This is known as Ermine Frosting, or sometimes referred to as boiled milk frosting, because it begins with a cooked roux of flour and milk. That might sound incredibly strange for a frosting recipe, but trust me! I’d say it’s the perfect frosting. It’s not so thick and sweet that you need a gallon of milk to get it down your throat. It’s mild and smooth, and light as air. I also love it because it doesn’t take away from a good cupcake like other really rich frostings can. It’s often the traditional frosting used with Red Velvet Cake. This frosting has a similar taste and texture to a Swiss Buttercream, but with way less effort. Try this unique frosting recipe and you’ll be hooked!
Instructions
The frosting starts out with a mixture of all purpose flour and milk.
And even though I’m showing it here being whisked together, I’ve actually found you’ll get a much smoother result if you mix this part in a blender first and then pour it in your pan.
Now comes the weird part. You’re going to cook this mixture until it gets thick–it happens fast and you’ll want to have a rubber spatula and constantly smash/stir it to keep it smooth.
I usually take it off the heat when it looks like this photo above. There are still some wet spots but as you stir it all comes together like this:
Don’t taste it. It’s not frosting yet! Pop it in the fridge; it needs to cool completely (I sometimes pop it in the freezer if I want it to cool fast.) Put it in a bowl and smoosh it around and stir every few minutes to cool it off.
While it’s chilling, place some real, high-quality butter (definitely no margarine) and granulated sugar (not powdered sugar!) in a stand mixer.
Whip it up for a few minutes so it’s light and creamy. I use the whisk attachment on my kitchenaid, but any paddle should work. Then you’ll add that glob of flour. I know. Weird!
I’m warning you right now it’s going to look weird at first. Like, what the heck did I do weird. But keep going. You’ve got to whip it for a long time for all the sugar to dissolve and everything to come together. Don’t be startled if it looks curdled and weird. Eventually it will look like fluffy soft clouds of heaven.
I usually give it a little taste and if I can still feel quite a bit of granulated sugar I keep on whipping. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes, other times I let it go for almost 10 or so! It’s worth it for this silky, fluffy, magical mixture.
Pipe it or spread it or fill it or whatever. Anyway you eat it, it’s fantastic.
Helpful Tips
1. Use real butter, and a good name-brand. Cheap butter does weird things.
2. If you beat for the 6-8 minutes and the mixture still looks strange, beat longer and at a higher speed if you can. It should come together, but it takes a little patience!
3. I personally think this frosting is best eaten fresh. You can store for a few hours at room temperature, or try storing in the fridge overnight, letting it come to room temperature on its own, and then re-beating to fluff. If you want to frost cupcakes or a cake the day before, refrigerate and just let come to room temp after.
4. Add extracts to your hearts content; lemon and almond are both wonderful! Food coloring is also okay.
5. The white sugar can be exchanged for brown. Try 1/2 white 1/2 brown for a warm caramel flavor.
6. Do not try to make other substitutions or additions. Sour cream, fruit purees etc. can do disastrous things. Some people have had amazing success, just experiment at your own risk.
7. If trying to decide whether or not to double it- double it. Chances are you’ll want more. It’s a rather small batch, but on purpose.
1 batch will not look like much, but it can spread on (just with a knife, a normal amount) 24 cupcakes. If you want to pipe it thick, definitely double it.
Looking for Chocolate? This isn’t exactly the same, but very similar!
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Perfect Cupcake Frosting and Filling
Description
This light, creamy, dreamy frosting is THE perfect cupcake frosting and filling!
Ingredients
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk (whole milk is best, but I’ve used non-fat when it’s all I have and it’s actually fine)
1/2 cup real butter, slightly softened (I prefer salted, but you can use also unsalted and add salt to taste)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or other flavor if you wish)
Instructions
Whisk together the flour and the milk. Heat in a small sauce pan on medium heat.
Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. Let it cook, while stirring with a rubber spatula, until you can start to see the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook until mixture has the consistency of thick pudding or paste.
Put mixture in the fridge and let it cool completely; it’s fine if it stays in there long enough to get chilly, you just don’t want it warm at all. As it’s cooling, feel free to stir it occasionally to speed up the process and keep it from forming a crust on top. You can also do this quickly in the freezer, just keep an eye on it so it doesn’t freeze.
