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
Joan johnson says
Can you use unsalted butter?
Kate says
You can, but you’ll want to add a pinch or two of salt (to taste).
Gina L Woods says
Can I use heavy cream instead of milk?
Kate says
I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard from people who have successfully used heavy cream in this recipe. Hope that helps!
Elaina says
Sorry I didn’t read all the comments, but can you use this recipe to pipe rosettes and detail on top as well as the sides of a cake? I often find that icing that is not too sweet isn’t stiff enough to pipe. But I have been given the task of making a ‘not too sweet icing’ cake.
Kate says
No worries! There are over 1000 comments. =) Yes, the frosting is thick enough to pipe rosettes with. Hope that helps!
Tin says
Hello! Just wondering how did it go for you in using this to pipe rosettes on the sides of the cake? Planning to use this recipe as well for that
Theresa Kraiss says
Hi, I would like to decorate cupcakes with this recipe and then freeze them. Will this work? How long should I let them sit out before I serve them?
Also, once thawed, how long can I leave them out?
Kate says
Hi! I’ve frozen cupcakes that were frosted with this frosting, and it worked just fine. I don’t leave this frosting out for more than about 4 hours or so just because of the high milk content. You could probably leave it out for several hours at room temp; I just worry about food safety issues. Hope that helps!
Patty De Boer says
I would like to use this recipe on cupcakes for an event the next day. Does this frosting need to be refrigerated after being put on cupcakes?
Kate says
Yes, I recommend refrigerating this frosting.
JoAnn Clark says
OMG! I’ve been searching for a whipped buttercream frosting that wasn’t sickening sweet and this is the one! I followed the instructions exactly except I used maple extract for my banana cake. I’m in love! Thanks so much!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the frosting! Maple sounds like it would be a great addition. =) Thanks for commenting!
Liz H says
How much frosting does this make? I’m making 36 cupcakes and wondering if I can double or triple the recipe? If needed. Thanks
Kate says
Hi! It makes enough to generously frost 24 cupcakes. I’ve heard from people who have successfully doubled the recipe. The most that I do is a 1.5 batch because that’s about all my 5 quart Kitchenaid will hold. Hope that helps!
Liz H says
Thanks! I just went for it with all 36 and it ended up being just enough as is! I love to bake… usually wing it. But mostly breads, and pies and occasionally puddings. I am not a frosting person. But I got so many compliments on my cupcakes and some even were like “I know you say you’re not a frosting person, but it was great. The whole thing was delicious!” Thanks for the recipe and following up!
Mandy Mathews says
How can I thicken this? Mine is really thin and I can’t figure out what’s wrong. I followed the recipe exactly.
Kate says
Could you give me more info so I can help you? Was the finished frosting thin?
Ryan says
Hi, does this work for cake frosting and can I refrigerate it in the fridge for 2 nights?
Kate says
Hi! It will be fine, but the frosting sets up in the fridge. So, you’ll need to let it come up in temp before using. Hope that helps!
Kim says
Do you have to use salted butter and do you have to use real vanilla
Kate says
If you want to use unsalted butter, you can. You’ll just want to add a couple pinches of salt (to taste). If you have imitation vanilla, you can use that instead. Hope that helps!
Johnette says
Made this recipe yesterday and it is the best frosting I have ever had! Everyone loved it. This is definitely a keeper. Directions were very clear and easy to follow.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked it and that you found the directions easy to follow! Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Joanne Robertson says
Afternoon, I’m in the UK and work with grams and millilitres so was wondering if you could supply the recipe in those metric measurements for me?
Kate says
Hi! If you click on “metric” underneath the ingredients, you’ll find the ingredients in grams. Hope that helps!
Aja Anderson says
I made this and loved it!! It’s my favorite buttercream recipe that always gets raving reviews. I did want to see if I can add honey to it for a honey vanilla buttercream. Do I need to do anything different if I add a few table spoons of honey to the recipe? Thanks!
Kate says
Thank you so much! I haven’t tried adding honey, but I think adding a few tablespoons of honey should work. Good luck! =)
Karita Mechenbier says
I tried this last night and I love it. I have so much left over…. can it be frozen?
