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
Hannah says
OMG one of the best frosting recipes I’ve ever tasted/made. It did take quite a while to make the milk concoction, but totally worth it!!
Kate says
Thank you so much!!
Shade Oladipo says
It was good and simple to make.
Kate says
Thank you! So glad you liked it! =)
Julienne says
This frosting was a labor of love to make but oh so delicious! It freezes great. I am going to try color in my next batch
Kate says
I’m so glad that you liked it! Yes! I’ve always had good luck freezing/defrosting cupcakes that have been topped with this frosting. Thanks for commenting!
Katherine Ong says
I really thought my frosting was going to be gritty. No matter how much I mixed it, the sugar never dissolved, but it did after I mixed it with the milk and flour batter. I totally love it. Great recipe.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad you liked the frosting. =)
Michelle says
Hi there, I love the flavor of this but can’t get it to firm up. Everything has been chilled repeatedly for 30 mins plus and butter was still chilled when i started. Milk mix completely cooled. Not sure what to do because it’s supposed to be for my son’s birthday cake i’m making for tomorrow and now i’m scared it will separate. Tips?
Kate says
Hi! When you say that everything has been chilled repeatedly, could you please tell me more about what you mean? Was the finished frosting that was chilled?
Michelle Irurzun says
Hi there! Sorry for late response. Didn’t get a notification of reply. Yeah so everything was extremely chilled while making but it just would not firm up while beating. It never took on that whipped consistency. So i put everything back in the fridge as instructed and tried again. Never firmed up despite trying to chill it for a long time before beating again. The taste was absolutely amazing so I ended up using it for in between the layers instead of the outside of the cake and let it sit in the fridge overnight. When i did that it did firm up. However a bowl of leftovers i had on the side became very runny once i let it sit out for a bit. Thankfully i had no issues with the cake though. I’m fairly experienced with baking so i’m positive i followed recipe exactly. Maybe it’s just the heat and humidity in florida?
Kate says
When you say that everything was extremely chilled, does that include the butter? If the butter was well-chilled, that may have been part of the problem. It’s really difficult to get cold butter to properly mix with the sugar.
Amanda says
My turned out runny so probably my butter was a little to warm but my hand mixer is 14 yrs old so it may not have whipped it, whipped it good enough. Haha
Is there any way to “stiffen” the icing (peaks) after its made? or just enjoy the deliciousness as it is(which we will) but just curious. Thanks
Kate says
I’m sorry to hear that! If you’d like any help troubleshooting, please let me know! The frosting does set up quite a bit once it has been chilled, so that would be the first thing I’d try.
Zanya says
I messed up a bit and didn’t allow the milk and flour mixture to reach room temp. But it was still delicious and we made our own little spin by adding coloring and still pouring it over. LO enjoyed it.
Kate says
I’m glad it worked out well for you!
Maryann says
So I don’t know what happen because I did all the steps correcting but the thing is I’m using a wisk instead of a hand mixer so it ended up coming out watery
Kate says
Using a whisk, rather than an electric mixer, will make a huge difference in this recipe. The recipe calls for 5 minutes with a stand mixer, and it takes about 10 minutes with a hand mixer to properly beat the frosting. I would highly recommend trying it again with an electric mixer, or I can recommend another recipe that would work better with a whisk.
Jessica Miles says
I usually don’t leave reviews, but this frosting is the absolute best. My husband always complains of the frosting being too sweet so I have been looking for a different frosting that doesn’t include powdered sugar and holds well with frosting a 3-layer cake. This frosting is the best and gets the most compliments for taste. It’s now my go to frosting for my cakes. A little bit more work and time but totally worth it.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for commenting! =)
Karen says
I realized I had no powdered sugar when I went to frost my cake, and luckily found this fantastic recipe. I think this might be the best frosting I’ve ever had anywhere. I made mine vegan using Earth Balance vegan butter and unsweetened Califia almond milk which worked just fine. Taste is so so so good! I managed to get lumps in the paste to start, not sure if they would have made my frosting lumpy, but I blended it in a food processor to smooth it out. I followed the given mixing times very carefully, using a hand mixer. I would say my texture was not quite as smooth looking as your picture – and I couldn’t decide if I mixed too long or needed to mix more. So I will probably play around with it a little more. Really yummy, thanks so much for this recipe!
