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
OK, I made this frosting last night and it turned out AWESOME!! Thank you so much for this easy but yummy recipe…. One question though. It says to store overnight in airtight container but not in the fridge, how long is the frosting good for then? I have a lot of extra and I’m not sure I’ll be able to use it right away so I was hoping to be able to make something else later using it but don’t want to serve spoiled frosting 🙂
I use this recipe for cupcakes and for icing on cinnamon rolls. I also make the frosting a day in advance sometimes. Actually I’ve made it two days in advance and as long as I leave it sealed up on the counter it’s perfection even after two days!!
I made this for Christmas when I tried the peppermint brownies in a jar and it was soooo good! I added half peppermint extract and half vanilla and it was like heaven. Seriously melt in your mouth good!
Hi, I am making 100 cupcakes for a sweet 16 party. How far in advance can I make the frosting? They wanted a light and fluffy whipped frosting. I have always used buttercream. I am not sure how this will work with the delivery and set up if it is a warm day? Any suggestion?
This one doesn’t work really well when made ahead of time. I would try our Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which might work better. It has a high butter content, so it will definitely melt away if it gets really warm (like I’m talking outside in the heat of summer) so keep that in mind.
Thank you..I am still going to try this recipe for myself. It looks yummy:) Also, can you add food coloring to the Swiss Meringue Buttercream?
Yep, you can definitely color it!
I recently tried a sugar free version of this frosting for my Mom who is a diabetic and she LOVED it! I simply substituted the sugar out for splenda and whipped it at the highest speed for about 10 minutes and it actually turned out great! I added mint extract and green food coloring to top sugar free chocolate cupcakes, they were pretty good for no sugar!
Did you use the same amount of Splenda as the recipe calls for sugar?
I want to make a cookies and cream frosting. Do you think this receipe will work out adding cookies??
Yes Holly, it’s fantastic! Just fold in the crushed cookies at the very end.
I just made this and modified it a bit. I wanted to share, because it might help. Actually, I messed up. ; ) But, it turned out to be helpful. When I was making the flour/milk mixture, I turned around to do something for my hubby and totally overcooked it. It looked like biscuit dough (it was so thick). To fix it, I added a tiny splash more milk and beat it to make it smooth. I don’t have a strainer, so I skipped that part. I finished up the rest as normal. After beating it for very little (using a hand mixer as I don’t own a stand mixer) it looked great! I continued for the full 8-9 minutes to be sure, but it was pretty silky right at first. I think that beating the flour/milk mixture before adding it helped. I think it might only save you 3-4 minutes in the long run, though.
Anyway, it was super easy (though it sounded intimidating) and the result is a fabulously light/silky frosting with a wonderful vanilla flavor. Thanks for the recipe (once again).
Everytime I do this, which by the way I love it, but it’s not drainy enough to drain. Am I doing something wrong? Love your stuff!
No Kat, you’re probably not doing anything wrong. It’s just a matter of how quickly your flour mixture cooks and sometimes it just gets too thick. But that being said, you’re not really “draining” it- you’re really pushing a thick mixture through a sieve, does that make sense? If you just poured it in there, it’s wouldn’t strain through on its own, so that might help.
This is amazing! Follow directions exactly. I used lemon Xtract on white cupcakes. So Good!
ok i just found out. not a good idea. don’t answer. lol but i think coconut milk will do well for a rich coconut flavor. the sauce will be thicker too which is always a good thing for this recipe right? let us know how it turns out olivia! i’d love coconut frosting on white or devil’s food cake.
i would definitely give this a try for my next project. could i use buttermilk instead of whole milk for this recipe?
I tried this recipe for the first time today! Wow, I have made a lot of frosting, but nothing like this. Mine worked great. I’m trying to freeze some and put some in the frig, just to see what happens. Freezing is ok, not as light and airy as fresh, but buttery. The frosting in the frig is ok also. I think fresh is the best, if you have the time.
