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 Whipped Buttercream Frosting
Whisk the milk and flour together in a small heavy saucepan before beginning to heat.
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 (far left picture above).
Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla extract.
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.
In a separate large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and salt together on medium-high to high until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (middle picture above). Be sure to scrape down the sides to avoid gritty frosting.
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.
How Much Frosting Will This Recipe Make?
This recipe will make enough to frost a 2 layer 9-inch round cake or 24 cupcakes.
Do I Need To Chill The Frosting?
I recommend chilling any unused or leftover frosting because of the high dairy content (all of the milk and butter).
Answers to commonly asked questions
- Milk: I have used everything from skim to whole milk in this recipe. I’ve also used almond milk. All have worked well for me. Whole milk will give you a slightly richer frosting, but there aren’t any other advantages to using whole milk over another type of milk.
- Butter: I prefer salted butter in this recipe. I’ve tried both salted and unsalted butter, but I prefer salted. I highly recommend if you use unsalted butter, that you add a few pinches of salt. Otherwise, the frosting can taste bland or flat.
- Vanilla: I like to use a good quality vanilla because it provides a lot of the flavor for the frosting. You can also use different flavors of extracts to vary the flavor of the frosting.
Troubleshooting Tips
- Here are some some places where people have gone wrong with this recipe.
- 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.
Can I Use Food Coloring In This Frosting?
Can I Use Food Coloring In This Frosting?I’ve never tried to use food coloring with this frosting. However, I have heard from several people who have successfully used both regular and gel food coloring.
More Granulated Sugar Frosting Recipes
- Whipped Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting
- Whipped Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
- Whipped Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Cream Cheese Frosting
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 Information
This recipe was originally published on 12/22/12. It was updated with new pictures on 7/25/16.
Catherine McCabe says
I made half the quantity for a dozen chocolate cupcakes.
Gorgeous silky smooth frosting.
I’ve eaten so much of it straight from the bowl.
Thank you for a beautiful recipe.
Have it book marked as my favourite buttercream
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m glad you’re enjoying it! =)
Andi says
Kate, is there a way to flavor this with chocolate?
Kate says
There is! I have the recipe for the chocolate version here.
Andi says
This frosting is really good! Not difficult to make, but takes a little more time than opening a can. This recipe makes A LOT of frosting–I had enough for the 13×9 with enough left over for a 2nd one. So, the remainder is in the freezer and hopefully it freezes well. This frosting does not taste like anything I’ve had before, even from the bakery. It has a very buttery flavor. It is sweet, but not overpowering. At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like it but once I tried it on the cake I was sold.
Kate says
I’ve had good luck freezing cupcakes that were frosted with this frosting. They froze and thawed well, and I hope that it works out well for you, too!
Kierra says
so, i definitely didn’t follow the right consistency of the flour and milk mixture but, i needed something to thicken up the frosting so i added about 1 1/2 cups or more of peanut butter (by preference) and it thickened it up and it tastes AMAZING!!
Kate says
I’m so glad that that worked! Thank you for sharing that about the pb. I’ve had a couple questions about using pb in this frosting and hadn’t tried it.
julia says
I’ve used this recipe for buttercream before and it was perfect!! Great recipe. However, I want to share with others a tidbit of knowledge. The first time I used white granulated sugar (standard Domino’s) and the second time I used organic cane sugar. The organic sugar creamed with butter turned out more grainy. I did not think it would be a big difference BUT it seems that organic cane sugar grains is a tad larger than standard granulated sugar. So keep this in mind! Go Domino’s if you’re making this recipe so it comes out much smoother.
Kate says
Thank you! Yes, I’ve tried using the larger grain sugar, and it was the only time that I’ve ever had this frosting turn out gritty. If people only have larger grain sugar, I recommend they give it a few zips in a food processor to help break it down first.
Jo says
Is it okay to add food coloring to the frosting?
Kate says
I haven’t dyed it, but I’ve heard from a number of people who have had good luck using regular and gel food coloring.
Cat says
This came out like fluffy silk! I LOVE this frosting. It complements baked goods rather than competing with them. I’ll take this over powdered sugar frosting any day. Thank you for this recipe-it’s a keeper.
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Becca says
Hi I love this recipe but am aiming for a peanut butter frosting. Do you think adding a cup of peanut butter to this will ruin the consistency? Any suggestions otherwise?
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried adding peanut butter to the frosting. I do have a pb frosting recipe if you’re interested. If not and you want to try it with this recipe, I would try adding the pb to the butter and mixing that together and then going from there. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it works out!
Beulah says
This is VERY good. A bit on the too buttery side for me, personally but that’s a minor thing (since I like mega sweet powdered sugar icing). I took heed of the “be sure to”s from the chef and made the flour/water part into a paste that resembled that that my grade school art teacher whipped up for decoupage (had to REALLY whisk it to keep it smooth). Thawed a bit of sugar cookie dough and tried it on them. Very good. Now I will see how it freezes. I’ve been so curious about no-powdered-sugar frosting so now I’ve tried it and had a great result. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Kate says
Thank you!! I’ve had good luck freezing the frosting. I’ve frozen frosted cupcakes, and it froze/thawed really well. Thanks for commenting!