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!
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
This is the most fab frosting I have ever made. I took this frosting (on cupcakes) to a BBQ…it was the talk of the party. Thanks for making me look like Betty Crocker! I also plugged this site on my blog. YUMMY!!!!
nice recipe oldie but gooood ,this is a old bakers trick and used in most commercial settings and i think its the filling in some big brand doughnuts also.
Ive made it before in 30lb mixes at the deli bakery i used to work a few years back but ive never made it at home till tonight after eating a cupcake that tasted like lard and sugar….yaaaak! So i googled to see if there was a smaller recipe i could adapt and found this one .
I used flora buttery (A uk half butter half other spread) and caster sugar so the granuals disolve better and quicker and all made by hand without straining either and ended up with a fluffy bowl of creme frosting (thats what we called it in bakery) ive put it in the fridge over night to see what happens because i need a lot soon for a event im managing and it needs to be made in advance and stored safely seeing as theres milk in the mix.
OMG! AAAAAAAMAZING frosting! I will never go back to my old frosting recipe again. This is just so good and light, I love it and so did the family 🙂
Thank you for sharing such a delicious recipe. I would like to add a suggestion for the white-sauce. Because I have heavy bottom pans, as soon as the sauce starts to thicken, I remove my sauce-pan from the heat while still whisking, then transferring it to a metal bowl so the it will stop cooking. I also have found that the metal bowl helps the sauce cool down quicker in the frig.
Truly the best frosting I’ve ever tasted. I make this all time for functions, get-togethers, gifts, or just when I want something with frosting on it.
For the people who can’t get it to set up into frosting consistency, you might be having the same problem I was having. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a high elevation cooker or what, but following the recipe exactly was not yielding me good results. I ended up having to cook the milk/flour mixture until it was very thick, almost too thick to push through the strainer. Even then, it’s a room-temp, lumpy cream cheese consistency. However, this yields good results for me and the frosting comes out perfect.
Hope that’s helpful.
I made this the other night and use margarine and it worked fine. It was very yummy but it was only because I didn’t have butter. Making it again today with real butter and I can’t wait. My kids wanted Twinkies and so this will be the cream and my husband wants the Devils Food kind so I’ll be making those today.
I’ve made this ahead many times. You can refrigerate or freeze it then just let it come to room temperature and beat for a few minutes to restore the texture. If you frost the cupcakes or cake the night before, just cover loosely with plastic wrap and it won’t develop that hard crust. I’ve also frozen cupcakes after they were frosted and they were just fine when we thawed them later. You can add cooled, melted chocolate for a chocolate version and substitute brown sugar for part of the white for a caramel version. I’ve even beaten in strawberry puree for the most decadent, yummiest frosting ever. That one takes a bit of powdered sugar at the end though to thicken it up. It’s really a GREAT recipe!
This frosting is amazing!!!! Instead of vanilla I made a really strong coffee flavor with a teaspoon of instant coffee and a teaspoon of water. I also made a batch with Baileys Irish cream. It’s Sooo light and really compliments my special dark chocolate cupcakes!!!! Love love love!!! I’m never going back to boxed stuff!!
Hi!
I’ve tried this frosting today! It tastes wonderful however, it melts(?) really fast. I’ve left it at room temperature and it started to melt after 5 minutes. Could this be because of the weather? I live in HOT and (note) HUMID Singapore (basically, you can expect sweat even by walking leisurely after 5 minutes). Is there anything I can do about it?
Thank You!
Yep, it’s absolutely because of the weather. Unfortunately this one just doesn’t hold up well in the hot weather!
I’ve used this for years in a recipe for ‘chocolate Gobs’. Sometimes it works like a dream and other times it’s horrible. If you’re not careful, the frosting will separate and never fully come together no matter how long you whip it! However, when it works properly it is my FAVORITE frosting!!
i love this site but this recipe had me in tears. i did everything right. all the right ingredients, the right temperatures… i didn’t make it in advance and i DID use real butter. i must have beat the mixture for 30 minutes and it was just barely working. it never became light and airy. the flavor wasn’t impressive and it completely ruined my day. to be fair i attempted it twice and nothing changed. 🙁
I love this frosting! I was just wondering if, after I have frosted my treat (aka cupcakes), could I store them in the freezer for a future date, or would that ruin the frosting on top?
I would definitely not freeze the frosted cupcakes–if you want, you could freeze the cupcakes and then frost them right before serving, though! 🙂
THANK YOU. I usually never like frosting, but this frosting is incredible. it’s like whipped cream and was so easy to make, although I did have to throw out the first batch. Yes, you can overcook it, trust me. To me it cooked very fast, and went from sooooupy to that next stage where you can see the bottom of the pan REAL fast. The end result still has people talking about it at work. I did use red food coloring to make a pink frosting which I put on strawberry cupcakes and everyone seemed to assume that it was strawberry flavored since it was pink. Funny! Thanks again, so much. This is a keeper!!!
OK – this sounds amazing, so I’ll need to try it. One question – my apologies if it’s already asked and answered. I get the “real” and name brand butter thing, but you don’t mention salted vs unsalted. I only ever cook w/unsalted (per my chef cousin) but not sure about how that applies to baking.
Thanks!
You can use either- if you use unsalted then I would definitely add a pinch of salt to the frosting. If you use salted butter (which is what I always use) you won’t need any added salt.
