Whipped Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting is super light & fluffy buttercream frosting. Perfect for pairing with apple, pumpkin, white, or chocolate cake!
Growing up, I was the kid who scraped all of the frosting off of my cake before I ate it. 
I love cake, but frosting, not so much. I have trouble with foods that are too sweet, and so many frostings are just sweet and heavy. Or, even worse, sweet, heavy, and greasy. Yuck!
This Whipped Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting is sweet, but it's a more balanced sweet. The kind that makes you want to take another bite, not the kind that makes your teeth hurt. It's also incredibly light and airy - like buttercream meets whipped cream.
This frosting pairs really well with fall flavors like apple and pumpkin, but it's also good with basic cake flavors like chocolate and white cake.
Whipped Cinnamon 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 temperature
- 1 ½ cups . granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It will be the consistency of a thick pancake batter. It should not look wet at this point.
- Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
- Stir in vanilla.
- While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter, sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy on medium high, about 5 minutes.
- Then add the completely cooled milk mixture along with the cinnamon.
- Beat it for about 5 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.
Notes
Nutrition
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Linda Scott
Can you substitute heavy whipping cream for some of the milk?
Kate
I haven't tried it, but I've heard from quite a few people who have subbed heavy whipping cream with my vanilla version. They've said that it worked out well.
Carolyn
So easy! I put the cake in the fridge after frosting and discovered it does require sitting out for a bit to relax the frosting just a little before serving. It was the star of the night!
Kate
Thank you!
Hannah
Loved the recipe! I halved the mixture and then added milk in at the end because my frosting was grainy, but it came out perfectly! Family was impressed all round!
Is there a recipe like this for chocolate hazelnut frosting at all? Would you suggest just adding something like nutella to the above maybe? Thanks so much!
Kate
Hi! I'm so glad that you liked it! I have a recipe for a chocolate version, but I haven't tried adding nutella to the frosting. I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try it!
Mary Olsen
Can frosting be made a day ahead? Will it need to be rewhipped or will it hold its shape?
Kate
Yes, it can be made a day ahead. It shouldn't need to be rewhipped unless it wasn't completely combined before chilling. Otherwise, just let it come up a bit in temp before using as it does set up quite a bit in the frige.
Obiamaka Anionwu
I just tried this and it's perfect. Wondering if it will stay stable at room temperature or do I need to refrigerate it
Kate
Hi! I'm so glad that you liked it! Since it has such a high dairy content, I refrigerate the frosting. Hope that helps!
DS
This was amazing!!
Was wondering if we can use butterscotch sauce to make a whipped butterscotch buttercream frosting or replace peanut butter in your peanut butter buttercream frosting? What do you suggest?
Kate
Thank you! I have a caramel buttercream frosting that would probably be the easiest frosting recipe to turn into a butterscotch frosting. I think you could just use butterscotch in place of the caramel sauce in that recipe. Hope that helps!
Ivana
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I made it yesterday for a vanilla sponge with cooked cinnamon/clove apples between layers, and the frosting went really well with it! I am so glad I've found an alternative to traditional buttercream that isn't too sweet :) Definitely a recipe a will be using again! I'm also keen to try it with banana cake :D
Kate
Thank you! I'm so glad that you liked it, and it sounds like a delicious cake. =) I've used this frosting with apple, banana, and pumpkin cakes, and I thought it went well. I hope you enjoy it, too! And thank you for coming back to comment!
Debra Miller
I haven’t tried it yet but I was wondering if I could make it smaller. Like 1/2 everything?
Kate
I've made half batches of the frosting, and they came out just fine. =) Hope that helps!
Melissa
Hi Kate! I’m making a white cake and am torn between using this cinnamon buttercream or your brown sugar buttercream for the frosting. In your opinion, which is the better pairing? Would I be able to combine the two by making the brown sugar buttercream and adding in the cinnamon with the milk mixture? Have you tried this flavor combo before? Sorry for all the questions! :)
Kate
Hi! No need to apologize! Brown sugar and cinnamon go really well together. =) You can combine them! The easiest way to do that is going to be to do what you suggested. I'm not sure if it matters whether you add the cinnamon with the sugar or with the milk. I think either would be ok. As far as which one goes best, I like your idea about using cinnamon brown sugar! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
Melissa
I made the frosting using the brown sugar buttercream measurements and added the 2 tsp of cinnamon with the milk mixture, and OH MY DELICIOUS GOODNESS. Thank you for such a fabulous, fabulous recipe! Perfect level of sweetness with a beautifully smooth texture. Looking forward to making this again and again.
Jody
Simply Amazing! So happy to have found this recipe, I made a pumpkin cake today for a church dinner and wanted to try a different light icing. I made the whipped cinnamon buttercream icing and everybody raved about it, It was phenomenal, this wll now be my go to icing! thanks for sharing!
Kate
I'm so glad! Pumpkin cake is a great match for this frosting. Thanks for commenting! =)
Tiffany Parkhouse
How many cakes/cupcakes does this recipe make? Can’t wait to try it!
Kate
Thank you! =) The recipe yields enough frosting for 24 cupcakes or a 2 layer 9-inch round cake.
Hannah O'Brien
How much heat should I use and f I’m doing it correctly approximately how long should it take?
Kate
It's going to depend some on your stove. I find that medium or medium-low works well. It should take about 15 minutes to thicken up. Hope that helps!
Paddi
This is by far the best frosting I've ever made. The grandkids love it. Went perfect on my pumpkin creme' cake. Thank you.
Kate
Thank you so much! I love comments like this! Thank you so much for coming back to comment! =)
Sarah
Fantastic! This was one of the best icings I ever had.
Sue Kelly
Do you need to refrigerate a cake/cupcakes with this frosting?
Kate
I refrigerate every cake that has a buttercream frosting, so I would say yes.
Gwen Schrammel
Traditionally T. is the abbreviation for tablespoon, and t. is the abbreviation for teaspoon.
Also, tbsp. is for tablespoon and tsp. is for teaspoon.
Sammie
I've seen these flour based frosting so but not one that looked this good. I'm going to try this, as I'm like you and find a lot of frostings way too sweet. Brilliant recipe can't wait to give it a go.
Kate
Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy it! =)
Claire
What is T means tsp or tbsp in 7T all purpose flour?
Kate
I use T. for tablespoon and tsp. for teaspoon in my recipes.
grace
we would've been great friends because i would've eaten your icing and given you my cake! :)