Whipped Buttercream Frosting is the best frosting ever! This flour frosting (ermine frosting) is made without powdered sugar. It has the rich creaminess of a buttercream & the light, airy texture of a whipped cream frosting without being too sweet!
This Whipped Buttercream Frosting recipe pretty much blew my mind. I’m not a big frosting person; most buttercream frostings are just ok, and I can take them or leave them.
Well, this buttercream frosting is amazing, and it uses (are you ready for this?) granulated sugar!
Yep! Regular, old granulated sugar. So, if you’ve ever wondered how to make frosting without powdered sugar, this is it!
Don’t worry – it’s not gritty at all. In fact, this ermine frosting has the texture of a light whipped cream with the flavor of a sweet, vanilla buttercream.
It’s honestly the best frosting (buttercream or otherwise) that I’ve ever had. It’s sweet but isn’t overwhelmingly, make-your-teeth-ache sweet.
I’ve put answers to a lot of the questions I’ve received in the recipe notes. Please take a second to read through those notes before making the frosting.
How To Make Whipped Buttercream Frosting
Whisk the milk and flour together in a small heavy saucepan before beginning to heat.
Once combined, heat the mixture over medium-low heat until it has thickened. At this point, it should be the consistency of a thick paste (far left picture above).
Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla extract.
Let the mixture cool to room temperature before continuing. This step is key. If the mixture is warm, it will cause the butter to warm up, and you’ll end up with a thin, runny frosting.
In a separate large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and salt together on medium-high to high until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (middle picture above). Be sure to scrape down the sides to avoid gritty frosting.
Add the completely cooled milk/flour mixture to the beaten butter/sugar mixture, and beat on medium-high to high for 5 minutes. It may look separated at first, but keep whipping the frosting until it is light and fluffy.
How Much Frosting Will This Recipe Make?
This recipe will make enough to frost a 2 layer 9-inch round cake or 24 cupcakes.
Do I Need To Chill The Frosting?
I recommend chilling any unused or leftover frosting because of the high dairy content (all of the milk and butter).
Answers to commonly asked questions
- Milk: I have used everything from skim to whole milk in this recipe. I’ve also used almond milk. All have worked well for me. Whole milk will give you a slightly richer frosting, but there aren’t any other advantages to using whole milk over another type of milk.
- Butter: I prefer salted butter in this recipe. I’ve tried both salted and unsalted butter, but I prefer salted. I highly recommend if you use unsalted butter, that you add a few pinches of salt. Otherwise, the frosting can taste bland or flat.
- Vanilla: I like to use a good quality vanilla because it provides a lot of the flavor for the frosting. You can also use different flavors of extracts to vary the flavor of the frosting.
Troubleshooting Tips
- Here are some some places where people have gone wrong with this recipe.
- First, not cooking the milk mixture long enough. The mixture should be a thick paste. If it’s too wet, the frosting will be too loose.
- Second, the cooked milk mixture needs to cool completely. If it’s too warm, it will melt the butter, and you’ll end up with loose frosting that doesn’t come together.
- Third, using butter that’s too warm. The butter should be at cool room temperature. It should dent if pushed, but it shouldn’t be too warm and certainly not beginning to melt.
- Fourth, using other types of sugars. This frosting needs to be made with granulated sugar, not powdered sugar.
- Fifth, not whipped the frosting long enough. The frosting needs to be whipped to get the right light and airy texture. Cutting the time short could leave you with a grainy frosting or a frosting that separates.
- If your frosting is still a little gritty after beating it for 5 minutes, go ahead and add the cooled milk/flour mixture. That will usually smooth out any remaining sugar.
- A couple people have reported that a film has formed on their milk/flour mixture. I haven’t had this happen, but another person said that she’s had good luck with blending the milk/flour mixture with a blender before cooking it. She said that it removed any lumps and helped prevent a skin from forming.
Can I Use Food Coloring In This Frosting?
Can I Use Food Coloring In This Frosting?I’ve never tried to use food coloring with this frosting. However, I have heard from several people who have successfully used both regular and gel food coloring.
More Granulated Sugar Frosting Recipes
- Whipped Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting
- Whipped Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
- Whipped Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Cream Cheese Frosting
If you’ve tried this whipped buttercream frosting recipe, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my recipes!
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Whipped Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 ½ tablespoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups salted butter (at cool room temperature1)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk together over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It will be the consistency of a thick paste2. Make sure that you whisk the flour and milk together well before you begin cooking it to avoid lumps.
- Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. This step is key. If your mixture is warm, it will melt your butter, and you'll end up with runny frosting.
- Stir in vanilla.
- While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter, sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy on medium high-high3, about 5 minutes4. Make sure that you scrape down the sides and really incorporate the butter and sugar to avoid gritty frosting.
- Then add the completely cooled milk mixture.
- Beat it for about 5 more minutes on medium-high to high until it looks like whipped cream. It may look separated at first, so keep beating it until it comes together and looks like a whipped cream.
Video
Notes
- Make sure that your butter isn't too warm! The butter should be at cool room temperature. You want it to dent if you press it, but you don't want it to be so warm that it's near melting.
- When cooking the milk/flour mixture, you don't want it to look wet. It should be like a thick paste. If it's wet and runny, your frosting will be too loose.
- If you're using a hand mixer, beat it on high. This recipe work well with a stand mixer because it has the power to really whip the frosting.
- Please don't cut the mixing time short! I know it's tempting, but it's important to beat the butter and sugar together for the time the recipe calls for to keep it from being gritty. If you cut the mixing times short, you won't end up with the right texture of frosting.