Hi! Do you know if I could use coconut milk instead of the whole milk?
I don’t know, sorry Olivia!
I made this and initially liked it when I was licking the bowl, but for some reason, when I had it several hours later on the actual cake, I did not like it. I could still taste the flour, so I don’t know if maybe I didn’t cook the flour & milk quite enough? or if I just didn’t whip it up enough? Anyone else have the same issue?
helloooooo,
Did Dorothy ever get back to you about making it ahead of time? I am wondering because I actually would like to make this red and I need to make it a couple days ahead because it darkens as time goes on, as you know:/ Advice???
Angela, I haven’t heard anything, and I have yet to make it ahead of time. I’m sorry!
If anyone is having problems with this and is using anything other than whole milk, try it with whole milk or half-n-half! I used half-n-half today and it was awesome! A little extra lumpy but worth the time to push it through the wire mesh!! I think it may even be thick enough to pipe! Woo hoo!!
thank you so much, im making cakes for my spanish class 🙂
i was just wondering if anyone had tried using lemon and what that had tasted like????
Lemon is my favorite Jennifer! Lemon zest tastes fantastic, but the oils in the peel make the frosting do funny things. So I use lemon extract and it’s fantastic.
I just made lemon cupcakes with raspberry filling. I used lemon extract in the cake and the icing. My guests said they were the best cupcakes they’ve EVER eaten!
WOW! This tastes UH-MAZING!…Thats all I can say…I’m speechless over frosting.
Thank you thank you thank you best ever frosting i dont like buttercream so had been looking for a recipe and stumble on this by accident and im so glad i did i added lemon extract to the recipe delish double or triple the recipe though cos all the family will want a taste 🙂
Totally didn’t work for me =( i tried twice and at the it was still separating!! I did use 1% milk… Usually i’m good at following recipes but this one just didn’t wanna happen for me! Any suggestions?
3T. Is that 3 Teaspoons or 3 tablespoons?!?
Just thought you’d like to know: I made this frosting for a wedding reception the night before and inadvertently put them back into the freezer. They came out fine. The trick I think is not to melt the butter. Just let it get soft on the counter before you make it. It took less than a minute to mix and it was ready to go. It didn’t need 7 or 8 min. Also after pushing the flour and milk through a sieve I thought there has got to ba a better way.
So I made it the way I make gravy. Mix the flour and milk smoothly befor you cook it and if it is smoothe before you cook it, you won’t have to push it though a sieve.
would i be able to add chopped up strawberries??
How well does this frosting work on a cake versus cupcakes? Does it spread well/look nice? I am debating using it for my daughter’s first birthday cake.
Thank you!
works great on cakes!
Flabbergasted, simply flabbergasted at the light, delicious results! Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
I’m sorry if this comment was already made, but I found the frosting was perfection after about 3 hours after I made it. I had a taste test with family between this recipe and another and everyone loved the flavor and fluffiness of this recipe, but the only drawback was the grittiness of the granulated sugar. About another hour we came back for more and the sugar had dissolved into the frosting and was completely smooth!
I made this for the first time today, doubled the recipe, and thought that I had messed it up by overcooking my flour and milk (it was thick and pasty!). I persevered and mixed it all up in my bosch and within a few minutes, MAGIC! My frosting hating toddler has eaten three cupcakes already and I can’t wait to take some over to the neighbors. Thanks!
FINALLY my prayers have been answered. I’ve been searching for something like this for what seems like years (reality….. 8 months) I’m not a fan of store bought baked goods/frostings and I’m not a fan of overly sweet confectionary sugar based frostings. I had my doubts about flower but you have converted me for good. I made both the chocolate and white frostings for church this weekend and they were both equally silky and tasty. Thanks for your awesome blog!
Your newest fan!
I am going to try this frosting today, it looks so delicious! My question is: is this 1 point on the new weight watchers points plus system? Thanks.