Perfect Cupcake Frosting and Filling
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3 T Flour
1/2 C milk (whole milk is best, but I used non-fat when it's all I have and it's actually fine)
1/2 C real butter
1/2 C sugar (that's granulated sugar, not powdered sugar)
1 t vanilla extract, or other flavor if you wish.
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, until you can start to see the bottom of the pan. It should still be liquid-ish though, like this:
It's okay if you have lumps, because we're gonna strain those out right now. Place the mixture in a mesh strainer and stir with a rubber spatula to push it through.
You should end up with a nice, smooth mixture. It's almost like pudding before it's set.
Put this 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. When it is chilled, you can move on to the following step.
It an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. You'll want to use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, not the flat paddle. Then while beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the vanilla. Beat to combine and then scrape down the sides. Don't be scared. It's going to look like a goopy mess and kind of lumpy and separated like this:
But you just wait. It's gonna blow your mind in a few minutes. Beat on med-high for 7-8 minutes. Yes, that long. I know it seems like forever, but that's when the magic happens!
After 7-8 minutes it will have transformed from that sloppy mess into something gorgeous, fluffy, and incredibly light and silky.
Use it to fill or frost cupcakes, cakes or other pastries. You can't go wrong putting this on just about anything :)
One batch makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes with BIG tops (like the one shown in the rainbow cupcakes above). If you're just spreading a little on top, it will do 24.
Here are some helpful Notes:
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. Store at room temperature. Frosting may separate in the fridge, but you can store it overnight if left at room temp and in a well sealed container.
4. Add extracts to your hearts content; lemon is 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, cream cheese, fruit purees all do disastrous things.
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How am I ever supposed to lose this baby weight? Yummy!
Ok this is seriously the best frosting I have ever tasted. Ever.
Oops... that was me :)
I agree with Cassie, this is the best frosting ever. Thanks for the cupcake Sara, now I know where the next 5lbs will be coming from. Sweet.
Just tried this and must've done something wrong. Maybe using margarine in place of butter doesn't work. My 3yr old thought it tasted so yummy though. I ended up adding an entire bag of powdered sugar, just ended up tasting like regular frosting, and I have about 4 cups of it. I'll have to try again.
Alright Millionaire Mommy- I don't know if you're a regular reader or not, but if you are, you should know in my recipes to ALWAYS USE REAL BUTTER! Lol. Especially in something like this where butter is a main ingredient. It's what makes this frosting so yummy. I made sure to write "real butter" in the recipe because it would just be icky with margarine! Plus, the real problem- which is probably what happened with yours, is that margarine has extra moisture and other compounds in there, so when you're whipping everything together, it messes up the chemical composition that would otherwise make it so light and fluffy.
Give it another shot- with BUTTER! :)
Oh- and you didn't use powdered sugar in the original recipe, did you? Make sure to use granulated.
Okay, my frosting came out funny. And it tasted a little funny, too, so I think I did something wrong (it tasted like grocery store frosting; it may have something to do with my increasing belief that Walmart and Sam's Club butter isn't actually 100% butter. And I'm not even a conspiracy theorist). When I do this all over again, here's my plan (because it also totally trashed my kitchen--seriously, MASSIVE usage of lots of dishes here! :) )
--Make the frosting in advance. I think part of the problem was that my kitchen was still too warm after baking the cupcakes, so that, combined with the long beating time, made the butter semi-melty.
--Make the cupcakes when it was convenient. Then hold onto them until I'm ready to fill them. I think doing it all at once was what made it so messy.
Okay, I just re-read and you said NOT to make it in advance. So maybe I'll make the cupcakes in advance. Oh, Sara, where did I go WRONG?? It was WEIRD.
What happened Kate?! And how did you use so many dishes? lol
Did it look like my picture?
Mine turned out weird, too. It looked nothing like your picture. I was so sad! Maybe I'll try it again.
This frosting is soooooo good! It's the perfect combination of not-too-sweet and creamy! I'm loving it so thanks a whole bunch o' cupcakes :)
I'm pleased to report that the second time I made this, it wasn't weird. I don't know WHAT the deal was the first time (although my kitchen really WAS hot...I'm thinking that had something to do with it), but the second time I made it, it was amazing! Yummy yummy yummy!
