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 frosting without powdered sugar
Step 1 Whisk the milk and flour together in a small heavy saucepan before beginning to heat.
Step 2 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.
Step 3 Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla extract.
Step 4 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.
Step 5 In a separate large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and salt together on medium-high to high until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Be sure to scrape down the sides to avoid gritty frosting.
Step 6 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.
FAQs
This recipe has been posted for nearly 10 years. During that time, I’ve made and re-made this frosting countless times to be able to answer the thousands of questions that I’ve received. Here are some answers to the most commonly asked questions.
The recipe will make enough to frost a 2 layer 9-inch round cake or 24 cupcakes.
I recommend chilling any unused or leftover frosting because of the high dairy content.
This recipe uses granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar to make frosting.
I’ve used almond milk to make this frosting, and it worked well.
I’ve tried this recipe with skim milk, 1% milk, 2% milk, whole milk, and nondairy milk. I’ve successfully made the frosting with all of those types of milk. However, using whole milk will give you a richer, creamier frosting than using skim milk.
I’ve tried the recipe with both salted butter and with unsalted butter + salt. I prefer the version with the salted butter because the unsalted butter + salt version tastes flatter.
You can. Clear vanilla doesn’t have as much flavor as pure vanilla extract, so you may find that you need to use more clear vanilla for the frosting to have as much flavor.
You can! Feel free to substitute another type of flavoring or extract for the vanilla.
You can! I’ve used both gel and regular food dye. Both have worked well. If you’re going to use a large quantity of food coloring, I would recommend a gel to avoid making the frosting runny.
I’ve doubled this recipe. It filled my 5 quart stand mixer, so be sure to use a larger mixing bowl.
I use regular granulated sugar. Using a larger grain (natural) sugar can give you gritty frosting. If you’re worried about the frosting ending up gritty, you can give the sugar a couple of zips in a blender or food processor to break it down.
Yes, you can use an equal amount of vanilla bean paste in place of the vanilla extract to make vanilla bean buttercream.
I’ve frozen cupcakes that were frosted with this frosting. They froze and thawed beautifully.
What flavors of cake go well with this frosting?
This frosting has a light, sweet vanilla flavor that works well with a number of cake flavors. Here are a few ideas!
- Red velvet – This type of frosting with the classic frosting for red velvet cake.
- Chocolate cake
- Carrot cake – Cream cheese frosting is the classic carrot cake frosting, but you could get adventurous and try out vanilla for a change.
- Zucchini cake
- Spice cake
- White cake
Can I make this frosting in other flavors?
You can! Here are some of the different flavors of this frosting that I’ve made.
Troubleshooting tips
- 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.
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
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More frosting recipes that are made without powdered sugar!
This recipe was originally published on 12/22/12. It was updated with new pictures on 7/25/16. Updated again on 2/10/22 with additional information and tips.
Reader Interactions
Love this recipe?
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Comments & Reviews
Anbi says
Can I use this under fondant?
Kate says
I’m not sure! I haven’t done any fondant work in conjunction with this frosting to say for certain.
May says
Really yummy! My parents, who are really sensitive to sweet things, really liked this frosting. The texture is great too.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that it was a hit! =) Thank you for coming back to comment!
Emily Hughes says
I’m going to be making a cupcake cake for a baby shower, and plan on using your recipe because it sounds wonderful! Will I need to double the batch if I make 38-40 cupcakes?
Kate says
Thank you! =) Yes, you will want to make a double batch to frost 38-40 cupcakes. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Emily Hughes says
Thank you for responding. Should I use regular food color or gel food color to dye the icing?
Kate says
You can use either one. If you’re going to use quite a bit, I would recommend the gel food coloring. Hope that helps!
Nicole says
Hello!
I want to try your recipe! But all I have is heavy whipping cream. I was originally going to just make buttercream, but it is for dipping sugar cookies and I thought whipped would be better. Do you think I could water down the heavy whipping cream as use it for milk?
Thanks! ?
Kate says
Hi! I’ve heard from people who have used a mixture of heavy whipping cream and milk. However, I’ve never tried to water down whipping cream, and I’m not sure that it would work. If you’re out of milk, do you have any evaporated milk?
Lora says
Hello! Will this hold as filling and a crumb coat for a 3 layer cake? Also, will it firm up like regular buttercream if refrigerated? I’m attempting to make a 3 layer semi naked vanilla cake for my MIL’s bday party next Friday. I’m sure she will appreciate frosting that isn’t super sweet and this seems like the perfect recipe. (I’ve only just started baking and have made 1 cake in my life!)
Would it stay the same consistency if I add puréed and reduced strawberries to it? That’s what regular strawberry buttercream recipes call for. Or freeze dried strawberries but I can’t find that locally in my area.
Thank you so much!
Kate says
Hi! Yes, this frosting should work as a filling and crumb coat for a 3 layer cake. Depending on how thick you want to go with the filling and crumb coat, you may need to make 1.5 batches. Yes, the frosting firms up (but doesn’t really crust) once refrigerated. I’m not sure how the pureed strawberries will work, and the extra liquid may make the frosting loose or runny. Have you considered using strawberry jam?
Lora says
Hi again! Just an update, I tried to make a half batch as a test run. It was amazing! Here is what I did:
2 T flour
2 T cornstarch
3/4 milk
1.5 tsp vanilla
4 T reduced strawberry puree (strained, so no seeds)
That thickened up A LOT. I cooked it for 10 minutes on low and kept stirring the thick paste. Then when it was time to add it to the butter and sugar (3/4 cup each), it was completely cooled down and even thicker. Whipped it on high for maybe 8-10 minutes and voila! It was perfect!! I think the key was making it half cornstarch (like I saw in previous comments). The strawberry flavour was just right. I am going to put this test batch in between my very first batch of macarons. Thank you for the recipe!!
