The best, quick and easy maple frosting recipe, homemade with 4 simple ingredients. Rich, fluffy, smooth, creamy, stable, perfect for piping or spreading on Fall desserts.
I love the maple topping on donuts but obviously it has a thin glaze-like consistency that cannot be used on cakes and cupcakes. I used those flavors to create today's frosting recipe. It's perfect for Thanksgiving desserts and I am so happy to add it to my ever-growing collection of Frosting and Fillings.
First, a quick note: This is NOT a maple cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese makes the icing too tangy and it doesn't compliment the maple flavor that well. I don't recommend it at all.
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Table of contents
How to make easy maple buttercream frosting recipe from scratch?
- Mix together wet ingredients- Whip butter, maple syrup, maple extract until silly smooth.
- Add powdered sugar- Mix this in gradually so that it blends together smoothly.
- Enjoy! Spread it on your desserts with a spatula or fill it in a piping bag with various tips and decorate your cakes and cupcakes.
Key ingredients
- Maple syrup- This is not the same as pancake syrup.
- Butter- Should be unsalted and at room temperature.
- Maple extract- This enhances the maple flavor even further.
- Powdered sugar- Should be preferably sifted to remove any lumps.
What goes well with easy maple syrup frosting recipe?
You can use it on cakes, cupcakes, cookies, brownies and bars. You can spread it with a spatula or use decorator tips for piping swirls and applying cake decorating techniques. Frosted maple icing cookies are my personal favorite and my family loves them on Homemade Cinnamon Rolls (1 Hour).
Cakes
- Best Vanilla Cake
- Chocolate Cake
- Moist Carrot Cake
- Sock it to Me Cake (With Cake Mix)
- Easy Pumpkin Cake
- Old Fashioned Applesauce Cake
Cupcakes
Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
- Easy Ginger Cookies
- Cinnamon Cookies
- Molasses Cookies
- Classic Snickerdoodles Cookies
- Carrot Cake Cookies
Brownies and Bars
Tips and Techniques
Maple extract is optional- But I highly recommend it since it adds a wonderful aroma.
Don't replace butter with shortening - Because butter is richer and more flavorful than shortening and leads to a better tasting frosting. To make a more stable frosting, you can use half butter and half shortening, if you like.
Use unsalted butter- Because that prevents this frosting from becoming too salty.
All ingredients should be at room temperature– Because they blend together smoothy.
What type of maple syrup to use? You can use dark or light. The color of your frosting will vary, depending on which one you use.
How to fix thin icing? Add more powdered sugar and mix until you are satisfied with the consistency. You can also chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, which helps to firm it up. You may have to do this if your kitchen it very hot.
How to fix thick icing? Add more heavy cream or milk, water or maple syrup and mix until icing thins enough to your liking.
Does this icing need to be refrigerated? Yes! It has butter, which is dairy and leftovers should be kept refrigerated.
Sift powdered sugar– Because this gets rid of any lumps in the sugar, yielding the smoothest frosting ever.
Quantity- This frosting is enough to frost 12 cupcakes (as long as you are making small swirls or just spreading a thick layer on top with a spatula). It's also enough to frost a 9 inch sheet cake. It can also be used to frost a single 8x2 cake but won't be enough to fill and frost an 8 inch layer cake.
Recipe can easily be doubled- Just double the quantity of all the ingredients.
Storage
Refrigerate- Store in a sealed container for up to 1 week.
Freeze- Store in a sealed container for up to 1 month. When you are ready to use it, thaw to room temperature and whip again.
Recipe
Easy Maple Frosting
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Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter Unsalted, Room temperature
- ⅓ cup Maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon Maple extract or flavoring
- 3-4 cups Powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add butter, maple syrup, maple extract and whip it together until smooth.
- Gradually, add powdered sugar (½ cup at a time), while continuing to mix until frosting is thick and creamy.
- Pipe on cupcakes or spread on cakes. Enjoy!
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Nutrition
An automated tool is used to calculate the nutritional information. As such, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information provided for any recipe on this site.
Abbey
Looks yummy good! I've been baking for over 50 yrs and thought you might be able to use a few hints I've learned along the way. I have always used maple syrup to make this frosting but I never needed the extract as long as I use real maple syrup, not these maple flavored syrups. And a hint for any frosting... I always heat the liquid... syrup, milk, coffee etc., You will always have a silky smooth frosting with no gritty texture. I actually beat mine by hand. All ingredients in one bowl and pour hot liquid and beat until smooth, usually less than 2 minutes. Wishing you many years of happy baking, Abeer.
Abeer Rizvi
Those are some amazing tips Abbey! Thank you for sharing them Can't wait to try the "heating technique" next time. Happy holidays!
Kim
Whipped up this frosting in 5 minutes for a birthday cake for my coworker (nurse) who is crazy about maple. Came out great! Thank you.
Christy Clark
Made this frosting today and put it on chocolate cupcakes. Yummy!
Kim Adamovich
Used this recipe on my cinnamon roll cupcakes than sprinkled with fresh bacon bits, it was a hit!
Edina
Used this with my pumpkin spice muffins. I piped some into the center of the muffin and also swirled a little on top. Added a little extra flavour boost to the muffins. Will definitely use again.
Nancy
I substituted Earth Balance Organic Whipped Buttery Spread for the butter (to make it Kosher Pareve and Vegan) and it came out light and fluffy and delicious. I spread it on spice cake.
Steve
Abeer!
Great recipe for my secret favorite sweet icing flavor! You are to be commended for including FANTASTIC and thoughtful tips throughout your piece: specifics on ingredients, what best to use the frosting on, ingredients to avoid substituting, cautions to refrigerate, etc. VERY thoughtful information!!! You write like you want us all to succeed...
Abeer Rizvi
Thank you so much Steve. You have no idea how much I appreciate your sweet comment.
Sameen
My first time ever making frosting, and it went so smoothly! I didn't have powdered sugar, so I put white sugar in my spice grinder to make it more fine. Added vanilla extract instead of maple for a more subtle flavor.
Leslie J
This recipe was excellent. We celebrated my husband's birthday yesterday. I was looking to make a cake and have maple frosting with it. This recipe was easy to follow and make, and turned out wonderfully. I made two 8" round cakes and there was enough frosting to ice the entire cake and middle. The writer (another reviewer mentioned this) wants you to succeed with this recipe and makes great suggestions on what not to do. Another reviewer mentioned using vanilla extract instead of maple extract for a softer maple flavor and that's what I did too, and it worked out great! Thank you for making such an easy to use and practical recipe!
Glenn smit
The maple syurp frosting looks good. I'm going to make a checkerboard cake mix of spice/golden 3 layer 8" round special for wife birthday.
Eve
No need for maple extract, if you use a good maple syrup is enough without tasting artificial. Made half a batch today and added some fleur de sel, it turned out incredible. Sprinkle some walnuts on top and you have the most amazing fall cupcakes.
Molly
I’ve been making your vanilla cinnamon roll frosting for a few years now and was super happy to come across a maple version! Since that one uses a 1/2c butter and makes more than enough, I decided to only use 1/2c butter and 2c powdered sugar. I used the syrup and extract measurements as written and it was PERFECT! Smooth, creamy, and with a nice, strong maple flavor. Thank you!!
Abeer Rizvi
I loved reading your sweet feedback. Thank you!