Using the whisk attachment on an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. While beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the flavor extracts. Beat to combine and then scrape down the sides. Mixture will separate and look messy, keep beating! Continue beating until mixture comes together and is light and fluffy, about 7-8 minutes, but time varies. Take a sample of frosting between your fingers; frosting is done when light and fluffy and sugar granules are dissolved.
Related Recipes:
Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes
Chocolate Glazed Cupcakes with Vanilla Creme Filling
Colorburst Cupcakes
Questions & Reviews
I had a bake sale recently and used this frosting recipe for the cupcakes and someone came up to me and said that this reminded him of dunkaroos which I thought was the best compliment ever for anyone who understand that those were by far the best childhood snack ever! he also bought like 5 cupcakes!
YUM!!! I just made a trial batch of this frosting and it is light and fluffy and reminds me of the whipped cream frosting that I've been trying to find a recipe for forever! I do think it will taste even better when I add lemon extract to go with the lemon cupcakes I'm going to make for my niece's baby shower (I detect a bit of the flour taste when I use vanilla for flavoring). I had the mixture really smooth to begin with so I wonder if I would still have to strain?? Easy and yummy if you follow directions and use the right ingredients and I would also imagine it is important NOT to over cook the flour/milk mixture. THANK YOU!
Hi ladies – I enjoy reading your blog!!
Even though this is a loooong time after this post, I played around with making a cupcake recipe in "normal" and "gluten-free" versions. I wanted them to taste nearly the same, yet be safe for my gluten-free coworkers to enjoy.
I shared the results – and my recipe – here:
http://shannahhayley.blogspot.com/2010/02/little-bite-of-heaven.html
adrienne- no you shouldn't be able to feel sugar granules, so maybe you didn't beat it long enough? Or is your sugar extra coarse?
and the flour mixture should be just a little thicker than a white sauce.
I have been making a slightly different variation of this for many years, but only as a cupcake filling. My recipe calls for half the amount of cooked flour and milk, and instead of 1/2 cup butter it uses 1/4 cup butter or margarine and 1/4 cup shortening. The granulated sugar is 1/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup. I have never had a bit of trouble with it and have never had to put the cooked mixture through a sieve. I'm going to try it as a frosting this afternoon.
Thanks for stopping by my site and telling me about this one. I want to try doing the frosting again in hopes that it turns out better than the first time I made it. I love the steps you gave.
This was amazing. I was very sceptical about the sugar disolving, but how wrong was I. I did put the iced cupcakes in the fridge. Ate the last one 3 days later. My frosting didn't separate. A definite keeper. Thanks so much.
Olly, as long as it's not that hot *inside* your house, they should be fine left at room temp. It will definitely separate after being chilled and then thawed again.
As for transportation, that's up to you. You can buy individual cupcake holders and cute boxes that protect the tops. I get them at my local craft store. Or you could put a cupcake in a plastic cup. That's all I can think of!
hi, i'm thinking of making this recipe for giving out to friends on valentines day, but i was wondering if (since i live in a hot climate 29 degrees Celsius) should i leave these 60 or so cupcakes in the fridge instead? and since i am deciding to make the high-tops, what is the easiest mean of transporting them to give to people? i wanted to give them in individual plastic containers along with other condiments… what do you think? thanks in advance for your advice
I love this frosting! Like one of the later commentators, I stir the milk/flour mixture until it's really thick, and then it whips up a lot faster, and I even like the texture better. My sister pointed me out to this site, and I've used it on other things besides cupcakes, and it was delicious!
I tried this after re-reading the recipe several times and reading ALL the comments. 🙂 Sadly, it never came together (I even beat it for about 20 min altogether, in my stand mixer)… I used my fave butter, but it's cultured (European-style, organic), and I suspect that's what kept it from homogenizing correctly. If anyone has had success with cultured butter, I'd love to hear it. Looks awesome!
Ashley, I let my butter sit at room temp for a few minutes, but not long enough to come completely to room temp. Does that make sense? So it's still on the chilly side. This frosting is tricky because it's SO good, but it can be temperamental for some people and I'm not sure what the issue is! Definitely try it again though, sometimes it's just some fluke thing.
