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
Elizabeth Clark says
can i make and use the next day? and if so usually when I do refrigerate it and bring to room temp it becomes separated a little. So I just don’t want to make the same mistake again haha
Kate says
Hi! It sets up quite a bit after it has been chilled. I don’t make it ahead of time, so I can’t say for certain. However, I would guess that it may be easier to make the milk/flour mixture and chill it and then go from there to save time.
Ellen says
I have followed the recipe but my frosting turns out very runny.. I have beaten it for over 10 mins with my stand mixer.. I have put it in the fridge now, hoping it will harden up.. I am wondering should I continue to beat (hoping it will whip up) after cooling it down? Thanks so much in advance for the insights..
Kate says
Hi! When you beat the frosting for that long, the butter can warm up, and the frosting can end up looser. The frosting always sets up quite a bit for me once it has been in the fridge. Any idea where things went wrong, or would you like help troubleshooting for next time?
Laura Schnoor says
Can you refrigerate left over frosting?
Kate says
Yes, you should refrigerate leftover frosting.
Kris says
this recipe is delicious! my family kept stealing it from the mixing bowl
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad it was a hit!
Barb says
Wowzers!!! Perfect! I only had 1 cup of granulated so I made up the difference with dark brown sugar. Soooooo delicious. I will never make any other version of buttercream again. Thank you!
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Lesley M says
Amazing! I will NEVER make traditional buttercream again.
Light, fluffy, easy to pipe, held in the heat and tasted great!
My husband insisted I keep this recipe because it was the right amount of sweet – he could actually have a second piece of cake with this frosting.
Kate says
Yay!! Thank you so much!
Nabeela Nazirah says
DE-LI-CIOUS!! Lovely recipe and tastes heavenly, a little skeptical at first but came out perfect. Anyone wondering if this’ll work, try it out! Definitely coming back soon :)
Kate says
Thank you so much!!
Stefanie says
Made this with browned butter. Oh. My. Stars. It was DELICIOUS! I’ve never wanted to take a spoon directly to the mixing bowl more than I did after making this….in fact I might have done just that while my hubby was looking the other way. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Kate says
Thank you so much!! I’ll have to try it with the browned butter. That sounds delicious!
Tammy Lint says
Just wanted to say I love this recipe. I’ve been trying to find a frosting that isn’t overly sweet. No one in my family likes really sweet frosting. So this was a huge hit with the whole family.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you like it!
Vin says
Definitely going to try this recipe on the weekend, I will need to add gel as I am baking a barbie cake, keeping fingers crossed I do this correctly so that I can send a picture of the finished product!! Thank you for sharing this will keep you posted.
Kate says
Best of luck!! I hope it works well for you!
Nitya says
I tried Making powdered sugar by blending granulated sugar in another recipe… Didn’t turn out too well.. however this recipe saved my desert. Loved it❤️
Kate says
I’m so glad that it worked out well for you!
Haley says
Can this be used for piping? With florals and leaves? Or is it not stiff enough?
Kate says
Hi! I’ve used it to pipe rosettes, but I haven’t used it to pipe anything that’s more intricate than that.
Dipa says
hi! any suggestions on how to remove gritty texture. i use moreno cane sugar
Kate says
Hi! If you’re using a cane sugar with a larger grain, I would recommend briefly zipping the sugar in a food processor. That type of sugar doesn’t incorporate as well into the frosting otherwise.
Maria says
I’m so glad I found this recipe. It’s so light and has just the right amount of sugar. Thank you!
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Nicole DeLancey says
Because this has a higher milk to butter ratio, will it firm up on the fridge like other buttercreams do? I’m making a cake for a kids birthday party and I’m worried that it will melt on me much quicker.
Kate says
The frosting does firm up quite a bit in the fridge. I’ve also frozen cupcakes that were frosted with this frosting, and they froze/thawed really well. Hope that helps!
Wendell says
Tried this recipe for the first time and used almond milk instead. Worked wonders still!
Kate says
Thank you! I’ve had good luck with almond milk, too.
Honey Mae says
Hi. I am from the Philippines and I was wondering if this frosting can withstand the high humidity in here. I really want to try making this recipe and I would appreciate your insight. Thank you.
Kate says
Hi! I live in an area with high humidity, and the frosting holds up just fine indoors. If you have any other questions about it, please feel free to ask!
Ella Johnson says
I didn’t expect this recipe to work, but it worked really well. It’s not to sweet, it’s just right. It’s also smooth, it’s not grainy. Overall, I would definitely recommend this recipe :)
Kate says
Thanks! I’m glad you liked it!
Debbie says
Can you use heavy cream instead of milk? I like to use cream if possible.
Kate says
I haven’t tried using heavy cream, but I have heard from people who have used all cream and part cream, part milk. They’ve said that both ways work well.
Nia says
Can i cut the sugar? Will it affect the texture?
Kate says
I haven’t tried to make the frosting with less sugar. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Sarah says
Just realised how long ago this was published! Followed this recipe and oh my gosh it tastes gorgeous! So creamy.
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Violet says
I never thought salted butter would be soo nice as a cream ingredient! I couldn’t hold myself from making more. Thanks for the recipe. This is the best cream I’ve ever made.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it!
Fernando says
Hi Kate, this buttercream is amazing! I’ve tried a different method and it work wonders. I’ve mixed the milk, flour and sugar and cooked it. After cold, I’ve added it the the whipped butter, and whipped for the time advised. This way will be 100% free grit for sure. Thanks for this recipe, it’s so fluffy and tasty. That’s my way forward!
Kate says
Hi! Thanks for sharing that! I’ll have to give that method a try!
Savannah says
I have never liked buttercream in any any form. I’m not a big cupcake fan but I tried this icing today and my eyes rolled back in my head. SO SO GOOD! It’s so light and fluffy but perfectly sweet. 10/10 will never use another buttercream recipe again.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked it!
Elle says
I need this as a vegan recipe, will it work with vegan butter or shortening?
Kate says
I’ve used nondairy milk (almond) in this recipe, and it has worked well. I haven’t used vegan butter or shortening. I’ve heard from people who have used Earthbalance, and they’ve said that it worked well. I’ve also had people who have had mixed results with different brands of margarine. I haven’t heard from anyone who have subbed all of the butter with shortening, so I’m not sure how that would work.
Amanda says
Randomly decided to make “pupcakes” (cupcakes) with the toddler today before realizing I had no powdered sugar. Found this recipe in a pinch and it may end up being my go to! So delicious! And my toddler really enjoyed the long mix times.
Kate says
I’m glad you liked it! =)
Florence says
Very amazing frosting worked very well with gel colouring also. I am very happy with the result. This will be my go to frosting. Thank you for sharing.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that it worked well for you!