56 buttercream recipes

Chocolate domino cookies made with cocoa powder, cut into rectangles, and decorated with vanilla buttercream dots and lines. A fun baking project for kids.

Halva gateau is a Middle Eastern layer cake with semolina-almond sponge, coffee syrup soak, and halva buttercream. Pistachio-topped elegance perfumed with cinnamon.

Showstopping three-layer cappuccino torte with a nutty graham crust, thick semisweet fudge layer, and espresso chocolate buttercream. A make-ahead dessert that chills overnight.

Pasta with smoked salmon and golden caviar: thin spaghetti in a silky butter cream sauce, ribboned with smoked salmon and crowned with a spoonful of golden whitefish caviar. Elegant in 30 minutes.

No-bake creme de menthe squares with a chocolate graham cracker base, minty buttercream middle, and glossy chocolate top. A classic holiday treat, chilled and sliced.

Mint iced brownies stack three layers: a fudgy pecan brownie, a cool green peppermint buttercream, and a glossy semisweet chocolate glaze. A chocolate-mint holiday favorite, with the brownie base baked fast in the microwave.

Peanut butter cheese pie with a hidden chocolate ganache layer at the bottom of a graham cracker crust, topped with marbled peanut butter cream cheese filling and real whipped cream swirls.

Pumpkin cake made with spice cake mix and canned pumpkin, topped with a cooked flour buttercream frosting. A moist, warmly spiced fall cake with a light, fluffy homemade frosting.

A proper Irish chocolate cake made with Guinness stout, cocoa, and dark brown sugar, sandwiched with a bright orange buttercream. Rich, malty, and a wee bit boozy.

A European-style layered chocolate cake with rum-laced frosting, warm cinnamon, and a hint of lemon zest. Two thin cake strips sandwiched with rich chocolate buttercream.

Butter balls made from breadcrumbs, butter, cream, eggs, and allspice, rolled and dropped into chicken noodle soup. Old-fashioned soup dumplings that cook right in the broth.

Hippo's heaven is a no-bake icebox dessert with a vanilla wafer crust, buttercream filling, and pineapple-pecan whipped cream layer. Chill overnight, slice cold, serve to a crowd.

No-bake peanut butter pie with extra-crunchy peanut butter, cream cheese, and whipped topping in a graham cracker or chocolate crumb crust. Crushed peanuts on top for double-crunch.

Triple-layered no-bake pie with chocolate butter filling, a creamy peanut butter cream cheese center, and roasted peanuts. Like a giant Reese's cup in a pie crust.

Moist chocolate cake with hot coffee, cocoa, and vegetable oil for an extra-tender crumb. Topped with the old-fashioned cooked-flour buttercream that tastes like whipped cream.

Chocolate nut torte: a four-layer sponge cake filled with silky cooked chocolate-buttercream frosting and topped with chopped nuts. An old-world holiday torte for special occasions.