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 made a test batch of this frosting this morning. It was pretty easy and I love the light texture and flavor. It will be perfect on my spice cupcakes which are a delicate flavor and don’t stand up to regular American buttercream.
Thanks for the recipe.
This is the best frosting I’ve ever tasted. I had no problem with the butter but the flour mixture got a little lumpy because it cooks really fast. The taste is awesome. Just what I was looking for – an edible frosting. I often end up removing the frosting on cakes. Flavouring is what gives the frosting its taste. I tasted the mixture before adding vanilla and it simply tasted like sugary butter which is not very pleasant. The vanilla made all the difference.
Thank you!
I absolutely love frosting! Especially homemade frosting! Throughout my years of experimentation with different recipes, I have come to the conclusion that I do not like frosting made with confectioners sugar! Call me weird, but I find it overwhelmingly sweet! Anywho… I was ecstatic when I found this recipe! One night, my DH had a sweet tooth, so I decided to be the awesome wife that I am and baked a yummy vanilla cake from scratch. This had to be the perfect frosting for this unnecessary late night snack! I have to tell you that my following comments are NO exaggeration! I followed the instruction to the t! I beat the frosting for 10 minutes. I saw nothing to call glorious, so, like you mentioned, I remained patient and continued. 20 minutes passed- nothing. 30 minutes- nothing. 45 minutes-nothing! NINETY minutes- nothing! After a few choice words and some tears of aggrevation, I was we’ll passed my patience level! I was ready to call it quits! This was the mother of all FAILS! (Oh, I did taste it, the flavor was really good!)”NO!” I yelled, hoping my 15 month old and DH wouldn’t awake (DH at this point had already eaten his piece of cake without the frosting and gone to bed). I had already put do much time and energy, I was determined to find a way to make it work! I ended up adding about a tablespoon more of sugar and a pack of instant vanilla pudding! After a few minutes, it was finally a frosting consistency! It tasted yummy!
This frosting is awesome – it really does taste like whipped cream! I could eat it by the spoonful! I was nervous because of the comments, but I went ahead and made it with no problems. The key was that I just let it keep going in the stand mixer until it firmed up.
I’ve read about stabilizing whipped frostings with unflavored gelatin. Would that ruin this perfect frosting? Like me, my customer LOVES this frosting. However, travel to the party time and cupcakes sitting time will be over 2 hours and I worry about the frosting separating or sliding. Do I dare mess with it and add unflavored gelatin?? or just pray to the cupcake gods that all goes well? I will appreciate any input! Thank you
It just tasted like butter.
Dear Sara,
Thanks a million for this recipe…it is outstanding. i had no issues with the texture. followed ur recipe and results were amazing…….I am going to make the black magic cupcakes for my daughter’s 8th b’day and top it with this icing and the chocolate version as well……………so excited…thanks again.
I’ve been googling to find a recipe that is less sweet than the classic buttercream but still cools to be quite “sturdy” and doesn’t melt away as soon as it’s in a warm room for more than an hour. It’s to make a rainbow cake and the frosting needs to set quite well to enable cutting of what ends up being a VERY tall cake. Could this work? I’d be making the cake the night before the party – the comments suggest that the frosting just sets a little harder but is fine otherwise? I’m a bit nervous anyway as we use precise weights to cook and bake where I live, a cup of butter means nothing to me but I’ll google the answers to that, no worries…
This frosting is AMAZING!! I used Costco brand salted butter and it turned out great. I did a test batch on Friday night to see if it would hold up in the fridge. I let it come to room temp but it looked brownish and separated so I decided not to even attempt to re-whip it. I made a fresh double batch and got rave reviews. I am not a frosting fan and usually prefer a whipped cream but this is the best of both worlds. Will definitely be using again along with the white cake recipe. YUM! You guys have never failed me yet!
I was a little hesitant to make this recipe after reading the first 100 or so comments but I found this SUPER easy and delicious!!! It didn’t even take 5 minutes with my hand mixer and standard beaters. I made lime/neon green frosting with 8 drops of neon liquid food coloring. AWESOME!!,
Please check the website http://www.abakedcreations.com for the my (Maila’s)dinosaur cake and cupcake tower creations using your vanilla buttercream frosting recipe. The buttercream was easy to work with especially when adding gel based colors. It was a big hit at my friend’s 3 y/o party due to the vibrant colors, but most of all because of the superb taste. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I do not have a stand mixer, only a hand mixer and no whisk attachment. Can I use the hand mixer with the regular attachment or should I use a whisk? Will either change the mixing time?
This is so good. I had a problem with my first batch because I used Blue Bonnet (margarine). It still came out, but took about 20 minutes of whipping. I switched to Challenger butter and it’s amazing!
I used 1/2 whipping cream and 1/2 whole milk to make it stay longer than a day. It was less fluffy, but still much better than normal buttercream.
