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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.
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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:
jada says
im going to make this for the first time and i was wondering if you could give me some tips so its successful because id ont have time to do a test run. SOMEONE PLEASE RESPOND ASAP
nikki says
About to try this out. Can I add cocoa powder to make it chocolate flavor?
Karly says
I’ve never tried adding cocoa powder to this one.
Brent says
The recipe came out very good for the initial frosting, wonderful consistency. I was trying to replicate Harris Teeter’s whipped frosting and this one came up while searching. The consistency and flavor is very close, but doesn’t quite match theirs, especially as my ending product was still too buttery that our stomachs got a bit queasy eating too much and it hardened into pure sugary butter in the fridge overnight. The Harris Teeter frosting does neither. If that’s the way this recipe is supposed to be, then great, but if not, I am not sure where I messed up. I let the cooked mixture cool, and the butter was left out all day that so that it was soft and fluffy when added to the mixture and blended well, and at the point (after mixing five more minutes) the frosting was fluffy and flavorful, but as I said felt too buttery in the stomach (like we had eaten straight butter). If I messed something up I’d love to know as I have to be able to replicate a butter cream frosting at home that doesn’t have that problem.
Barbara says
I am trying this for the first time today. And let it sit in the fridge overnight before I frost the cake . I’ll make the cake in the morning. My question I need to divide the frosting into 4 colors. Is it better to do it tonight or separate in the morning and then color ? Thk you. I’ll let you know how I do with it…
Karly says
Hi Barbara! I’m afraid I didn’t see your question last night. Let us know what you did and how it turned out. 🙂
Grace Elliott says
This recipe is great!! I love that it only uses a small amount of sugar which is something I normally have on hand rather than 4 cups of powdered sugar or something. I’m guessing the reason so many people are having problems with this is they are not cooking the base until it is a very thick gravy consistency. That took me at least 15 minutes on the stove, whisking constantly. No matter how long it takes, get it to a very thick consistency before cooling down. Then, after you have added the butter, whip five minutes or more until the consistency is how you like it. Mine did not have an overwhelming butter flavor and was almost pearly white when I finished. I added lemon juice and strawberry jam to add some flavor. Takes a long time, but awesome recipe!!
Karly says
Thanks for the tips, Grace! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Denyel says
Can you color this frosting with gel dye?
Karly says
I haven’t tried, but I think it would work fine. The frosting is a bit finicky though, so no promises. 🙂
Ruth S says
Absolutely delicious. I made 2/3 recipe for an 8” layer cake and it was generous. It is very similar to an old recipe I have which another reviewer mentioned, where the butter and sugar are mixed together separately and the flour/milk added. This recipe if FAR superior. I did not strain the mixture as called for in the recipe, but i did let it sit for about five minutes before cooking, which allowed everything to ‘melt’ together really well. For reviewers with difficulty I am guessing it is one of two things: (1) the cooked mixture was not allowed to cool sufficiently or (2) the cooked mixture was not throughly cooked. After cooking my flour/milk mixture was much more like spackle than gravy. I added the butter cold from the fridge. I would also suggest leaving out the butter if you are using salted butter. Thanks for a great recipe.
Ruth S says
Oh no…..typo. You cannot leave out the butter – I meant to say leave out the salt!!!!
Amie says
This frosting is delicious! It’s more work than I’m used to for making frosting, but was definitely worth it! I used it on my daughter’s 18th birthday cake because she does not like sugary or heavy frosting. I personally hate grocery store frosting, but we both loved this recipe!!
Shannon says
I have made this three times now with no issues. It really is about letting the mixture cool enough! Not too difficult and common sense makes this doable…. Not to mention there is a chance people are not beating the mixture enough. People tend to not realize that with this AND buttercream, USING BUTTER you can get a whiter finish just by beating the frosting longer. When I make buttercream, I beat the frosting for a total of 10-15 minutes start to finish and get a very white icing. The whole 8T in a stick of butter is 100% accurate, I bake cakes to sell and use butter all the time. I know you posted this recipe a while ago, but my boyfriend is a buttercream hater and he loves this! Thanks for sharing!!! and thank god you don’t lack common sense or common knowledge 😉
Marianne Mickler Harvey says
Amen! ?
Angelique says
The problem everyone has had with the butter is nothing to do with the recipe being finnicky. The ingredients list 24 tablespoons of butter or THREE STICKS. If you Google the conversion, 24 tablespoons is actually 1.5 sticks. So basically if you go off the sticks measurement instead of the tablespoons, you double the butter. So everyone saying it’s buttery, you’ve actually used double the butter that should be in there.
Karly says
In the US, a stick of butter is 8 tablespoons so the recipe is correct.
Courtney says
This icing is terrible. Who wants yellow colored icing??? Not at all what is pictured so it was a major let down and the taste is just awful. All butter taste and runny did exactly how recipe said 3cen using thermometer to make sure items were room temp so yea will be deleting this recipe.
ana says
doesn’t work at all, remains a yellow syrup. and overwhelmingly buttery. all the comments are saying the same thing for a reason.
Karly says
Sorry it didn’t work out for you! There are lots of people that have made this recipe successfully, it’s just a finicky one.
Angelique says
Halve the butter, use 24 table spoons or 1.5 sticks, not three sticks. It’s been converted wrong in the recipe.
Karly says
In the US, a stick of butter is 8 tablespoons so the recipe is correct.
Terry R says
Can half the butter be substituted with shortening? I want to try but am worried about all the butter. Thanks
Karly says
I’ve only made this with butter and wouldn’t recommend using shortening.
PF says
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.
Karly says
So glad it worked out for you! 🙂
Mary says
Can this receipe when used on a cake stay out at room temperature I’m from Trinidad and I really looking for a receipe to stay out for a day what would you recommend the place here is hot.
Karly says
Hi Mary! This recipe will melt if left out in high heat for long. I wouldn’t recommend this one if you can’t refrigerate the cake.
Richard James DiLullo Jr says
Its consistency is perfect. The colour is a little more yellow/brown than I would like. It does have a little bit of an overwhelming butter flavor. If you dont like butter cream icing, you probably will not like this icing either. It isnt absolutely terrible, but it isnt very good. Ive been making icing for the last 2 weeks, hardcore, trying every recipe online and trying to figure out which one I want to use for my daughters 2nd birthday cake, and this one is not the one. I would recommend trying it though, because i dont like it doesnt mean you wont like it. And its good to make for the experience.
Angelique says
The problem everyone has had with the butter is nothing to do with the recipe being finnicky. The ingredients list 24 tablespoons of butter or THREE STICKS. If you Google the conversion, 24 tablespoons is actually 1.5 sticks. So basically if you go off the sticks measurement instead of the tablespoons, you double the butter. So everyone saying it’s buttery, you’ve actually used double the butter that should be in there.
Karly says
In the US, a stick of butter is 8 tablespoons so the recipe is correct.
Caitlin says
I tried this recipe with gluten free flour and it worked just fine. Thanks for the recipe.
Christina says
CAn you freeze this recipe to use later
Karly says
No, I don’t think that would work.