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
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Comments & Reviews
Alison says
Thanks for sharing this recipe, the buttercream is amazing!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked it! Thanks for coming back to comment. =)
Marie says
I want to make a ice cream cake, can I freeze this frosting?
Kim says
Hi! Made these. Mine had lumps, I think it’s from the milk + flour mixture. But still tasted nice. Just want to make sure, it’s okay to eat the flour lumps right since it was cooked? ? kinda worried as I’m going to serve it to the kids. Thanks! :)
Kate says
Hi! I completely understand! You can pass it through a sieve to remove the lumps, but the cooked flour should be fine to eat. =)
Marissa L Hamden says
This is now the only frosting I will ever use for my desserts. ???
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you like it! Thank you for taking the time to comment! =)
Leena Mohammed says
I live in a place with quite high temperature so does this frosting melt or not I relly wanna try it but worried about the melting part
Kate says
Hi! How warm will it be? I lived in hot area for several years, and my kitchen was regularly 80+ F. When my kitchen was that warm, the frosting did get softer faster, and I found that I needed to chill it sooner.
Ashley says
This tastes delicious. I have beet sugar in Poland, and the grains are somewhat larger than cane sugar, so I increased the beating time and it still worked out wonderfully. I also added some powdered food color to the milk/flour mixture as I was cooking it, and used maple flavoring instead of vanilla.
Kate says
That’s great! Thank you for your note about using the beet sugar. I’m glad to hear that it worked out with the larger sugar crystals. =) Thank you for coming back to comment!
Meghan says
Can you pipe this frosting? I’m looking to cover a cake in rosettes.
Kate says
You can. I’ve used it to make rosettes, and it worked just fine.
Michelle McCoy says
Does it matter what kind of milk you use? and is it stable enough for decorations?
Kate says
No, you can use anything from skim to whole milk. Whole milk will give you a richer frosting, but any % milk will work. I’ve used it for basic piping, rosettes, and borders. Hope that helps!
Kathy says
Can I use a milk substitute?
Kate says
What milk substitute did you want to use?
Mae says
OMG the best buttercream ever light fluffy and yummy . Thank u so much for such a great recipe . Can I add chocolate powder to make chocolate frosting ???
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked it! Here are the directions for making the chocolate version – whipped chocolate buttercream frosting. << If you click, it will take you to the other recipe.
Helper says
Yes but I think you should put any kind of melted chocolate (I think dark works the best).
Kate says
Hi! I’ve tested adding melted chocolate, and the melted chocolate formed chunks as it was whipped. If you’ve found a way to add it without that happening, I would love for you to share how you were able to make it work. =)
Susan says
5 stars. Best frosting we have ever had! Pain to make compared to other recipes but it is like silk and light, not sugary!! I am stuck making this from now on b.c. I won’t make any other kind from now on. Excellent.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked the frosting! Thank you for coming back to comment. =)
Cheryl says
How do you convert this to a chocolate icing?
Kate says
Here are the directions for making the chocolate version – chocolate whipped buttercream frosting.
Lori Carpenter says
Made it..turned out wonderful..thankyou
Kate says
Great! I’m so glad that you liked the frosting! Thank you for commenting. =)
Heidi says
Amazing!! This is the lightest, fluffiest frosting I have ever made! Discovered I didn’t have enough powdered sugar AFTER I made cupcakes – ugh. My 4 year old wanted strawberry frosting so I added strawberry flavoring and pink food coloring – SO GOOD! Thanks for such a great recipe :)
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked it! And thanks for your note about using strawberry flavoring and pink food color. I get questions about flavored variations, and it’s helpful to hear the things that have worked for other people. =)
Kandi says
Hi! My 8yo is making frosted cookies for market day at school and I was looking for a frosting less sweet than butter cream. This sounds perfect, but how long could it be out of the fridge?
Kate says
It is going to depend on the temperature of the room where the cookies are stored. If it’s cooler, you should be ok for 4 hours. Some people have said they’ve left it out for up to 8 hours, but I haven’t tried that. Hope that helps!
Amy says
This is my favorite frosting recipe i used to be a diehard buttercream only frosting lover but this is perfect!
Catz says
I just tried this recipe, and my gosh! I love how this is not overly sweet! I am not the greatest of cooks and I did this with trial and error. My first milk and flour mixture was lumpy. So I tried once more and I got it right (tears).
The texture was really smooth too! Unlike the powdered sugar versions I tried, it has powdery texture when you eat it. This one is perfect!!!
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!
Kate says
I’m so glad! Can I ask what you did differently the next time that helped with the lumps? I have suggestions that I offer when that happens, but it always helps to hear what’s worked for other people. Thanks for commenting! =)
Melissa says
Hello,
Will this frosting still come out if I half it? I am using this for some sugar cookies..Thanks!
Kate says
Yes, you can make a half batch. You’ll just want to use 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) of flour when you do. Hope that helps!
chris DeVore says
I let the flour milk mixture cool, but when putting into sugar butter mixture there are small lumps of the flour milk. it was not lumpy when mixing on the stove. not sure what happened. any suggestions
Kate says
Did it form a skin as it cooled?
LARA says
Hi, I’m wondering if you converted your measurements to grams by weighing them yourself or if you used an app?
I’m from the US but live in the UK, so I have measuring cups and scales. My weights for the ingredients came to:
Flour, 74g
Milk, 348g
Butter, 341g
Sugar, 310g
The frosting turned out perfectly but I’m not sure it would have if I’d used the stated grams. My daughter really liked it though and said it was like marshmallow. ?
My only other comment would be that it takes AGES for the milk mixture to cool. I even took it out or the pan, but it still took over an hour. It’s a brilliant recipe but not one to go for if you’re in a rush.
Thanks for a great solution to the sudden discovery there’s no powdered sugar in the cupboard AFTER you’ve baked the cake.
Kate says
Hi! I weighed them myself. I double-checked the measurements, and a couple of them were different from what I had originally entered. Sometimes there are glitches with the recipe card that I use, but I’ve fixed them. My weights are not terribly different from what you have. =)
Agreed! It does take a while for it to cool down. You can set the pan in an icewater bath or even chill it if you need to speed the process along.
Thank for commenting!
Matt says
How long does this keep for? If i make it ahead and refrigerate it, will it still work ok?
Kate says
This frosting will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge. I think it works better to frost the cake or cupcakes and then store in the fridge rather than making the frosting, chilling it, and then using it. Hope that helps!
Peg says
Can I freeze the extra frosting?
Mae says
Very nice recipe … can I use it under fondant ?
Kate says
Thank you! Unfortunately, I don’t do much fondant work, and so I’m afraid that I’m not sure how well it will work.
Katie says
Hi, delicious frosting! Can I freeze the extra?
Kate says
Hi! Thanks! I’ve only frozen it on cupcakes that were already frosted. It worked out well that way, but I haven’t tried to freeze it and then use it to pipe or spread on a cake.
Twila Fox says
Can you use margarine instead of butter
Kate says
I haven’t tried using margarine with this recipe. If you try it, I’d be interested to hear how it works out!