Can you add a flavor to this - like a tiny bit of lemon (or lime or coconut) powder? (the 'real' kind of powder...?) Just curious. I'm looking for a whipped, light, lemony or limey or cocunutty recipe, and I have some of the powders from KAF... so I was thinking if a half a teaspoon was mixed in at the sugar-butter-beating stage? Whatdyareckon?
Oh Mary Mary Mary, you have no idea. I just made this a few weeks ago and I added 1t of pure lemon extract in (along with the vanilla) and it was to DIE for. Seriously I could have eaten it all with a spoon! I put it in between little mini lemon cakes and everyone was asking me what the heck was in there because it was so yummy. I'm actually concocting a dessert right now to post that uses it. So yes- flavor it up! I've wanted to try coconut, and also peppermint (on a chocolate cupcake, can you imagine?)
Hi, Sara!
Thanks for leaving your comment the other day on Needle 'n Thread! I will certainly try the flavorings - can't decide if I should do lemon or coconut first! In any case, tomorrow is Saturday, and you have inspired me to BAKE. I'll let you know how they turn out!
I've subscribed to your feed here - and spent, oh... probably too much time meandering about. There are only 100 things I want to bake tomorrow. But I'll settle for the cupcakes & frosting!
Thanks again!
Best,
Mary
How long does this frosting last? I plan to make it on a Saturday to serve on Monday...will it keep? And have you tried it with brown sugar instead of white? I'm trying my hand at some cookie-dough cupcakes, and I thought a brown sugar icing would be perfect!
ya know Dorothy, I haven't had a lot of luck making this frosting ahead of time. When I kept mine in the fridge over night I found it started to separate. So since then I've only made it fresh. You might want to do a practice run and see how it stores best. Also I've never tried it with brown sugar, but you're right- if it worked I bet it would taste amazing with cookie dough cupcakes! If I were you I'd start experimenting! Will you come back and let us know how it goes? I'm curious about all of those questions myself :)
This came out just like you described it: like the consistency of whipped cream, light and fluffy. The texture is great; it isn't too rich and sweet like store-bought icing. I think I'll try this on some cupcakes and take them to school with me--my friends will love them! How did you find out how to make icing with granulated sugar?
How many cupcakes can this recipe make when just frosting the tops?
Keristew-
It depends on how much you're putting on. (Piled high or just spread on top) But I'd say if you're doing more than 12 you should double it.
I'd really like to make this for my daughter's b-day cupcakes at school, but I don't think I can stomach getting up to make frosting "fresh" on a school day morning (on top of everything else!)... can I frost the cupcakes the night before and leave them room temp overnight, or will something weird and sicky happen?
sarey-
It just so happens that I frosted cupcakes with this last night and left one out all night to see what happens! Don't worry, nothing "sicky" happens, lol. But it does thicken/harden a little when sitting out that long. It is definitely MUCH better fresh. It almost takes on the texture of soft butter when left out. If I were you and you don't want to make it the morning of- I'd probably stick to a classic buttercream. Although this stuff is really good so I hope you try it!
I made this today and it was awesome! Thanks Sara --emily
Ok, I'm not an experienced cook/baker/whathave you. So, I have a possibly stupid question. The flour. Is it All purpose? Or something else?
Renee- not a stupid question at all! I should specify in the recipe- yes, just regular ol' all purpose flour.
I feel so lame now for offering to bring cupcakes to our meeting for Carolyn. What was I thinking? Next time I'll leave it to the professional, or at least copy your recipes!
This recipe is AMAZING! I've made it three times and have gotten fantastic reviews every time! It's delicious as a filling in strawberry cupcakes with melted white chocolate lightly drizzled on top :)
I've made this recipe 3 or 4 times, and every time it's been a hit! This is the only frosting my husband actually likes. Thanks for sharing it!
