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This whipped frosting is a lighter, less sweet alternative to buttercream. It turns out so light, fluffy, and creamy. Perfect for topping cakes and cupcakes.
Look, I know it’s not cool to talk about eating grocery store bakery cakes on a food blog, but the truth is that sometimes I eat grocery store bakery cakes.
Sometimes I buy the little mini cupcakes with the big swirl of buttercream frosting and I force my husband to eat them, not because he likes them, but because he always scrapes the frosting off and gives it to me.
I don’t feel bad about eating double the frosting when I’m keeping it from going to waste. 😉
What Readers are Saying!
“Made this for my daughter’s birthday cake. Added food coloring while it was in the pot because she wanted a colored frosting. It lightened up once the butter was added; which I suspected. It worked out fantastic! Everyone loved the frosting! This will be my go to frosting! Thank you for the recipe.”
– PF
I am very much a buttercream frosting fan, but I have a few people that I bake for who just don’t like it.
They think it’s too sweet and too rich, so we’ve been using this whipped icing more often.
It’s lighter, less sweet, and oh so creamy and fluffy!
Our family calls this “the whipped frosting.” As in, “does that cake have the whipped frosting on it?”
However, I believe it’s proper name is ermine frosting.
What is Ermine Frosting:
Ermine frosting is a cooked frosting that starts with a roux of milk and flour. It’s much lighter than a traditional buttercream that relies on butter and powdered sugar for structure.
It’s light, airy, fluffy, and lightly sweetened. I’d compare it to eating a cloud, but what it really tastes like is the best whipped cream you’ll ever try.
Ermine frosting was the original frosting for red velvet cake, so give this a try on your next red velvet cake too!
How to Make:
Ingredients: Unlike most American buttercreams that rely mostly on butter and powdered sugar, we’re going to cook this frosting with a bit of milk and flour to thicken it. This will help it to be much lighter and less sweet. You’ll need milk, flour, butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract.
Mix: To start making this whipped frosting add flour and milk to a pot over medium heat and whisk together as it heats and thickens. The mixture will begin to thicken up like a pudding or gravy.
Cool: This is a very important step! Once you’ve mixed the ingredients in the first step you’ll want to allow the mixture to cool completely. Pour the mixture into a bowl to cool down.
Moving on to the next step before the mixture has cooled down will cause issues in your frosting coming together.
Beat: While the flour mixture is cooling, beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla.
- Make sure to beat the sugar into the butter well to avoid a gritty frosting.
- Use clear vanilla if you prefer a white frosting.
Combine: Add the cooled flour mixture to the creamed butter and mix well until the frosting is light, fluffy, and well combined.
- Add in food coloring, if desired.
- Allow the whipped frosting to cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes if you like a stiffer frosting.
- Add a pinch of salt if using unsalted butter.
Frost: Pile the cooled frosting onto your cake and start spreading. For a thicker, stiffer frosting, refrigerate before using.
- This recipe will generously frost a 2 layer cake or 2 dozen cupcakes.
Storage:
This whipped frosting recipe does need to be refrigerated. It won’t do well left out above 70 degrees for long, so be sure to store your cake in an air-tight container in the fridge.
More Cake Recipes:
Whipped Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups butter softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add the milk and flour to a medium sauce pan over medium heat and whisk well. Keep whisking over medium to high heat, until the mixture begins to thicken to the consistency of a gravy or pudding. Remove the saucepan from heat and allow the mixture to cool.
- While the flour and milk mixture is cooking, beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Beat well, at least 5 minutes. Make sure sugar and butter is well combined or your frosting will be a bit grainy. Beat in the vanilla until combined.
- Add the cooled flour mixture to the bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.
- Use frosting immediately or, if you prefer a stiffer frosting, refrigerate for 30 minutes before use.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This recipe was originally published in September 2011. The recipe has been changed based on reader feedback and is simpler to make and less finicky. Original photo below:
Marquetta says
This is a definite keeper ! It was a little richer than I was expecting, but with 3 sticks of butter, I should have known. After reading all of the comments I really thought hard about what seemed to be the underlying issues several we’re talking about so that I didn’t waste time and ingredients. It has to be a temperature thing. After I made the “gravy”, I put it in the fridge and went to the movies. I came home and took it and the butter out and gave it about thirty minutes to come to room temp. Everyone’s “room temp” varies so I just used the touch test on my butter. As soon as I could make a decent indention in the butter and it still felt cool, I started whipping. After incorporating the butter, I set my timer for 5 minutes. I realized straight away one of the complaints I read about that it wasn’t sticking to the cake. Mixing for 5 minutes causes some serious friction (heat). Even though it may feel cool enough, it’s not. I put it in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes…perfect !! It stuck, it spread, it lifted, it was wonderful. It also came out beautifully white, but then I used the clear vanilla. The other thing I did not do was run the mixture through a mesh sieve. If you mix your dry ingredients well, really well, it should be fine. I use a gravy whisk that I got from pampered chef years ago that does a wonderful job at breaking down clumps if there are any. I think that if you don’t have all of the thickening ingredients in your pot that may have stayed in the sieve (flour & cornstarch) your setting yourself up for failure. This recipe, like many you’ve probably come across in your life, is one that is worth the time and effort !! Just know it’s not something you can just whip up and run out the door with.
