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
Michele A. says
I’ve been using a recipe like this for years. I love the end result. Here’s my experiments: Works amazingly with coconut cream. I also add 1/4 tsp coconut extract to pump up the coconut flavor. I prefer using the cook the sugar in with the milk & flour method. I also use an immersion blender first to prevent lumps. Before I got one, I strained the milk/flour mixture after cooking. I always use freezer to cool my milk/flour mixture & I just realized it would cool even faster if I transfer it to a metal bowl (duh me). So my problem (except for the coconut cream), this frosting has a tendency to separate in the bag the next day. The frosted cupcakes are fine. It’s just what’s in the piping bag or container. And it doesn’t seem to matter if I fridge it or leave it out. (in my state a frosting is shelf stable if it has a cook step). Sometimes & I can rewhip successfully & sometimes I can’t. Any suggestions?
Kate says
How interesting! I haven’t tried this recipe with coconut cream, but that sounds delicious! =) Have you tried using a little more flour or cooking the mixture down more?
Michele A. says
Thanks! I will try that and let you know. I’ve also used the recipe with almond milk (success), evaporated milk (fail), half & half (success) & whipping cream (success). The half & half and whipping cream I only use if I’m in a hurry. That sauce gets thick FAST with those. And you can’t use the the immersion blender method when using whipping cream…LOL. Unless you wanted whipped cream and not frosting.
La Gringa in the jungle says
Help! I’ve beat it 4 different times for 5 minutes, and it’s still grainy. I used granulated sugar.
I am using a hand mixer, but it has a super speed and goes up to 275watts.
I’m in Perú, maybe they have super sugar?
What if I start again and add the sugar to the flour mixture while still warm, to melt it? Then beat butter fluffy, and add the flour sugar mixture?
Kate says
Hey! Try adding the cooled milk/flour mixture and beat that in first. Most of the time, that will smooth out any remaining sugar. If you wanted to change anything, I would suggest heating the sugar with the milk and the flour. I’ve heard from people who have put the milk/flour mixture in warm, and it seems to just separate and doesn’t want to come back together. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Kendra says
Delicious! I cheated and cooled the milk and flour mixture in the fridge for a few minutes. I also used a 1/4 c less sugar, but this was delicious! A great texture and it was SO nice to not have a sickeningly sweet frosting (that my sweet tooth of a husband loved too)! Thanks!
Kate says
I’m so glad that you both liked it! Sometimes I chill the milk/flour mixture, too, if I’m in a hurry. =) Thanks for your note about using less sugar. I get questions about that from time to time. Thanks for commenting!
Leslie says
What would the buttercream look like if I over beat it?
Kate says
It would look similar to overbeaten whipped cream – it would look sort of lumpy and stiff.
Leslie says
Ok my buttercream looked like soup. What would you think the problem was there? The butter was not warm and i made sure the mixture was not warm. Any tips on how to fix it? I tried putting it in the fridge and then rewhipping but it was not coming together.
Kate says
I have a few questions for you. When did it look like soup? Was it after the milk/flour mixture was added, or was the butter/sugar runny? How long did you whip the butter and sugar together? Were the bowl or beaters warm?
Leslie says
I whipped the butter for more than 5 minutes. It started to become soupy after I added the flour mixture. It looked good but I kept beater for the full 5 minutes and I started to notice it wasn’t coming together anymore. The beaters were not put in the freezer beforehand. They were just room temp.
Kate says
I think I know where things went wrong. Room temp beaters should be fine. I just wanted to double check that they weren’t warm (like straight from the dishwasher).
First, you shouldn’t need to beat the butter and sugar for more than about 5 minutes. The longer the butter is beaten the warmer it gets, so that may have played a role in it. If a little bit of sugar is still detectable at 5 minutes, go ahead and add the flour mixture and that should smooth any remaining sugar out.
Second, it sounds like the flour mixture either was too warm or wasn’t thick enough. Those are the two reasons that it becomes soupy when added to the butter/sugar. The milk/flour mixture should be room temp. It shouldn’t feel warm. If you’re unsure if it’s too warm, you can even chill it (though you may want to cover it to prevent a skin from forming). Since you said that it wasn’t warm, it sounds like it wasn’t thick enough. It should be the consistency of a thick paste. There’s a picture of what it should look like just under the first picture at the top of the post.
I hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. I want to help or to clarify anything that I can.
Leslie says
Thank you! I will def try it again and hope it works out!
Kate says
Good luck! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Nanc says
I love this recipe. I have been looking for a good whipped buttercream without the sweet taste that regular buttercream made with powdered sugar has. This is easy if you follow the directions and whip it enough. Thanks for the great recipe.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the frosting! =) Thank you for commenting!
TG says
Can this frosting be made a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator until ready to use?