I just want everyone to know we love this frosting. It's become our primary frosting besides ganache which I love but it too decadent for others. I know there is discussion about this lasting overnight....well let me tell you... I always make my kids cupcakes for school the day before. I leave the cupcakes out over night for at least 18 hours and they still taste fine the next day. I don't refrigerate it or leave it uncovered and they come out perfect. If it is very hot they might get runny but that's the except not the rule.
Savoryouarsweetness- I'm so glad you posted that, thanks! I guess the trick is to not refrigerate overnight, which makes sense because I think it's the hardening of the butter than can cause condensation.
So hear that everyone? Make ahead, just leave at room temp overnight!
Okay what am I doing wrong? I tried this recipe TWICE and both times it tasted pretty good but the consistency was like cottage cheese. Is it my Walmart butter, the speed on my mixer, how long I beat it (the first time around 8 minutes, the second time around 15 on medium high speed)Got any suggestions?
Okay, my guess (especially if you take a look at my earlier comment) is the Walmart butter--I swear to you all, that stuff isn't 100% butter. So give some Land O'Lakes a try and see if it works any better.
I have attempted to make this a few times...with various results. It's my first time to really make icing from scratch, so I'm probably making simple mistakes. But one question is about the following...is this a step I am missing?
"Even though it's thick, you can still it through a mesh strainer (just whisk in the strainer to push the thick stuff through)"
amy- The only purpose of straining the flour mixture is to get rid of any clumps because they some times will hold up through the beating process and you'll have little flour lumps in your frosting. So yes, I always whisk mine through a strainer before cooling, but that shouldn't make or break it, ya know?
I wish I could pinpoint what goes wrong when this doesn't turn out for people. I've honestly never had it *not* work so I'm not sure what happens!
I LOVE this recipe! I was not a big frosting person until I made this frosting. I can not wait to make this for my sisters birthday party! Thank you soo much Sara.
I don't have a stand mixer with the wisk attachment. Would just a regular ole' hand mixer work?
Melissa- yes it should work. Just keep it at the highest speed you can without it splattering all over the place and keep it going for the full amount of time. And recruit a helper so your arms don't get tired!
Hi Sara
Thanks for this recipe, I have been looking for a light coloured frosting as the normal buttercream has quite alot of yellow tint on it. Will this frosting be lighter?
sundazy- it's an off-white, but I it's definitely whiter than a normal buttercream. I didn't edit the color in any of my pictures, so yes, it's pretty white. Hope it's what you're looking for!
I just made this frosting with the colorful cupcakes and... It turned out GREAT!!! Thanks sooo much for the recipe, I have needed something like this for years.
how do you *frost* the cupcakes? they look SO perfect in the picture. do you use a device or frosting bag?
April--Someday we should do a tutorial on cupcake swirls! :) It's really very easy--like, once you get the hang of it, it's much, much faster than icing them by hand.
Anyway, you'll need an icing bag (or a large, heavy-duty Ziploc bag), a Wilton 1M star tip, and a large coupler. You can get most of the Wilton tips and couplers at Walmart, but I've never been able to find the 1M star tip or large coupler there. I've seen them both at Hobby Lobby and Michael's.
Anyway, use the coupler to attach the tip to the bag and then fill the bag with icing. Pipe a swirl around the outside of the cupcake and then, while maintaining the pressure and not breaking the flow, make a smaller swirl on top of the big swirl and end with a little flourish. Does that make sense? It's a lot easier than it sounds. You could even get a cheap can of frosting to practice with. Anyway, let us know if you still have questions! :)
Sara... THANK YOU! who would have thought white sauce could turn this butter frosting into silky and smooth mixture? It's also very light, very similar to swiss buttercream, but 30% less fat and sugar, I'll say! I tried this recipe for cupcakes frosting yesterday for a 3 years old who loves pink, skeptical at first.. but it turned out beautifully. Thanks again Sara! Well done.
Note, I kept the frosting in fridge for 1 hour and it turned curdly... I solved this by beating them for a good 5 minutes and it's silky smooth again.
THANK YOU! This frosting is amazing and SO easy. I have been looking for a perfect buttercream for my son's first birthday. Regular frostings are just WAY too sweet. I just whipped up a batch of this during naptime and it was so quick and it came together so quickly and perfectly. It leaves no oily weirdness and tastes like perfection- not too sugary, not too buttery. YUM!