Can i use Crisco Butter?
Just made this frosting tonight for the candy corn cupcakes you posted. The frosting turned out scrumptious!!! Cupcakes too. My 7 year old son is going to be so excited when he sees what I’m taking to school for their fall festival!
The dinosaur 6 inch round cake & 3 dozen cupcakes was a big hit last Saturday’s birthday party. They love the frosting & I got orders until Dec. I had fun coloring the frosting & it was easy to use when designing the cake. Thank you again for sharing this recipe. I will be trying the chocolate & cream cheese frosting this week.
I lovelovelove this recipe, with one major problem. I use this recipe very often, but half the time it comes out perfect, half the time it looks normal, tastes normal, except it develops these weird little beige-yellow-white (?) type balls in it :/ It sounds really strange, but it keeps happening and i have no idea how to fix it! At first i thought maybe i was overbeating and somehow curdling it, but i don’t think it’s that. Then i thought maybe the butter was too warm because it had been sitting out…but nothing i change or do seems to stop it from happening 🙁 Does it matter if i mix it by hand or with an electric whisk? Am i supposed to use the beating paddles instead of the whisk attachement? The balls dont tastes of anything, but they looks odd and im not sure what to tell people if they ask?! If anyone has a suggestion, i would be so, so grateful!!
any btw, don’t leave the rubber spatula in the hot pan. i did that and the spatula totally got molded! D:
Novice Baker, I would suggest you use a spatula when mixing the gel food color.
I’ve been making cupcakes for months & I finally made the perfect frosting. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I have to change a few things because it was a little sweet & buttery for my taste. I tried 3 batches of the pudding mixture using whole milk, vanilla creamer & whole milk mix with 1 tbsp of coffee granules. I also cut down the butter & sugar to 1/4 cups. I tried to experiment so I can get the mocha flavored frosting I wanted to frost the mini cake & 60 cupcakes I’m making for a bday party tomorrow.
Here’s the final recipe for a delicious mocha frosting: 3/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, combine all 3 different flavored pudding mix & 1 tsp vanilla extract. By the way, can I use Splenda to replace the granulated sugar? I have friends who are diabetic & wanted a sugar free frosting.
Just replace the butter with the unsalted one because 1/4 cup is not enough to hold a nice consistency as mentioned to my previois comment. I also end up cutting more the sugar amount to less than 1/4 cup. Amazing recipe!
Is it possible to substitute corn starch for the flour? and Splenda for the sugar? I have a great-niece that is both Diabetic/Celiac. Thanks for any help.
This is the absolute best frosting. Not too sweet and tastes like whipped cream.
First time making homemade frosting, don’t know how I did without it in the past.
Used this recipe for my daughter’s 1st birthday. AMAZING! Great texture, flavor, and even better it doesn’t take a whole box of confectioner’s sugar!!! It doesn’t require ANY confectioner’s sugar. Just delicious and soooo easy! Thank you!
A few years ago someone commented that leaving this overnight caused it to separate. What if I frost the cupcakes and put them in the fridge overnight, will they fall apart? I need to color a light, whipped frosting but sounds like this recipe tastes great only if you do the frosting and serve day of. I don’t know many people who have time to bake all day of an event and I certainly don’t so will it survive chilled on cupcakes overnight?
Simply delicious
I just made this icing to top a strawberry/white cake cupcake. That, in itself, was a learning experience!
The icing is just a bit lumpy from the flower. I whisked it by hand, should I have used an electric mixer with the whisk attachment?
I doubled the recipe and then added about 2T of powdered baker’s chocolate. Wow. Smooth and creamy (mostly) and a slight chocolate taste. Goes perfectly with white cake & fresh strawberries.
I wanted to read all of your coments, but it is far too many! Anyways, I tried the recipe and it was amazing! Very good! I was looking for a healthier type of frosting, this is not quite it yet, because of the amount of butter, but I was happy that it was not shortening (pure trans fat) and that it had way less sugar than conventional icing or frosting! I wish I read your notes beforehand, since I did not make enough to frost 18 cupcakes! But I will just have to make a new one! Left it in the fridge overnight after frosting some, I will try to use it today! Also put a frosted cupcake in the fridge and it was very good! Harder but interesting! Looks pretty fresh still! And the taste… Still great! Thanks!
I love this frosting! It tastes so much lighter than regular buttercream frosting! However, mine never seems to be firm enough to pipe onto a cupcake like in your picture….any tips?! I’ve heard people say that if it’s too warm it won’t do so well…but I’m in Ireland…trust me, it’s not too warm!!! :-). I also use proper good grade butter (have tried half butter, half shortening, but no difference)
I’ve tried refrigerating it, but strange things happen to it then!!
Any tips appreciated,! I don’t want to have to go back to regular buttercream!!
Thanks