Once you’re happy with the taste/thickness, scrape down the bowl again then beat on high for 3-5 minutes.

Don’t add too much cream, as there’s no recovering from that. Add cream as needed, in small splashes, to smooth out the frosting (but remember that the next step will help smooth it as well). Taste your frosting and keep adding sugar, this time ½ cup or less at a time, until it reaches your desired taste or thickness.

After adding 4 cups powdered sugar, add vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract, and sea salt and mix until fully combined.

If it’s looking grainy, add a small splash of cream when you scrape the bowl. Slowly increase speed to high, mixing until smooth after each addition (about 30 seconds or so for each cup).

Add powdered sugar one-ish cup at a time, starting mixer on low to avoid a poof of sugar flying everywhere.

Beat butter on high for 1-2 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula a couple times.

Add butter to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large, deep mixing bowl and using a hand mixer).

2-4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (optional-use as needed to smooth frosting).4-6 cups powdered sugar, to taste (sift before adding if your sugar looks lumpy or you live in a humid climate).1 ½ cups (12 ounces) room temperature, unsalted, European style butter.Yields: about 3 cups, or enough to fill and frost a two- to three-layer 8” or 9” cake or pipe 24 cupcakes Whipped Sea Salt Vanilla Bean Buttercream

Sweet vanilla buttercream frosting