I wanted to wait until after I'd made this a couple of times to write a review... I made it for the fourth time yesterday, and have a few observations to share.
1. BEATING TIME. The first time I made this I set my stand mixer on speed 6 and beat it for 7 minutes. I kept peaking in at it, and at 7 minutes it looked like a disaster - separated, gloppy, curdled, and gross. I figured I had nothing to lose by continuing to beat it, so I did. By the time I hit 9 minutes it was starting to transform, and by 10 minutes it was perfect. So now I beat it on the speed 8 setting, and by 7.5 - 8 minutes, it is perfect.
2. "CHEAP" BUTTER VS. NAME BRAND BUTTER. For the reviewers who commented on the difference between "cheap" butter and name brand butter, I think there is some truth to this. With my first batch I used name brand butter and it turned out great. With the second batch, the small grocery store where I pick up last-minute items was out of the name brand unsalted butter, so I had to get the store brand. No big deal, right? WRONG.
I did everything with the frosting the SAME way I did the first time, and although it did eventually start to resemble frosting after a LONG beating time, the finished product was very... umm... well, greasy. If you looked at it closely, it looked like it was separated in some parts of the frosting (kind of like if you didn't scrape down the bowl very well and it wasn't well mixed, although that wasn't the case). I also noticed a strange "greasy" film on the inside of the mixing bowl that I had not noticed the first time around. The taste didn't seem to be much different (still tasted very good) - but I still ended up throwing it out b/c it did not LOOK appetizing at all.
I remade the frosting two days later with name brand butter and it turned out perfectly. I have no idea if this was a fluke or not, but I don't plan on chancing it again.
3. STORAGE & SHELF LIFE. I have had these babies out on my counter for as long as two nights/three days in a sealed tight storage container and they stayed very fresh and yummy.
Anyway, I can tell you from experience that the frosting keeps really well at room temp as long as its sealed tight. I did find that if you plan on keeping them for a couple of days, be sure to frost the cupcakes clear to the edge to keep the cake moist. Otherwise, the cake gets a bit dry around the edges.
A couple of random notes...
- This frosting is very white and beautiful, not off-white/yellow that you're used to seeing with homemade frosting with butter in them.
- This frosting is even more light and airy than I expected from reading the original recipe and reviews. The density REALLY is like whipped cream, but far more tasty! Yes, I know that you said it was... but I'm a seeing-is-believing kind of girl. :)
- I expected that this frosting may not hold up well to decor on top due to the light, airy texture - but it holds its own! I have used sprinkles, drizzles of chocolate, and even candy pieces - they all turned out perfect without pushing the frosting down or making it fall off the side.
- Sara is right about doubling the recipe. By the time you eat some and then pile it high on the cupcakes, one batch is for sure not enough for 24 cupcakes.
In the end I have to say that this is hands down one of the best frostings I've ever made, and it will continue to be a favorite of mine. Truth be told, I haven't made a "real" buttercream frosting since I found this recipe (and I might not for quite some time!) I think you could pile this stuff on just about anything and make it good! I just made them for a July 4th picnic and someone said they were glad that I "brought those cupcakes with the good icing!" :) Thanks again for this awesome recipe Sara!
A couple of pics on my blog: http://palmerfamily.blogspot.com/2009/07/happy-independence-day.html
Although this was the strangest frosting I have ever made - the process was strange it turned out wonderful! I love the texture, how light and fluffy it is and the taste is awesome. I am a frosting snob and truly only eat cake for the frosting so it has to be good! I made two batchs. The first one I think I cooked the flour/milk mixture too fast and too hot and it got real thick - It was so thick I couldn't put it threw the strainer so I didn't but it still turned out great. The second batch I did a better job in getting the pudding consistency and it worked with the strainer. Thanks girls- I have a new favorite frosting recipe.
I ran out of all-purpose flour and all I have is bread flour, do you think it will still work? I can't wait to top the strawberries and cream cupcakes with this!
