Substitute Sugar With Honey In Buttercream For A More Complex Flavor

Buttercream frosting adds the final touch to a number of desserts, including cakes and cupcakes. While the frosting is delicious how it is, it doesn't hurt to switch things up now and then — and one easy and unexpected way to infuse a more complex flavor into your buttercream is to replace all of the sugar in it with your favorite type of honey. Honey is naturally sweet, so there will still be plenty of sugary goodness in the buttercream. But it will taste less overpoweringly sweet, which can sometimes be an issue with frosting.

Additionally, the honey adds a subtle floral flavor that makes the buttercream a bit more unique. It also adds a slightly golden color to a batch of white frosting, making it even more aesthetically pleasing to look at. And while the honey taste will be most prominent with something mild, like a vanilla buttercream, you can also use it in recipes for chocolate or strawberry buttercream for a unique fusion of flavors.

Making the switch is simple: just replace all of the recipe's sugar with the same amount of honey. For example, Tasting Table's recipe for classic vanilla buttercream frosting calls for 3 cups of powdered sugar, so just replace that with 3 cups of honey. Make sure to choose a light honey, as the darker versions may bring a strong, overpowering taste to your frosting. Additionally, the honey should be raw, as some regular honey contains added sweeteners.

After you've whipped up a batch of buttercream with that complex honey flavor, you'll be dying to use it on a cake. What better place to start than on top of a simple honey cake? The recipe doesn't call for a frosting, so if you're looking to sweeten up the dessert, your honey-infused vanilla buttercream is the perfect choice. It'll heighten the honey flavor without being overwhelmingly sweet. A classic white cake is also a good option — this simple cake will let the flavors of the honey buttercream shine.

If you make a honey-infused chocolate buttercream, a good pairing would be the chocolate mocha cake, which will result in a dessert reminiscent of a honey mocha latte. Or, you could pair it with the spicy chocolate cake so that the sweetness of the honey balances out the spiciness of the cake. The vanilla version of the honey buttercream would also work on either of these if you're looking for a new take on a vanilla-chocolate combination.

For a non-cake option, you can spread the honey buttercream over a batch of buttery sugar cookies. Or, for a lighter dessert, you could top a fruit salad with a dollop of your honey buttercream to add a flavorful richness to the bowl.