if you want an airy texture.
- Don't forget to mature the macarons with the buttercream filling in the refrigerator overnight. This will allow the macarons to slightly soften and develop a deeper flavor. The macarons will last for 7 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Filled macarons can be stored in the freezer for up to 1 - 2 months. Learn more about how to properly store macarons.
Recipe FAQs
No. Unfortunately, because this recipe uses heavy cream, the macarons cannot be stored at room temperature. It's best practice to store filled macarons in the fridge so they will last up to 7 days.
There are many types of buttercream that will work as a macaron filling. This vanilla buttercream is an American-style frosting. However, a swiss meringue buttercream would also work!
Yes, you can use this buttercream filling along with jam or curd in the middle. The buttercream acts as a barrier to keep the jam and curd from leaking out of the macaron.
More Macaron Recipes
If you enjoyed this recipe, don't forget to check out my other favorite macarons, including over 30+ of the best macaron recipes:
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐rating in the recipe card below. Don't forget to follow along on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest for more recipes.
Vanilla Macaron Buttercream Filling
Equipment
- stand mixer or electric mixer
- piping bag
- piping tip
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 3 ½ cups (400 grams) confectioners' sugar measured then sifted
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon (15 grams) vanilla bean paste
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Add butter to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 - 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the mixer as needed.
- Add confectioners' sugar ½ cup at a time to the mixer running on medium-low speed. Allow the confectioners' sugar to fully incorporate before adding in another ½ cup. Repeat until no confectioners' sugar remains. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the mixing bowl to ensure all the ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Add the heavy cream, vanilla bean paste, and fine sea salt to the mixer and beat until combined. Set the mixer to medium-high speed and allow the buttercream to beat for an additional 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Deflate the buttercream by hand using a silicone spatula. Press the buttercream around the side of the mixer bowl until the frosting has smoothed and large air bubbles have been pushed out. This helps the buttercream pipe smoothly.
- Match up macaron sides so they are paired with a similar size and shaped macaron. Pipe buttercream on one side of the macaron shell using your favorite piping tip. Gently place the matching side on top of the buttercream.
- Mature the macarons with the buttercream filling in the refrigerator overnight. This will allow the macarons to slightly soften and develop a deeper flavor. Macarons will last for 7 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
JK
This is the best vanilla buttercream EVER. The vanilla bean paste really shines through. Thank you!
Jessica Mode
Glad to hear you loved it! The vanilla bean paste really is a game changer! 😊
Toast
If I was a witch living in the woods I would have plenty of mortar to build my gingerbread house to lure small children for cannibalistic practices.
THAT’s how much buttercream this makes. Can you make a version that is reduces by half?? Or MORE??
Jessica Mode
Hahah the recipe does note that it makes 3 cups, but I get that can be a lot if you're only making a small batch of macarons 🙂
Here's the halved recipe that yields 1 1/2 cups:
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) confectioners' sugar measured then sifted
1 tablespoon (14 grams) heavy cream
1/2 tablespoon (7 grams) vanilla bean paste
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
I hope this helps!! 🙂