- To get the best flavor, you'll want to use real butter and pure vanilla extract.
- Want to try a buttercream made with powdered sugar instead? Here is my favorite vanilla buttercream frosting that's made with powdered sugar.
- I recommend chilling any leftover frosted cake or cupcakes.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition Information
This recipe was originally published on 12/22/12. It was updated with new pictures on 7/25/16.
Monique says
This is such a hit with people. Not too sweet like other butter cream frostings with icing sugar. Love it!
Kate says
Thank you!!
HJ says
This turned out great. I was very skeptical, but it was very fluffy and delicious! It does takes a little bit more effort than a regular buttercream frosting recipe, but it was worth it. I chilled the flour mixture in the freezer for a few minutes to cool it down.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it!
Reyna Phillips says
Hi..I’m curious how much milk did you put on the flour and to the butter?
Kate says
Hi! All of the ingredient amounts are listed in the recipe. If you’re having trouble finding the recipe, you can scroll to the top of the page and click on “jump to recipe”. That will take you right to it.
Nesslinchik says
I used margarine and swapped 1/2 cup for peanut butter….. OMG!!!! Will definitely be making this again!
Kate says
I’m glad it worked out well for you! =)
Silvia says
Best there is! Takes buttercream to a whole new level, but can someone please help me understand what I can do to get rid of the little balls of flour? ( looks like gelatin) from the final product. I still eat it with them haha but would love to figure it out.
Kate says
Thank you! If you whisk the milk and flour together well before beginning to cook it that should help. I also had one person tell me that they tossed the flour mix in the blender before using to smooth it out when that happened.
NP says
Wonderful! I followed the directions exactly as stated. The final product was a perfect consistency and had a wonderful whipped taste which was no too sweet. It tasted more like a whipped creme which I prefer over the sweet buttercreams. Easy to frost and pipe. I will certainly make again! Thanks very much.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m happy to hear that you liked the frosting!
Esther says
I’ve tried plenty of frosting recipes online and have only ended up with an icing consistency until I made the one and only Whipped Buttercream Frosting. I finally ended up with a smooth, creamy, and fluffy buttercream. I completely recommend this recipe for anyone! Thanks Kate!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked it! =)
Debbie Baldwin says
Good buttercream frosting. So much lighter than any canned frosting hands down. It was a little time consuming, beating something for 10 minutes and using a hand mixer is tedious. Would have been much easier, as is everything with a stand mixer. Im just wondering how leftover frosting would freeze well to use later?
Kate says
I’m sure that’s true! I’ve frozen cupcakes topped with the frosting, but I haven’t frozen the frosting by itself. The frosted cupcakes froze/thawed well, but I can’t say how the frosting by itself would work.
Amy says
The first time I tried the chocolate frosting a year and a half ago, I really messed it up. It was gritty and too loose.
I tried the vanilla one this time. It was just delicious. Thank you for all the tips on how to make the frosting, I feel like they really helped. Just like you my daughter and I can’t stand frosting, we really love this recipe. Thank-you very much.
Kate says
I’m so glad that the tips helped!! And I’m really glad that you liked the frosting!
Jo says
Can I cover The cake using this frosting? It will not melt?
Jo says
And can i put chocolatr ganache glaze on top of frosting?
Kate says
I’m not sure how chocolate ganache will work over the top. I would recommend treating this frosting as you would any other buttercream. So, if the ganache is completely cooled, then it might be ok. If it’s still warm, it may melt the frosting.
Kate says
No, if made properly, the frosting shouldn’t melt.
ANN TROXELL says
Will this frosting work well to pipe a border on a cake? Thank you.
Kate says
I’ve used the frosting to pipe borders, rosettes, and other basic designs, and it’s worked well for me.
Emma says
Best icing I have ever made, not too sweet and the perfect consistency. Went very well with the chocolate cupcakes I made.
Kate says
Thank you!!
Dani says
Wow, I never thought I’d find a recipe not loaded in confectioner’s sugar! I’m so glad I stumbled upon this recipe. I’m so excited to try this one out since my mom and I aren’t fans of icing that’s really, really sweet. I’m curious, though, how long would this stand in room temperature? I plan to pipe flowers and do heavy decorating with this icing but I’m not sure if it would be stable enough for buttercream flower art. Thank you in advance! :)
Kate says
Since it has a lot of dairy in it, I don’t leave it out more than 3-4 hours at room temperature. It’s also going to depend on how warm the room is. For instance, when we lived in AZ, our house was always on the hotter side, and the frosting would get softer sooner. I’ve piped rosettes and borders (basic piping), and it has held up well. You can also chill it after piping to help it maintain its shape. I hope that helps! =)
Kate Mackay says
Hi there, was just wondering how I could make this into a caramel whipped buttercream, while still maintaining a pretty firm consistency for piping etc :)
Kate says
I haven’t tried adding caramel to this frosting, but I do have a brown sugar version. If you use dark brown sugar in it, it has caramel/toffee notes to it. Otherwise, I have a regular caramel buttercream frosting.
Shade Oladipo says
It was good and simple to make.
Kate says
Thank you! So glad you liked it! =)
Julienne says
This frosting was a labor of love to make but oh so delicious! It freezes great. I am going to try color in my next batch
Kate says
I’m so glad that you liked it! Yes! I’ve always had good luck freezing/defrosting cupcakes that have been topped with this frosting. Thanks for commenting!
Katherine Ong says
I really thought my frosting was going to be gritty. No matter how much I mixed it, the sugar never dissolved, but it did after I mixed it with the milk and flour batter. I totally love it. Great recipe.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad you liked the frosting. =)