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that it worked out well for you! I’ve heard from a lot of people who have used a hand mixer, and they’ve said about 9-10 minutes works well for the mixing time. =)
Mandy says
Giving this five stars because this is really a great and easy recipe (I made both the vanilla and chocolate versions and thought both turned out nicely). Even my picky, non-dessert eating hubby loved them! I also appreciate all the extra notes/info the author put in. Those definitely help beginners with troubleshooting. That being said, if you are a big fan of the texture of buttercream and prefer that to whipped cream frosting, this may not be the one for you. It is more of a light but oily texture and you may be better off adding a little lemon juice to your buttercream if you prefer that consistency but want to balance out too much sweetness. If you do like the texture of whipped cream frosting then this is AWESOME! If using a hand mixer be patient and put in the extra minutes of mixing because it’s worth it to make it super light!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that it was a hit! =)
Nina Gleason says
Would this work well for macarons?
Kate says
Yes, this frosting would work well as a filling for macarons.
Kim chukra says
Hi
Thanks for recipe…tastes great!
Kate says
Great! I’m glad you liked it! =)
Southrncadillac says
I just made this frosting after my meringue frosting went terribly wrong- THIS FROSTING HITS! My grl loves it, and was really confused by the flour and milk mixture but following your directions made this turn out perfect! I love to cook- and this is going in my phone as one of my favorites! BOOKMARK SHAWTY!
Kate says
Yay!! I’m glad that it turned out well for you! =)
Kriselle Corpuz says
My recipe turned out runny. I think my butter was a bot warm. Any suggestions on how to fix it? Appreciate it. Thanks.
Kate says
Unfortunately, once the frosting is completely made, it’s more difficult to fix a thin frosting. However, it does set up quite a bit in the fridge, so you can try chilling it to see whether that will help.
lanie says
Hi! Love this, delicious. Perfectly frosted a too sweet cake.
Curious though, the recipe says 1.5 tablespoons of vanilla – surely that should be teaspons, right? Seems like a lot!
Thanks
Kate says
Thank you! I use 1.5 tablespoons to give it a lot of vanilla flavor. You could certainly try reducing the amount to see how that works!
Donna vecchione says
had to make frosting and didn’t have powdered sugar, found this and…OMG excellent. will never use “regular” frosting again. did vanilla but based on taste my guess is adding cocoa and some extra sugar would be fine.
Kate says
Thanks!
Nieshia Kelly says
I’m making this for my husband for father’s day. This is my first time making a cake from scratch and icing. It taste really good. It was just a little clumpy still but not bad. I might not have cooked it long enough on the stove but thank you for this. I’ll try it again anither time.
Kate says
Thanks! Glad you liked it! If you’d like any tips for next time, please let me know!
Diana says
Amazing icing recipe! Just follow it exactly (no changes and no short cuts) and you will have a deliciously perfect icing!
Kate says
Thank you so much! And, yes! That’s great advice. =)
Laure says
I wonder if anyone has made this same recipe replacing the butter with cream cheese to make a cream cheese frosting?
Kate says
I’ve made it with a combination of cream cheese and butter. Also, I do have a recipe for cream cheese frosting that’s made with granulated sugar.
Debbie says
Thank you for sharing this recipe. This is THE best icing I have made and is always a hit whenever I make it for any occasion. I love how it is not too sweet and just tastes sooooo good. Just curious if you have made it in any other flavours such a strawberry. I am not good at altering recipes but I would really like to have a strawberry version of this. ?
Kate says
Thank you so much! I have made chocolate, cinnamon, brown sugar, peppermint, and oreo versions of this frosting.
I haven’t tried to make strawberry, but I’ve heard from people who have used different fruit flavorings for the vanilla, used jam, and even used crushed freeze-dried strawberries in the frosting.
Nena says
hi! i’m really excited to use this recipe tomorrow for a fathers day cake :D Is it possible to make it with a hand mixer that only has beater attachments? The handmixer is over a decade old and the only one we have, unfortunately, with no other attachments ?
Kate says
You can! I’ve heard from numerous people who have used a hand mixer, and they’ve said that it took about 9-10 minutes of mixing time.
Shellie says
Can you substitute the butter for margerine?