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
Elena says
Whenever I make buttercream with powdered sugar, I always cut back in the sugar because it is overly sweet. This buttercream made with a roux and granulated sugar is absolute perfection! It’s not real sweet and it’s sooooo smooth! Thank you!! I’m keeping this recipe handy!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so happy that you liked the frosting! Thanks for commenting!
Holly Smith says
I used this fantastic buttercream for my daughter’s rainbow baby shower. People asked if I am a baker?!
I HATE powder sugar icing. Is there a way to stiffen this buttercream for use with Russian tips?
Kate says
Yay!! That’s so great! I haven’t tried Russian tips, but the frosting does set up quite a bit once it has been chilled. Maybe a quick chill would help?
Evelyn says
I put the frosting I made yesterday in the fridge and have tried to rewhip it before use and it looks wet and split? Unwhipped it looks fine, do I just have to wait for it to soften before use without whipping? Help!
Kate says
You shouldn’t need to rewhip it after it has chilled. The only reason that you would need to rewhip it is if it separated. When I chill my frosting, I just let it come up in temp a bit to soften before using. Hope that helps!
Evelyn says
Thanks Kate, I managed to save it by slowly adding clumps of extra butter and sugar, it eventually came together again. I won’t rewhip it after chilling next time. Otherwise, everyone absolutely loves this frosting :)
Emma says
I can’t even begin to explain how much I love this recipe! I have always been picky when it comes to buttercream frosting. I would always complain that recipes contained way too much confectioners sugar, were way too sweet, and I wished there was a way to go without it. I wish I knew this recipe existed sooner! I can’t thank you enough for sharing this forever recipe with me!
Kate says
Yay!! Your comment made my day, and I’m so glad that you found this recipe! Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Aileen says
So im having an issue. I have made this recipe multiple times and never had a problem. Suddenly, my roux won’t thicken. Its coming out the texture of glue. I don’t know what to do. Maybe I’m not cooking it high enough? Any help is appreciated
Kate says
Hi! There are two things that I would try. First, I’d try increasing the heat. Sometimes a little more heat will help it to thicken up. If that isn’t working. I would scoop out, maybe, 1/4 cup of the milk mixture and stir in an extra tablespoon of flour. Then, stir that back in. Hopefully that helps!
Aileen says
It stayed glue-like so I’m giving it another shot, I’m going to try to begin at a higher heat and not stir until it heats up a little, I think part of my issue is the heat is too low, and part of it is that I’m stirring too much. It seems like the gluten is over developing before the flour cooks
Kate says
I haven’t made this yet, but was curious as to whether it would work if I put the sugar into the milk and flour mix before cooking it, rather than whisking it with the butter. This way the sugar would be all melted and there would be no risk of grittiness. Might be an expensive fail, so I thought I’d ask before I tried, in case anyone else has.
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried adding the sugar to the milk mixture, but I’ve heard from a few people who said it worked well for them. Hope that helps!
Aileen says
It stayed glue-like so I’m giving it another shot, I’m going to try to begin at a higher heat and not stir until it heats up a little, I think part of my issue is the heat is too low, and part of it is that I’m stirring too much. It seems like the gluten is over developing before the flour cooks
Kate says
I hope this time works out for you! I’d love to hear how it works out!
Karen says
Turned out beautifully. I was unsure about what the right texture would be where you cook and mix the flour with the milk. My advice is basically you are waiting for the mixture to turn into a ‘mashed potato’ or ‘clag’ consistency – matte in colour.
Once you have achieved that consistency you should have success with this recipe. Also cooling down the milk/flour mixture till it’s room temperature is important. I put my pot into another large pot of cold water to speed up this process. The fridge would also work well for this.
Another key is that butter needs to be room temperature but not melted. If your butter melts a bit just wait for it to cool down before mixing.
Loved this recipe.
Thank you.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that it worked well for you. Thanks for commenting!
Nadiya Ahmed says
Omg! Where have this recipe been my entire life! I always looked for frosting without powdered sugar. Never knew what ermine frosting is. While searching on google for “frosting without powdered sugar”, i came across this recipe. Watched tons of other ermine frosting recipes on YouTube after this. No one, literally no one makes the flour mixture as thick as yours (as seen on the picture). I knew if I followed other YouTube recipes i would end up with runny frosting. Followed your tip. Made perfect frosting for the first time in my life!
Ps: i used cheap margarine instead of butter (through it might not be stable in hot weather l, added sugar to the flour mixture (this made no difference at all, and dissolves sugar perfectly). Lastly, added cocoa powder as well.
Thanks a lot for this recipe and particularly for the suggestion regarding flour mixture!
Love from Kuwait :)
Kate says
Hi! Thanks so much for your notes! I’ve gotten questions about using margarine but hadn’t tried it. Also, it’s great to hear that the sugar worked well in the flour mixture. Thanks again for commenting! =)
Aurora says
Hi. I’ve made your recipe and the taste is just right for me but, the finished frosting is unlike your photo. Mine turned out not as thick… is there a way to thicken it? Thanks.
