Make Store-Bought Frosting A Whole Lot Smoother With One Fridge Staple

Canned frosting is a convenient option when you're decorating a cake, cupcakes, or cookies, and it's handy to keep a container or two in the pantry for when baking inspiration hits and you don't have time to make your own frosting. While it does have a nostalgic taste from all those childhood birthday cakes, you can easily make canned frosting smoother and give it more of a from-scratch feel with one refrigerator staple: butter.

Butter will boost canned frosting in several ways. It loosens up its thick texture so it's more creamy and easier to spread. This way, there's less chance of tearing your cake. Beating these ingredients together with a stand or hand mixer makes the frosting more light and fluffy, too – an extra step that will make canned frosting taste homemade. Whipping butter into the mixture also increases the frosting's volume, so you have more to use. As far as flavor goes, you get richness from the butter, and it cuts canned frosting's sweetness, resulting in something more like a scratch-made buttercream frosting. 

As little as two tablespoons for a standard 16-ounce frosting tub can be enough. But you can use more according to your taste, even as much as two sticks. Let the butter come to room temperature first, add a little salt if you are using an unsalted product, and then mix it into one of our picks for the best store-bought frosting. Refrigerate the frosting (if you're making it ahead of time) or any leftover frosted desserts, since it now has butter in it. 

Expand your definition of butter when looking for even more ways to give some oomph to store-bought frosting. Mix in peanut butter — which could go particularly well with chocolate frosting — or another nut butter like almond, cashew, or pistachio. You can also incorporate homemade apple butter or cookie butter, which are ideal additions to vanilla frosting.

Other possible dairy options besides butter include cream cheese, which makes the frosting more full-bodied and lends some tang. On the other hand, homemade whipped cream will lighten it and also temper its sweetness. Instantly elevate store-bought icing with Nutella spread, which adds depth and richness, or use jam, preserves, or lemon curd to add fruity brightness. Depending on what you add, a little bit of milk or cream can help ensure the blended frosting isn't too thick.

Choose flavorings that pair well with your frosting flavor, like vanilla or almond extract, coffee, caramel, a fruit syrup, maple syrup, or citrus fruit zest. Make it a grown-up treat with Baileys Irish Cream, amaretto, Frangelico, or another tasty liqueur. You can also give the frosting a textural boost with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or chopped nuts.