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked it! I’ve only frozen it on frosted cakes and cupcakes. I haven’t tried to freeze extra and then use it. If you try that, I would love to hear how it works out for you!
Hannah Haddad says
The wording of this recipe is totally confusing. When creaming the butter and sugar it states to do this on medium high, and in the first paragraph where it stated low medium it reffered to heat. For butter icing it is unusual to heat anything, but I followed through and continued to heat the butter and sugar on medium high too because there was no mention of medium high being reffered to as a setting of the whisk. Please rephrase this.
Kate says
I’m sorry that you were confused. I do everything that I can to try to provide clear directions and plenty of information to help people make my recipes. Did you watch the recipe video or check out the step-by-step photos that I have for this recipe?
It definately sounds like you missed some things.
First, in step 2 it says to remove the milk/flour mixture from the heat and let it cool.
Second, in step 4 it says to “cream” the butter and sugar together. “Creaming” means to beat butter and sugar.
Third, step 6 says to beat it for 5 more minutes.
Fourth, in the recipe notes it says to be sure to beat the butter and sugar together for the full time.
Also, I try to be responsive when people have questions. So, if you find that you have a question like that, please ask!
Kelli says
Hi, love this recipe. I seen almond milk was used, do you know if coconut milk will work?
Kate says
Hi! Thank you! I haven’t tried it with canned coconut milk, but I don’t see why the refrigerated coconut milk wouldn’t work. Hope that helps!
Katie Willson says
Can this frosting be refrigerated over night?
Kate says
It can. It will firm up quite a bit in the fridge, so you’ll need to let it come up in temp after it’s been in the fridge.
Kathy says
Hi! I’m looking for a frosting recipe without powdered sugar, cornstarch or flour. I’ve been asked to make a white cake which is Gluten Free and the customer is allergic to corn, therefore no use of cornstarch which is found in powdered sugar. Any suggestions of products to use? Would your recipe above work with gluten free flour? Thanks so much!
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard from people who have successfully used measure-for-measure gluten free flour in place of the all-purpose flour. I also have a cream cheese frosting recipe that uses granulated sugar (and no flour or cornstarch). Hope that helps!
Lindsay says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I have been making the recipe exactly as written for a few years and my entire extended family always gushes about how much they love it. I wanted to write a note here to tell two things I have learned about this recipe now that I have made it so many times. The first is that I have started using my hand blender to get the lumps out of the milk and flour mixture before I cook it. Doing this removes all of the lumps in a matter of seconds and then I don’t have to worry a bit about flour lumps (still have to keep stirring constantly though, even as it cools so that it does not form a skin!). The second thing is that I used almond milk to make it this last time and no one noticed any change from when I used whole milk, even me, and I knew! I always buy whole milk to make the frosting even though my family does not eat much dairy, but this time I needed to leave the frosting out for longer than I usually would so I thought using all almond milk would make me less worried about this. I was so happy that it turned out the same with almond milk so now I don’t have to run to the store right before I make it when I realize I forgot to buy milk!! Anyway, thank you again! This recipe is amazing and my whole family loves it! It was also excellent on cut out sugar cookies!
Kate says
Hi! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences with this recipe! I haven’t tried using a blender, but that makes sense! I have tried using almond milk, and I was really happy with the results. Glad to hear that it works well for other people, too! Thanks again for taking the time to leave such a helpful comment! =)
Leah says
Hi there,
Can I turn this into a chocolate buttercream recipie? If so, what are the modifications? Thanks! This sounds like just what I’m looking for.
Leah
Kate says
Hi! Here is the whipped chocolate buttercream frosting recipe. =)
Lori says
So I’m not much of an at home baker and usually put frosting from the containers into my pastry bags BUT I really wanted to make one and have tried several but they never turn out like I expect. Just yesterday I made a buttercream and threw it all away. I am at home with my son that has the flu and had some extra time so I decided to try your recipe. I didn’t think it would work out because of my experience with frosting BUT it did!! It was/is AMAZING!!! I couldn’t believe it!!! I’m watching my calories and just taste it to try BUT I’ve had more because it’s sooooo good I can’t stop!!!? Anyway, this is perfect!! Thank you so very much for posting!! It reminds me more of bakery frosting.. so much better than any from a container or grocery store. Thanks again!!!
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to comment! =)