Creamy, fluffy buttercream with a distinct holiday spice and brown sugar sweetness. This isn’t your typical American buttercream, but it’s just as easy to make.

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All these years I’ve been making plain buttercream like a chump. Yes, there are many kinds of frosting out there, and I’ve made and loved plenty. And I’ve made and cried over plenty others (Swiss meringue anyone??). But the simplest is American buttercream. It’s versatile and easy to make. Plus, you can customize it by adding fruit or cream cheese or marshmallow fluff or even chocolate ganache. So it’s always been my go-to frosting.

How did I not know you can use brown sugar in frosting??

There are many ways to make brown sugar frosting, but I went with the one that made the most sense to me. Similar to an ermine frosting, you cook the brown sugar and heavy cream until dissolved. When it’s cooled, you add it to whipped butter. I added a bit of powdered sugar as well for structure, plus cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves—because why not?

The result was a creamy, fluffy, Christmas-in-my-mouth frosting. After all of the baking fails I’ve had this year, I needed this win. And it was a big win. I’ll be putting this on all my spiced cakes now, if I don’t eat it all with a spoon first.

How to make brown sugar spice buttercream

First, melt the brown sugar and heavy whipping cream. The key is dissolving the brown sugar without caramelizing it. Not that caramelized brown sugar is bad. But that would be called butterscotch and would be a different frosting altogether.

Once the sugar is dissolved, set it aside to cool. Around this time would be good to take the butter out of the fridge to soften.

Beat the softened butter and cooled sugar mixture until smooth.

Add the powdered sugar, spice mix, salt, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Scrape the bowl and beat on high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy. If needed, you can add a splash or two of heavy whipping cream, but it’s a pretty smooth frosting on its own and should be fine with a couple minutes of mixing.

Fill and frost cake to desired thickness. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes to set the frosting.

Tips for this recipe

Adjust spices to your liking

I made this for an eggnog cake, so I went with a hefty amount of cinnamon and a good scoop of nutmeg, plus a pinch of cloves for good measure. But you can adjust the kinds and amounts of spices to your liking. Just taste as you go, adjusting it before you beat it for the final 2-3 minutes.

Refrigerate to let the flavor deepen

Leftovers need to be kept refrigerated, since there’s quite a bit of heavy cream in here. But the great thing is that the frosting—on its own or on a cake—will take on a deeper spice and brown sugar flavor overnight. Plus, it softens quickly, so you won’t have to wait for hours just to re-whip it before you can use it!

Pair with any of these cakes!

This was created for my eggnog cake, but I realized it would be perfect on carrot cake, brown sugar spice cake (I mean, the names are already twinning 😂), apple cake, browned butter cinnamon cake, and even chocolate or mocha cake!

My buttercream tools

Here are my must-have tools I use for making this buttercream. Affiliate links provided.

Stand mixer or handheld mixer

1M piping tips

Reusable silicone piping bags

Large and small offset spatulas

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Brown Sugar Spice Buttercream

prep time: 5-10 minutes

cook/cool time: 30 minutes

total time: 40 minutes

Servings: about 2 ½ cups, enough for 24-36 cupcakes (depending how you pipe them) or one two to three layer, 8” or 9” cake

Ingredients:

½ cup packed brown sugar (light or brown)

⅓ cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup (8 ounces) salted butter, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch sea salt

pinch or two of cloves

pinch or two of nutmeg

pinch or two of allspice

Instructions:

In a small saucepan, heat the brown sugar and heavy cream until fully dissolved and no longer grainy. Set aside to cool and remove the butter from the fridge so they can both come to room temperature at the same time. Alternately, you can take the butter out earlier and refrigerate the brown sugar to speed this up, but stir it occasionally to ensure it doesn’t harden.

Once both the butter and brown sugar are room temperature, combine both in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high until fully combined, about 1 minute, scraping down the bowl halfway.

Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, spices, and salt. Beat on low then slowly increase speed to high (to avoid a sugar explosion). Beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape the bowl and taste. Add more spices if needed. Only add more powdered sugar if it’s truly not sweet enough. If it’s too soft, refrigerate for 10-20 minutes before the next step. If it’s too stiff, add a splash or two of heavy whipping cream.

Once taste and texture are to your liking, beat on high for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Stir vigorously with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon for a minute to release any large air bubbles.

Enjoy! Frosting can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month or in the freezer up to 3 months. Frosted cakes and leftovers can be kept at room temperature for 2-3 days or refrigerated if keeping longer.