Kate says
Hi! Thank you for coming back and sharing what you did. =) I’m glad that it came out well for you.
Lora says
I also added 4 drops of red liquid food colouring to make it more pink and it was totally fine!
MM says
Does this icing need to be refrigerated?
Kate says
I recommend refrigerating the frosting.
Samridhi Arora says
Is it possible to color this frosting in red color..as i want to make red rossettes on cake?? Waiting for ur response..
Kate says
It is. Are you going to use gel food coloring or regular food coloring?
Marissa says
My butter melted! How can I fix it?
Kate says
Did it melt when you added the milk/flour mixture? If so, you could try to cover and chill it to see if it will firm back up before you whip it. Good luck!
Mary Claire Wood says
Wow. Great icing, I love your detailed instructions. Even I couldn’t mess it up and I have a pretty bad recipe turnout track record. I wouldn’t want to have to use a hand mixer. It took quite some time to get all the grittiness out.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that the instructions were helpful. =) Yes, I think it would be harder with a hand mixer, though, I did have one person tell me that they did it by hand (which is quite a feat!). Thanks for commenting! =)
Ashley says
I am making this frosting right now, but the butter and sugar mixture still seems gritty after mixing it for 8 minutes. Has this happened to anyone before? I am scared to continue pouring the milk mixture in. Thanks
Kate says
Yep! It has. Sometimes the milk mixture is needed to smooth everything out. Just add that part, and it should all come together. =)
Shazmina says
Hello. I am looking forward to trying your recipe out, it sounds delicious and just what I need for my 2 year old son’s birthday cake. However, I was wondering can I use the frosting for decorating as well?
Thank you in advance ?
Kate says
Hi! Thank you! I pipe with the frosting. What sort of decorating are you planning?
Shazmina says
Will be doing the borders to and bottom and write happy Birthday on it
megan says
How long can I keep a batch of it for in the fridge? I want to make it in advance and this seems like the perfect alternative to regular buttercream (:
Kate says
It will stay good for about 3-4 days in the fridge. However, it will firm up once chilled, so you’ll want to set it out to come up in temp before using. Hope that helps and that you enjoy the frosting! =)
Jenni says
Hello.
Hope your Chistmas has been full of family and friends and good wishes.
Ok I’m going to give this recipe a try on New Year’s Day for some cup cakes. Here’s hoping it works and tastes good, fingers crossed.
Kate says
Thank you! I hope yours has been, too! Hope you enjoy the frosting and have a happy new year!
Mimi says
Loved it! I generally like all frostings but I needed a frosting that wasn’t too sweet for my nieces first birthday and this recipe was perfect for it! It was a little labor intensive but well worth it! Thank you
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked it! It is more work than a normal buttercream, but I’m glad you found it worth it. Thanks for commenting! =)
Monique bailey says
I needed a whipped frosting for a cake. when,
I went to Sam’s club to get heavy cream they was all out. So I came home and goggled icing that’s not too sweet and this recipe cake up. I knew I had all the ingredients so I said to my daughter let’s give it a try. I’m sooooo glad I did. It came out perfect for my first try. Thank you sooo much. I have a goto recipe when I need a whipped icing.
Kate says
Yay!! I’m so glad that you liked it! =) Thank you for coming back to comment!
K says
This recipe saved the day! It was Christmas afternoon and as I was preparing to frost the cake I made the day before, I realized we were out of powdered sugar. Google to the rescue – so glad I found this recipe! I am not much of a cook but I followed the instructions and it came out nice and fluffy made in my stand mixer. Not gritty at all. I, too, liked that it was not so cloyingly sweet as other recipes. I added some lemon curd and zest. More than enough to frost a 3-tiered cake. Tasted great.
Kate says
Oh, I’m so glad!! It’s good to know that lemon curd and zest worked well! I’ve gotten a few questions recently about a lemon version of this frosting, and it’s always helpful to hear the things that have worked. Thanks again! =)
mariolina says
Great recipe! I really hate the usual powdered sugar “buttercream” frostings and have been looking for an alternative recipe for a while. This one is fast and simple to make, uses ordinary ingredients that most people will have on hand, isn’t overly sweet, tastes great, and makes a generous amount. Thanks for posting and for the detailed instructions.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m glad that you found it. =) It’s good that the instructions were helpful! Thank you for your kind comment!
Claire says
OMG ! I was searching for a fluffier, less sweet, buttercream for the eggnog cake I made. Saw this and made it using eggnog instead of the milk. Splashed rum in instead of vanilla and grated extra nutmeg. I followed instructions and thought it too gritty….so just kept whipping it ….incorporated the cooled eggnog mixture and again just beat it longer. This is a fantastic recipe! Thank you so much for posting! My eggnog cake is a bit sweet so this frosting is a perfect balance. The eggnog taste is subtle but perfect. I will def try this with regular milk after the holidays too. Just wanted to post if anyone else wants to make a great eggnog frosting.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I had thought about trying a version of this using eggnog, and I’m so glad to hear that it worked out! =) Thank you so much for coming back to comment!
Nikki says
How long can this be out at room temperature without getting too soft or weeping? My niece is wanting a wedding cake with a whipped cream style frosting and NO cream cheese. It will be indoors (but in June in SC).
Kate says
If it’s indoors, I would guess that it will be ok for 3-4 hours. I chill the frosting, and I’m not sure that it would be safe to leave it at room temperature for any longer than that. I hope that helps!
Janet Brems says
it takes forever to make but it is totally worth it.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that you liked the frosting! =)