Heidi--Bread flour has a lot more gluten than all-purpose flour, so I'm thinking you may run into some problems. Based on the comments we've gotten, that this recipe is already a little on the tempermental side, so if it were me, I probably wouldn't tempt fate...get thee to a grocery store, girl!! :)
I am making this tomorrow and I need to ask a question...I hope it isn't a silly one..:)
What temp should the butter be when I beat it with the sugar? Is room temp okay or should it be cold, straight from the fridge?
Thanks!!
Hey, Darlene! :) It should just be room temperatue.
Thanks you, thank you Kate!!
I've made this frosting, to rave reviews, a few times now. My problem is I want to make a cream cheese variation as I am making chocolate zucchini cupcakes. I'm wondering if you can just subtitute some of the butter out for creamcheese (the block kind), is it worth tampering with such a perfect recipe?
mamakatrina-
I'm so glad you love this. I say tamper away! I've been experimenting with all kinds of variations. I have a really good one coming up in a couple of weeks. Next thing on my list is to figure it out in chocolate. I would LOVE to see it with cream cheese. I say give it a whirl and then come back and give us a report!
I just wanted to jump in on the subject of tinkering with this frosting recipe...strawberry DOES NOT WORK! I've made the standard frosting recipe several times before, all with great success. Today I thought it would be fun to sub out half of the milk with some reduced strawberry puree (frozen strawberries, mashed and cooked down to 1/4 original volume). I think maybe the acidity from the strawberry is wreaking havoc on the frosting, preventing the emulsion from forming. The mixture looked curdled for the longest time, so I kept beating...which resulted in a complete breakdown of the icing into a pink pudding soup! Oh well, at least I know now what NOT to add.
Thanks for the report Dorthy! I can see why a fruit puree wouldn't work very well. Flavored extracts work beautifully though, so you could always try that route next time. Not as great as fresh fruit, but a great back up option!
So yeah, speaking of tinkering, I tried subbing in some cream cheese and it was a mess. Same thing--curdly look, it never set up, and you couldn't taste the cream cheese.
I really like the look of the is recipe, but I still find it extremely sweet. Any suggestions on toing down the sweetness? Add a little salt perhaps. I having also been using low fat milk, do you think that full cream milk might help tone down the sweetness? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Clair- not sure what to tell ya girl. I don't think the milk will affect the sweetness at all, and I'd be wary about decreasing the sugar overall because you probably won't get the same texture. But if you wanted to play around with it, I'd cut the sugar by a couple of tablespoons and see if it works. Good luck!
I will sure add this recipe to my personal recipes. I am always looking for a frost that I will like. This one seems to be wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Amazingly good frosting!!! I made it with margarine (I know... but I didn't have any butter and my car isn't starting.. so yeah... ) and it worked and tasted very very good! Thank you very much for the recipe! ^_^
I LOVE this frosting. I am throwing a baby shower this weekend and the mom has been craving white cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Do you have a chocolate version of this? I just love the texture of this recipe and would rather use it than a buttercream. Thanks!
can you add food coloring to this? My son wants a cake with hot lava on it and i love this frosting and the texture would work for the lava if I could just color it orange though
I just made this. WOW. I am eating it off a spoon as I type this. Best frosting EVER! thank you so much! I added half vanilla and half butter extract.
Wow, this recipe sounds delicious! I need to make about 60 cup cakes for my daughter's birthday party. Will this recipe work if I multiple the ingrediets to make more than one batch at a time?
apduggan- I've only doubled it- but that works great!
Hi,
I wanted to know if I can use food coloring? I want to make some cupcakes for my daughter's high school volleyball team and want to use school colors. I read all the posts til I got to the bottom and then, the question did come up however with no answer!! Please let me know asap!
Thanks,
Liz
Sorry Liz, that's because I emailed the answer and sometimes I forget to write it here too! The answer is YES- food coloring works great! I use gel or paste color so I don't add in too much moisture. And just whip it in quickly at the end when the frosting is all ready.
thank you so much for this recipe! I was one of those frosting haters until you showed me the way LOL! It is wonderful!
