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.
Mya says
I’ve use the regular sugar and use hand mixer on high for a long time and its still very gritty :( eventually I gave up and used castor sugar instead which works better. But as soon as the mixture came out of the fridge (I live in Thailand and its now 29c it just melted to liquid :(
Kate says
First, there’s a troubleshooting section in the post that says that if the frosting is still gritty after mixing it for 5 minutes, go ahead and add the milk/flour mixture because that will smooth out any remaining grittiness. I can’t possibly put every tip and extra bit of info into the recipe because it would be simply too long and unworkable. I’ve answered over 1,000 questions on this post, and as I have gotten the same questions, I go back and update the post with tips and answers to those questions in the lengthy section with troubleshooting tips and answers to commonly asked questions.
Second, this recipe was never designed to be made with castor (powdered) sugar. If you wanted a recipe for making buttercream with powdered sugar, I would have been happy to recommend one, but this recipe just wasn’t created to be used with powdered sugar.
pickle99 says
I am making a layer cake. Will having to granulated sugar affect how the concistincy of it. I really would like a smooth frosting.
pick1234 says
I would love to make this! when I made a recipe like this before it had an odd consistency because of the sugar. will it be smooth
Kate says
The frosting has come out smooth for me every time that I’ve made it with the exception of the time that I used a large grain natural sugar. I’ve never had any issues making the recipe as-written.
Chanel says
Can I make this ahead of time and put it in the fridge before frosting my cupcakes the next day?
Kate says
The frosting sets up quite a bit in the fridge. I find it easier to work with the day that I make it.
Kristy says
I ran out of powdered sugar and googled icing receipts without it and came across this gem! This icing is delicious and my family agrees, begging me to make it every time I bake
Kate says
Yay!! That’s awesome! I’m glad that it’s been a hit! =)
Lula says
Amazing and easy recipe but mine tastes a littl flour-y I followed everything to a T any idea on what I could”ve done wrong?
Kate says
You can try cooking down the flour a little more next time. That should help with any flour flavor.
Katie24 says
Mine tased good maybe you mixed to wrong
Holly says
I really don’t love frosting. I don’t mind eating cake without it! Today, I was making a lemon cake and decided I wanted blueberry frosting. Since I almost never make frosting I didn’t have powdered sugar. This recipe was definitely science, but worked well! I couldn’t believe how smooth it was with granulated sugar. I didn’t have regular milk and used unsweetened vanilla almond milk. At the end I blended in some freeze dried blueberries I had powdered in a food processor. Both alterations worked! I love how creamy it is and not too sweet, which is why I can usually leave the frosting. Success! Thanks for a great recipe.
Kate says
I’m so glad! And thanks for mentioning that you used almond milk! I’ve also had good luck using almond milk, but it’s good to hear other people’s experiences with it as well. =)
Ann says
I’m about to make a lemon rosemary layer cake with lemon filling and was going to try swiss meringue frosting, but I only have a hand mixer and hope this frosting recipe will nicely replace the more labor intensive effort of SM. If I want to flavor the icing with fresh rosemary, how would you suggest I add that in? As a rosemary infusion? Or by chopping it as fine as possible and adding it near the end? Heh, or neither? If you can’t tell, I am not a regular baker (too tempting to have such things around), but I heard about this kind of cake, love both those flavors and want to try it.
Kate says
If I were going to do it, I would add a bit of chopped fresh rosemary at the end. I worry that the rosemary may turn bitter if made as an infusion. Good luck! =)