I always feel very comfortable in the kitchen, but with this frosting I felt a little uneasey because the texture was not matching your steps Sara. This may be a strange question, but the butter should it be cold, room temp? I know not to melt it or anything, but I thought maybe my butter temp could be the ruining factor, still tasted delicious…but a little ugly to eyes…so I closed them and ate it anyway! Just curious about the butter temp?
Love your site, thanks!
Thank you so much. This frosting plus the rainbow cupcakes was the hit of my daughter's birthday get together. I was a little worried that the frosting wasn't sweet enough, but it was perfect with the cupcake. Thanks again!
I am so excited to try this. I dont like the sweet frostings either.
Rebecca,
Yup. The sugar dissolves completely into a silky smooth fluffy white heaven 🙂
This frosting looks really good. I've been looking for an easy frosting that doesn't taste like that butter and powdered sugar kind. My question is if the granulated sugar completely dissolves. The last time I made frosting from scratch, the recipe called for having the sugar cooked over a double boiler with egg whites to create a meringue before beating in the butter.
kez- thanks for those notes, I'm sure they will be helpful to people. I've added lemon zest before too and I agree- it tasted AMAZING!
this frosting is absolutely sensational. i trialled a lemon variation yesterday for a tea party next week, and it was a big hit. Couple of things:
– i heated the flour and the milk, whisking almost constantly, until it was VERY, VERY thick, and skipped the strainer step.
– i used a regular hand-held flat paddle beater on the highest setting.
– right at the end, i very, very gently folded in the zest of one lemon and applied to lemon cupcakes with a blunt knife.
– Decorated with candied lemon peel. Perfection.
the funny thing is, when you add the ultra thick flour milk glop to the beaten butter/sugar, it whips to that gorgeous silken state in about 2 mins on high. i'm not sure if the same result would be achieved with a whisk attachment though.
Also, when I refrigerated the iced cupcakes overnight, the frosting hardened to the consistency of a light, perfect buttercream. Absolutely no separation or problems at all.
Just wondering if this could be a solution to the storage problem that people have been experiencing with this frosting?
This frosting was just what I was looking for. It completely rivals my favorite cupcake store! It was light and fluffy and sat up beautifully on the cupcakes when I swirled them on with my pastry bag. I have searched the world over for this recipe …thank you so much for sharing. I'm so happy!! I've already shared it too. I learned one thing already…I need to take the milk and flour off the heat the minute it starts to set up. I kept on whipping it with the whisk and I had no lumps…I didn't strain it and it still worked perfectly.
Love this recipe. I have tripeled it a few times now. Turned out great each time. Have you found a way to make a chocolate version? I'd love to give that a whirl!
thank you so much for this recipe! I was one of those frosting haters until you showed me the way LOL! It is wonderful!
Sorry Liz, that's because I emailed the answer and sometimes I forget to write it here too! The answer is YES- food coloring works great! I use gel or paste color so I don't add in too much moisture. And just whip it in quickly at the end when the frosting is all ready.
Hi,
I wanted to know if I can use food coloring? I want to make some cupcakes for my daughter's high school volleyball team and want to use school colors. I read all the posts til I got to the bottom and then, the question did come up however with no answer!! Please let me know asap!
Thanks,
Liz
apduggan- I've only doubled it- but that works great!
Wow, this recipe sounds delicious! I need to make about 60 cup cakes for my daughter's birthday party. Will this recipe work if I multiple the ingrediets to make more than one batch at a time?
I just made this. WOW. I am eating it off a spoon as I type this. Best frosting EVER! thank you so much! I added half vanilla and half butter extract.
can you add food coloring to this? My son wants a cake with hot lava on it and i love this frosting and the texture would work for the lava if I could just color it orange though
I LOVE this frosting. I am throwing a baby shower this weekend and the mom has been craving white cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Do you have a chocolate version of this? I just love the texture of this recipe and would rather use it than a buttercream. Thanks!
Amazingly good frosting!!! I made it with margarine (I know… but I didn't have any butter and my car isn't starting.. so yeah… ) and it worked and tasted very very good! Thank you very much for the recipe! ^_^