Blackberry Buttercream Frosting
Quick and easy blackberry buttercream frosting recipe made with fresh blackberries. Great for piping and filling cakes and cupcakes. Perfect Summer dessert.
Next time you make any Summer cakes and cupcakes, you need to pair them with this blackberry buttercream frosting.
It’s SMOOTH and CREAMY and so FRUITY and almost melts in your mouth.
You can make lemon cupcakes (use my moist lemon cake recipe to make cupcakes) with blackberry buttercream frosting OR even a chocolate cake with blackberry buttercream frosting.
If you don’t feel like baking, you can just eat it by the spoonfuls…LOL!
Now, this is NOT a blackberry cream cheese frosting, which I don’t like since it’s too tangy.
This is also NOT a blackberry icing glaze, which has a very thin consistency and that’s typically used on donuts or drizzles on cakes.
This blackberry icing is GREAT because:
- It’s stable, making it easy to pipe
- It holds its shape
- It requires NO food coloring (that natural pink color is gorgeous!)
- It’s made with fresh blackberries
- It can be used as a filling too
Here are some TIPS for making perfect blackberry frosting with fresh blackberries:
- Instead of blackberries, you can use raspberry puree or strawberry puree or a combination of mixed berry puree.
- You must use UNSALTED butter.
- Use RIPE blackberries since they are more juicy and have more flavor.
- Make your own blackberry puree in a blender or food processor.
- Make sure to use a fine mesh sieve to STRAIN out the seeds from the blackberry puree.
- For a hint of ZESTY flavor, add lemon zest or lime zest or even lemon extract to the frosting.
- CHILL the frosting in the fridge for 20-30 minutes before piping to make it firmer.
- There is NO need to cook the puree and reduce it.
- ADJUST the quantity of powdered sugar, according to your preference.
- If icing is too THIN, add more powdered sugar (1/4 cup at a time)
- If icing is too THICK, thin it out with more blackberry puree or water.
- You CANNOT skip the powdered sugar. That’s what thickens this frosting. So, if you are looking for blackberry frosting without powdered sugar, this is NOT for you.
- This recipe works great as a blackberry buttercream FILLING for cakes and cupcakes too.
- This recipe is enough to pipe 24 cupcakes or frost an 8×2 round cake.
How to make blackberry buttercream frosting?
The process is very SIMPLE. Cream together butter and shortening until smooth. Add blackberry puree and mix together. Add powdered sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and mix one last time. Frost your cakes and cupcakes and enjoy!
Well, that’s all for today.
If you liked this blackberry frosting for cupcakes and cakes, you may like some of these other buttercream/ frosting/ icing recipes too:
Strawberry buttercream frosting
Champagne buttercream frosting
White chocolate buttercream frosting
Healthy coconut cream chocolate frosting
Flour buttercream (Ermine frosting)
Chocolate buttercream frosting
Blackberry Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Butter, Unsalted
- 1 cup Shortening
- 3/4 cup Blackberry puree, Seedless. Use thick store-bought puree. It can also be found on Amazon. Homemade puree will have to be cooked down to become thick
- 4-6 cups Powdered sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Lemon zest or extract, Optional
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and shortening until smooth.
- Add blackberry puree and mix.
- Add powdered sugar and mix again.
- Add vanilla extract and lemon zest and mix until light and fluffy.
- Pipe on cupcakes/cakes and enjoy!
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
I followed recipe exactly. But I noticed as it was mixing there were solid off white clumps. No amount of mixing got rid of them. My butter and shortening were room temp. Plus the frosting didn’t set. Even after a few hours in the fridge. I added more ps until i was afraid I’d lose the taste of blueberry. Nothing helped. Help!#
It looks like you over-mixed your butter. When you over-beat butter, it starts to separate into small white bits. Once that happens, it cannot be reversed and your frosting will not set.
I made a recent comment about the frosting being too loose and a bit sloppy and I faulted the blackberry puree. I notice that in your ingredients list, you gave a link to a prepared blackberry puree from Amazon, which is very thick and sweetened with sugar. My puree was simply blackberries processed in a food processor, not cooked, not sweetened, and it was NOT the same (far more like juice) as what was linked in the recipe. I am certain that this was my problem. Perhaps you can be more specific about the puree you used because it is highly likely that people making their own “puree” as i did will have less than stellar results.
PREVIOUS COMMENT:
I had no problem putting this together. It was a lovely color and tasted delicious….but it was a little loose and sloppy, even after adding more powdered sugar, a little cornstarch and some meringue powder. (I make a lot of cakes.) I refrigerated until it seemed a little more stiff, but even after that, when I frosted between layers, it oozed out the sides a bit… I had no problem with white bits or over mixing the butter and shortening. I think it may have been the 3/4 cup of blackberry purée, which, not being cooked down to thicken first, was more like a liquid. It gave a great flavor but next time I would cook it down till it was more like jam consistency to make 3/4 cup of real purée. That is a little too much fluid for the ratio of sugar and fat.
Hi Paula! Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your experience with the homemade blackberry puree. I have updated the recipe card to make it clear to use a thick puree and appreciate you pointing this out.