Best. Frosting. Ever.
My roux came out thicker than yours as others have mentioned but I wasn’t worried because I read every single comment, lol. I used lemon extract and this frosting is to die for.
I didn’t read all the comments for this post so this may be redundant but I’m going to tell you anyway. . . I make this as a chocolate frosting also by adding about 3 T. cocoa powder to the sugar/butter mixture. Yummy!!!!
Made this today, must say I was not expecting much lol. White sauce…..lol! But wow wow wow wow wow, absolutely gorgeous and piped so well. Thank you for sharing!!!
Thanks much for this Sara. This is the perfect icing I have been looking for, not the overly-sweet buttercream but holds it place perfectly on the cookies and cream cupcakes as cookies and cream-flavored icing:) And I am amazed that my nephew ate 5 cupcakes in just within 2 hours along with his lunch:) And that’s five times his usual food intake within the same period:)
It definitely tasted good, not buttery in tasteand it is really fluffy. Thanks for stressing the importance of patience in beating until sugar is dissolved. I did not have a grainy icing because I waited until the 8th minute, it’s worth all the wait and the perseverance especially since I am using a hand mixer:) The mixer I have is not at all that good as I felt iron-like heat at its machine-base from the 5th until the 8th minutes of beating this icing. But I will definitely do the same thing just to have this icing the next time I bake:)
And another very good thing about this is that I can put the frosted cakes in the fridge so that I may avoid having runny icing when I transport my cakes. Here in the Philippines, weather can be like summer even at rainy season:) And it has usually been my problem. Mine did not separate when I stored themin the fridge last night. In fact, it’s like a hardened butter and I am checking if it will return to the fluffy condition after hours of leaving it at room temp. I just can’t wait to tell you my good news, I did it:) And I am enthusiastically thankful to Sara and fellow fans who inquired further details of the icing:)
Oh my goodness, this is the best icing in the whole world. I, too, do not like icing that is overly heavy and sweet. This icing has the perfect amount of sweetness and the perfect consistency. It’s just beautiful! I made it to frost cupcakes for a baby shower. At first I thought I was going to have to buy storebought icing due to lack of time, but in the end I squeezed in the time to make this icing, risking being late for the shower. It was SO worth it! I cannot sing the praises of this icing enough – both the vanilla and the chocolate version. Absolutely delicious! I’m never searching for frosting recipes again.
OMG! This is hands downn the best icing I have ever made! Thank you so much for posting. Everyone agrees that is it so good because it is rich as well as sweet, not just overly sweet like others. Made it exactly as the recipe stated and it was perfect! Love it!
I just tried this recipe and I got a very small amount of frosting. It also tastes like pure butter. HELP
not sure what to tell ya Emily- sorry!
I made frosting for the first time today for my daughter’s 4th birthday and was looking for something light and not too sweet and followed the recipe to the tee. It worked perfectly! It was simply amazingly fluffy and downright delish. I made the first milk/flour part yesterday as I knew I would be pressed for time this morning and left it in the fridge overnight. It worked fine. One quick note about that 1st part: don’t leave it on the fire for too long. Once it thickens and you see the bottom of the pan, turn the stove off immediately! If you leave it on for too long and it gets too thick, there is no coming back! (I had to redo my first batch). Other than this, it went beautifully this morning (with a hand mixer and the whisk attachment) and the guest of honor did as she usually does: she ate the frosting and left the cupcake! (always a good sign!) Thank you Sara!
I can’t wait to make this frosting/filling!!! I also want to know if this frosting will be okay to use between 2-layer cake. Will it hold the cake layers or will the cake layers slide around when I try to cut it to serve. Please let me know asap, thanks.
My focus is great food and feeling like luxury, and though I am an author, my passion is blogging now and this is going to be a link for sure! I love this recipe. Delicious. Kudos!
Any suggestions for making this chocolate? I need to make a cupcake cake that will be decorated as a road and a chocolate base will mean a lot less detail work on the decorations.
Do you think I can use Bailey’s Irish Cream as flavoring? Thinking about making a mocha cupcake with Baileys frosting. I know a coffee flavored frosting would work (using your chocolate frosting recipe), but I’ve been in a booze-infused-desserts craze lately lol.
That would probably work Melissa, as long as you don’t get too much liquid in there.
Hi
I have used this recipe this weekend as a topping for Blackforest gateaux muffins for gifts for Fathers Day (in the UK) and I am pleased to report that it worked a treat and wowed both my Dad and my boyfriends. When I told my mum how you make the frosting with white sauce she was amazed. It worked fantastically as it looked just like whipped cream and tasted like chantilly cream, just perfect sprinked with very good quality Swiss dark chocolate shavings and topped with a pitted black cherry…I am going to experiment with goats milk, goats butter and rice flour for an allergy friendly version so that I can try one. I promise I will share my results with you all.
All my Best
Charlotte
Guernsey, Channel Islands
I tried making the vanilla; it only tasted like butter. So I’m trying to add unsweetened chocolate powder to see what I can do. We’ll see. Disappointing thus far.
Hi Charlie- check out this conversion chart, it should have all of the measurements you need!
Hi, I’m planning on making this frosting for my nieces christening this Sunday. Can you clarify how much a cup actually is? I’m from the UK and have never measured/weighed using cups before? Many thanks.