Karly says
Hi @Marquetta,
So glad the recipe worked out for you! Thanks for sharing your tips, too!
Amanda says
I found this recipe today. I was hesitant to try because of the work involved (was looking for something super easy) anyways I must say, this is the awesome. I boiled ingredients until it was thick, put it in a bowl into the fridge and let it sit for about 30 minutes. While it was in the fridge I cut my butter and had it sitting out all ready to go. I removed the mix from the fridge, stirred a little, put in my mixer with the paddle attachment and I started adding 1 chunk of butter at a time until it was gone. Mixed on high for 5 minutes ( it lightened in color not totally white) and then chilled again for a little over 20 minutes and then frosted a banana 2 layer cake with some frosting left over. Don’t knock the recipe because it didn’t turn out for you, just try it again. Oh yeah, I’m totally not a baking kind of girl! If I can do it, anyone should be able to!
Karly says
@Amanda,
So glad you were able to make it work! 🙂
Maria says
Will this work with gluten-free flour?
Jen says
Thanks for a great recipe. I made this today & it’s perfect.
Kitara says
Does it have to be butter, or will margarine work? Mine didn’t turn out and I wonder if that’s why :/
Karly says
@Kitara,
I would definitely use butter vs. margarine in this recipe.
Chynna says
Tired this recipe tonight for my son’s smash cake/cupcakes. I followed it to the letter (including the temperature, thermometer said 70). It looked like whipped cream in the bowl, but that’s about where everything fell apart. when I put it on his smash cake, it wouldn’t even stick to the sides, slid right off in a big mess. I tried to thicken it up a bit with some confectioner’s sugar, and even that didn’t work. It failed on the smash cake, but luckily I was going to put fondant over it anyway. I will however have to find a different recipe for making big icing swirls on cupcakes 🙁
Karly says
@Chynna,
I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you!
Jennifer says
I might try making this..sounds really good but “really” can’t see how this is going to turn out totally white with the vanilla and butter colorings?? I saw a couple comments saying that it tasted like flour but if you cook it long enough, it won’t. Hope it turns out good….been looking for a GOOD icing recipe that has that bakery taste!
sue says
this looks sooooooooo much like the whoopie pie filling recipe my mom used to make..delish
zoe says
Is the butter supposed to be salted or unsalted? I want to be sure before I make my first attempt. Thanks!
Lucy says
Just made this frosting (it’s in the fridge for the last 20 minute chill) and seems to be good so far (looks good and tastes good) has a nice light buttery taste, should be great on the chocolate cake I made
Jeanne, it’s not going to be white after the boil, its the whipping the air into it that turns it white, like making meringue. It did kinda look like gravy but after adding the butter and whipping it’s snow white
Jeanne says
I’m going to make the assumption that if it ain’t white after it boils, it ain’t right. Save yourself three sticks of butter and start over, or just use the canned stuff like I did. I tried twice. After it boiled, not only did it thicken like gravy, it looked like gravy, but it tasted nothing like gravy or frosting. The frosting in the picture looks like Cool Whip. It’s a mystery to me as to how it got that way.
Melody says
To those who said the frosting breaks easily: I made the frosting just about 24 hours ago, transported by car to the event facility, transported the leftovers back home and stored in container on my countertop and took to work this morning, and the cupcakes still look just fine right now. They were piped with a large star tip and are keeping their shape perfectly. I never let them get too warm though, only room temperature or outside temp of 65ish degrees. That might be the issue for some.
Melody says
Seems my husbands extended side of the family prefers store/bakery cakes to homemade. So since they don’t much appreciate real buttercream I needed a new recipe. This recipe was wonderful. Having the first taste test, I think it tasted a bit like tapioca, except perfectly smooth and velvety. At the baby shower that I made it for, one person excitedly exclaimed it tasted like whipped cream. Either way, it is delicious. I even colored a portion hot pink and piped it for a border and it worked out very well. Definetly recommend this recipe! It whipped up easily, no issues.
alina says
is the mixture thats supposed to boil in the pot really stiff or just kind of? cause it stuck to the sides and turned brown so i just took it out.
Kasey says
This looks awesome! I am one of those weirdos…but in my defense, my Dad is a baker and he used to make cakes when i was little out of our home. I used to eat buttercream frosting for breakfast lunch and dinner! He would make 5 gallon buckets of it and when he didn’t need anymore he would give it to my brother and sister and I and we would go crazy! Needless to say….I got sick of it. Now, don’t get my wrong, I still like some well made buttercream on a sugar cookie…..but not on cake and not by itself. So….I am REALLY excited to try this frosting! I am going to try to make it myself and say “see Dad? I can make frosting too!” 😛 I will make sure to follow the directions too….since I am not usually good at that when baking…..