Kate says
It can. However, the frosting will firm up quite a bit once it has been in the fridge. You’ll need to let it come up in temp before using.
Baking at home says
My granulated sugar is not blending with the butter. I have beated for over 20 mins with my kitchen aid on high. It’s now turning the mix to a soup
Kate says
Did you use regular granulated sugar?
Jasmine Johnson says
Is this recipe good for piping?
Kate says
Yes, it pipes well.
Kate Silva says
I’ve been looking for a less sweet frosting option and this is it! It came together perfectly and is exactly what I have been looking for. I did a test run today with it so I can use this recipe for my daughter’s birthday cupcakes. Thank you so much for posting this!!
Kate says
I’m so glad that you found the recipe and liked it! =) Happy birthday to your daughter, and thanks for commenting!
Amber says
I k now I did something wrong! It taste awesome but it’s not coming together. Can I fix this or just start over?
Kate says
Which step are you on in the recipe? When you say it isn’t coming together, do you mean it’s separating?
Elizabeth says
Could I use almond Milk instead of regular milk?
Kate says
I’ve heard from people who have successfully used nondairy milks like almond milk. Hope that helps!
Halima Begum says
Hi can I replace the milk and flour with whipping cream?
Kate says
Hi! I’m not sure how that would come out. I’ve heard from people who have used whipped cream in place of part of all of the milk, but I haven’t heard from anyone who has subbed whipping cream for both the milk and the flour.
Tova Matthews says
Hello, how long will this keep and is it okay to leave the cake out for a few hours with this icing? Thinking of using it for my wedding cake.
Kate says
It is ok to leave the cake out for a few hours with this icing. The cooler the room, the better it will keep at room temperature. Because of the high dairy content, I don’t leave it out at room temperature for more than 4 hours, but that may just be me being overly cautious. Hope helps!
Ellen De Weerdt says
I tried the buttercream this morning for my goddaughters 6th birthday cakes (unicorn, obviously?)
It tastes lovely, not too sweet … but mine keeps shifting, especially when i add color ?
Kate says
Hi! I’m so glad that you liked it! Were you using regular or gel color? I have heard from several people who have used gel color with good results. I think since it’s thicker it doesn’t affect the consistency as much. Hope that helps!
Sheri Young says
Chave you added powdered dehydrated fruit to flavor the frosting? If I wanted to try … at what point should I? After I add the flour / milk mixture ?
Kate says
I have! I’ve used dehydrated raspberries and strawberries. I add it in at the end once the frosting is pretty much whipped up. Hope that helps! =)
Cara Geibel says
Amazing! Best buttercream ever. I normally take icing off cake or cupcakes before I eat it, it’s always too sweet and too heavy. This is perfect. It’s light and fluffy and not cloyingly sweet, just the right touch.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked it! It sounds like we like the same kind of frosting. =) Thanks for commenting!
Neri says
Omg! My life before this recipe and my life after! Thanks, it’s brilliant :) Everyone in our family used to scrape of the icing from any cake or cupcake before eating them as it’s always way to sweet. But this one is great. I have to admit I was sceptic about using flour, salt and granulated sugar, but I’m so happy I tried. Will pass this recipe to everyone! ;)
Kate says
Thank you! Haha! I’m someone would wipe the frosting off, too. =) I’m so glad that your family liked it! Thanks for taking the time to come back to comment!
Amelia Skagias says
This is my go-to frosting recipe and everyone who tastes it becomes obsessed with it! One person told me that the cupcakes I made (really: frosting) was the best that they’ve had in YEARS. I’ve also had a professional baker tell me how good it was. So thankful to have found this recipe, great work! :)
Kate says
That’s awesome!! I’m so glad that it’s been a hit. =) Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Katie says
First time I made this frosting, it was AMAZING! now, everytime I go to make it, I get clumps of flour mixture in my icing(maybe because it forms a skin when cooling?) and it’s ‘breaking’. Is there any tips for this not to happen? Thanks!!
Kate says
Thanks! I’m happy to try to help you figure this out!
Hmmm, if it’s forming a skin, that shouldn’t give you lumps of flour unless the flour isn’t incorporated. Are you doing anything differently (using different brands of ingredients, different pot to cook the milk/flour mixture, etc.)?
I would guess that the two issues are related. If the flour isn’t getting incorporated into the milk to properly thicken it, that could cause both the lumps as it cooks and then breaking. I’ve found that I need to make sure that the flour is totally incorporated into the milk before I begin heating it, and I need to whisk around the edges as it cooks.
Treena Martin says
O.M.G. This is the best frosting I have ever tasted! I don’t normally like frosting because it is too sweet. This is the perfect balance of sweet and creamy. Thank you!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked it!! Thanks for commenting! =)