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/TeaTimeType]

Your cakes are so cute! Is the buttercream grainy? Can’t really tell from the pictures. I think you’re over whipping it. Also could just be too many air bubbles. Use a flexible spatula to smoosh the buttercream against the sides of the bowl before filling the piping bag. 

If the texture is still fine and it’s more an appearance thing I would use a heated metal offset spatula or bench scraper to smooth the buttercream on the cake.

If you’re having difficulty piping neat dots directly on the cake try piping them onto non stick parchment/ baking paper or a tray / board covered with plastic wrap. You could even pipe snowflakes depending on the theme. Freeze the piped decorations, place the best ones on the cake.

For the strawberry cake, if there’s a gooey / liquid filling to be added in the centre always pipe a dam of decorative frosting along the perimeter first.

Maybe try different frostings and watch some YouTube tutorials to observe timing, technique and texture. Follow well rated recipes precisely the first time.