3-Ingredient Raspberry Buttercream (Naturally Pink!)

If you want a beautiful, naturally colored frosting that’s easy to make and has great flavor, look no further than this Raspberry Buttercream!

Making homemade buttercream is a simple way to elevate your bakes. My favorite kitchen shortcut is to make my cake from a box and then bring a homemade touch by making the frosting from scratch (see also: How to Make Box Cake Mix Better).

As a time-pressed mom who loves to bake, I will never turn my nose up at a shortcut. And having this simple, 3 ingredient raspberry frosting recipe up my sleeve is a lifesaver!

I also absolutely love the sweet pink color the fresh raspberries naturally bring to this buttercream recipe.

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

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Raspberry Buttercream Tips and Tricks

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How to Extract Juice from Raspberries

To infuse buttercream with raspberries, we first have to extract the juice from them. This will give the pink frosting its gorgeous color and fruity flavor.

Simply add your clean raspberries to a small pot over medium heat. After a few minutes, you’ll see them start to break down. You can use a wooden spoon to smash them, this will speed up the process.

Continue to cook over medium heat until it starts to boil and resembles a jam. Then, pass the raspberries through a sieve, to separate the seeds and chunks from the juice. Use a spatula to push down on the berries to extract as much vibrant juice as possible.

Then, you can discard the seeds and chunks left behind (or compost them!).

How to Make Pink Buttercream with Raspberries

The key to easily making buttercream is starting with softened butter. It’s easy to grab your butter from the fridge an hour or so ahead of making this and allow it to come to room temperature naturally. If you forget, I got you: How to Soften Butter Quickly.

Add the raspberry juice to a large mixing bowl with the softened butter and use a hand or stand mixer to whip on high until well-combined and smooth.

You may want to start with your mixer on low and gradually increase the speed to avoid splashing. At this stage your butter and raspberry mixture will be bright and vibrant.

Since the exact amount of juice extracted from the berries will differ every time you make this, the exact amount of powdered sugar you add may vary a little bit as well.

Once you’ve creamed you butter and raspberry juice together, add about 3 cups of powdered sugar and beat to combine.

Pro tip: With powdered sugar, it’s always best practice to sift it in to avoid lumps. However, if you don’t feel like sifting, you can push the lumps of sugar against the bowl with a rubber spatula to help integrate them.

Asses the consistency. If it’s too thin, continue to add powdered sugar, until you’re happy with the consistency. Min is usually perfect between 3¼-3½ cups.

If for some reason you end up adding too much sugar and it gets too thick, you can always add a splash of milk to thin it out. However, it’s best to just add the sugar slowly, as you want to avoid the buttercream becoming too sickly sweet.

The natural tartness of the raspberries does help to counteract the sweetness, but buttercream tends to typically be on the sweeter side!

Serving and Storing Raspberry Buttercream

This pink frosting is a great way to bring color and fruity flavor to cupcakes, cakes, cookies, brownies, and so much more! Plus, it’s easy to pipe or spread, whatever you prefer!

Buttercream is safe to store at room temperature for 2 days. So, if you’re making this a day ahead of time for an occasion, you can leave it out and serve it within that 48-hour period.

However, after 2 days, your buttercream should be stored long-term in the fridge. When stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, it will last for about 10 days.

You can also freeze buttercream for up to 6 months in a freezer safe bag. Allow it to thaw naturally in the fridge overnight or for a few hours at room temperature before you use it.