Aurora says
Additional info: It’s in the fridge right now. It’s as if it has not come together. But when I put it in the mixer again, it “fluffs” up and then after a while at room temp, it goes back to its previous state. Do I need to keep mixing it some more? I’m afraid it might not firm up.
Kate says
If the milk/flour mixture was too wet, it may not be as thick. I haven’t tried to thicken it at that point, so I’m not sure what you would need to do at that point. Is it workable once you’ve chilled it?
Aurora says
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to work it out. But I so love the right amount of sweetness that I will try this again.
Kate says
Please let me know if you have any questions that I can help with!
Kate says
Hi. There are two main reasons why the frosting might not be as thick. First, the milk/flour mixture wasn’t thick enough. Did your cooked milk/flour mixture look like mine does in my photos? The other reason is using butter that’s too soft. Using butter that’s too warm will give you frosting that’s too soft.
Angie says
Hi! Can you pipe and use the Russian flower tips with is recipe?
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried the Russian flower tips. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it comes out.
Emilee Redmond says
I’m making cupcakes for a birthday party, does this icing need to be refrigerated once on the cupcakes?
Kate says
I refrigerate any frosted cake or cupcakes if they won’t be eaten within a couple of hours. I hope that helps!
Ali says
I think your recipe contains an error? Most ermine frosting use unsalted butter? I followed your recipe, and the frosting definitely taste too salty.
Kate says
Hi! No, no error. I’ve used unsalted butter and added various amounts of salt and found that it tasted flatter than when using salted butter. However, if you find it to be too salty, absolutely adjust the amount of salt or use unsalted butter.
Sue Salas says
I did let flour/milk mixture cool & placed plastic wrap directly on surface so as to not get a crust on it. Let it come to room temp before I used it. Thanks again. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Sharon A Reeves says
I wish I could give this 10 stars. WOW. This is the most fantastic frosting ever. I usually make a Midori Bunt cake but really wanted cupcakes. The frosting for the bunt is runny as it should be. This is fantastic with Midori in place of the vanilla using only a Tbsp. I am in HEAVEN. Thank you
Kate says
Thank you so much! =) Glad to hear that it worked with the Midori! I’ve gotten questions about using alcohol in the frosting, and it’s helpful to hear that it works. Thanks again for commenting!
Sue Salas says
I’m not a big fan of buttercream frosting, it’s way too sweet for my taste. I made this frosting today & absolutely loved it! I actually started it last night but got interrupted. Made the cooked milk & flour mixture & put it in the fridge overnight & finishef it today. I used food coloring gels to color it. Frosting was light, fluffy & not to sweet. It piped nice & smooth & held it’s shape. My hubby liked it too. I think I found my go to buttercream recipe.
Kate says
Yay!! I’m so glad that it worked out well for you and that it was a hit! And thanks for your note about chilling the milk/flour mixture. It’s helpful to hear what has worked for other people. =)
Nikki says
Can adding anything like crusted oreos to this frosting?
Kate says
You can! Here is the Oreo version. You can also make a chocolate, cinnamon, brown sugar, or any number of other flavors.
Nikki says
OH MY GOODNESS! So gonna make today! Thanks!
Kate says
You’re very welcome! =)
Tammie says
Would you also be able to add freeze dried berries in the form of “dust/powder” to this frosting? I can’t stand regular buttercream frosting. Far too sweet so the only two I’ve been able to make (using my freeze dried berries for flavor) have been a cream cheese and marshmallow frosting. Another question. Could I make just half of this recipe without it messing up the texture, etc? I don’t like wasting ingredients (in this case, mainly the butter). I can easily half all of the other ingredients but I want to make sure when it comes to the flour that it’s 3 1/2 tbsp of flour I should use. Is that correct? Thanks!
Kate says
Yes, you can add the dust/powder to this frosting. Yes, I’ve halved the recipe when I need a smaller batch. When I do make a half batch, I’ve found that I get better results when I use 4 tablespoons of flour. Hope that helps!
Tammie says
Hi Kate. Thanks for answering so quickly!! Oh, that is great news about the powder. I just love using it. And I’m so glad I asked about the flour. I almost didn’t for obvious reasons. Thanks so much for giving me that helpful tip. When I do make your recipe I’ll be back to let you know how it all went. Have a great weekend…
Alexa says
So excited to try this! Is there a way to adapt this to be a chocolate buttercream?
Kate says
Yay! There is! Here is the recipe for the chocolate buttercream version.
Karina says
Can I use almond milk for this recipe? Thanks so much!
Kate says
You can! I’ve used almond milk in place of the dairy milk, and it worked well. Hope that helps!
Laura Campbell-Antoine says
Is the picture with the three pots your milk flour mixture? Is that what it should look like when done?
Kate says
Yes, (from left to right) the first picture is the cooked milk/flour mixture, the middle picture is the combined butter/sugar mixture, and the third picture is the finished frosting. Hope that helps!
Makenna says
Was a lot of work, but I’m the end paid off! I ran out of powdered sugar while making frosting for my cupcakes, but then your recipe came!#LIFE SAVER You could not tell that there was granulated sugar in the frosting at all.
Kate says
I’m so glad! Yes, it’s definitely more work than a powdered sugar buttercream, but I’m glad that you liked the frosting. Thanks for commenting!