Cupcake frosting too runny? Stop blaming the butter, check your ratios
I keep seeing posts where people say their buttercream turned into soup and they blame the brand or the room temp. But after 14 batches last month, I found the real issue is almost always the sugar to butter ratio. If you're using 1 stick of butter and 3 cups of powdered sugar, that's just not enough structure, no matter how cold your kitchen is. I switched to a 1:4 ratio and even on a hot July afternoon in Phoenix, my swirls held their shape for 6 hours. Has anyone else tried measuring by weight instead of cups and seen the same fix?