Whipped Buttercream 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.

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.