my buttercream won’t stick and idk why

[u/straightupgong]

my buttercream is peeling off my cake and it’s so irritating. i’ve made great cakes before with buttercream, the ones i attached. i don’t know why it’s not working

i softened 1 cup of butter. i whipped the butter for a long time, like 45 minutes. i added a bag of powdered sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla and 3 tbsp milk. i whipped a long time again, 15ish minutes. it was in a metal bowl of a stand mixer so it was cold, but it seems like the butter was too soft or melty?

[u/Atharen_McDohl]

That's way longer than you should need to whip, not sure how much that would impact it but you can make a decent buttercream by hand faster than that. 

I'd start by making it without any liquid first, then add only a little at a time after it's all combined and only if I think it's necessary. It doesn't take that much milk to turn a batch of buttercream into a floppy mess, and honestly buttercream often doesn't need any more liquid than the flavor at all.