Love this recipe. I have tripeled it a few times now. Turned out great each time. Have you found a way to make a chocolate version? I'd love to give that a whirl!
This frosting was just what I was looking for. It completely rivals my favorite cupcake store! It was light and fluffy and sat up beautifully on the cupcakes when I swirled them on with my pastry bag. I have searched the world over for this recipe ...thank you so much for sharing. I'm so happy!! I've already shared it too. I learned one thing already...I need to take the milk and flour off the heat the minute it starts to set up. I kept on whipping it with the whisk and I had no lumps...I didn't strain it and it still worked perfectly.
this frosting is absolutely sensational. i trialled a lemon variation yesterday for a tea party next week, and it was a big hit. Couple of things:
- i heated the flour and the milk, whisking almost constantly, until it was VERY, VERY thick, and skipped the strainer step.
- i used a regular hand-held flat paddle beater on the highest setting.
- right at the end, i very, very gently folded in the zest of one lemon and applied to lemon cupcakes with a blunt knife.
- Decorated with candied lemon peel. Perfection.
the funny thing is, when you add the ultra thick flour milk glop to the beaten butter/sugar, it whips to that gorgeous silken state in about 2 mins on high. i'm not sure if the same result would be achieved with a whisk attachment though.
Also, when I refrigerated the iced cupcakes overnight, the frosting hardened to the consistency of a light, perfect buttercream. Absolutely no separation or problems at all.
Just wondering if this could be a solution to the storage problem that people have been experiencing with this frosting?
kez- thanks for those notes, I'm sure they will be helpful to people. I've added lemon zest before too and I agree- it tasted AMAZING!
This frosting looks really good. I've been looking for an easy frosting that doesn't taste like that butter and powdered sugar kind. My question is if the granulated sugar completely dissolves. The last time I made frosting from scratch, the recipe called for having the sugar cooked over a double boiler with egg whites to create a meringue before beating in the butter.
Rebecca,
Yup. The sugar dissolves completely into a silky smooth fluffy white heaven :)
I am so excited to try this. I dont like the sweet frostings either.
Thank you so much. This frosting plus the rainbow cupcakes was the hit of my daughter's birthday get together. I was a little worried that the frosting wasn't sweet enough, but it was perfect with the cupcake. Thanks again!
I always feel very comfortable in the kitchen, but with this frosting I felt a little uneasey because the texture was not matching your steps Sara. This may be a strange question, but the butter should it be cold, room temp? I know not to melt it or anything, but I thought maybe my butter temp could be the ruining factor, still tasted delicious...but a little ugly to eyes...so I closed them and ate it anyway! Just curious about the butter temp?
Love your site, thanks!
Ashley, I let my butter sit at room temp for a few minutes, but not long enough to come completely to room temp. Does that make sense? So it's still on the chilly side. This frosting is tricky because it's SO good, but it can be temperamental for some people and I'm not sure what the issue is! Definitely try it again though, sometimes it's just some fluke thing.
I tried this after re-reading the recipe several times and reading ALL the comments. :) Sadly, it never came together (I even beat it for about 20 min altogether, in my stand mixer)... I used my fave butter, but it's cultured (European-style, organic), and I suspect that's what kept it from homogenizing correctly. If anyone has had success with cultured butter, I'd love to hear it. Looks awesome!
I love this frosting! Like one of the later commentators, I stir the milk/flour mixture until it's really thick, and then it whips up a lot faster, and I even like the texture better. My sister pointed me out to this site, and I've used it on other things besides cupcakes, and it was delicious!
hi, i'm thinking of making this recipe for giving out to friends on valentines day, but i was wondering if (since i live in a hot climate 29 degrees Celsius) should i leave these 60 or so cupcakes in the fridge instead? and since i am deciding to make the high-tops, what is the easiest mean of transporting them to give to people? i wanted to give them in individual plastic containers along with other condiments... what do you think? thanks in advance for your advice
Olly, as long as it's not that hot *inside* your house, they should be fine left at room temp. It will definitely separate after being chilled and then thawed again.
As for transportation, that's up to you. You can buy individual cupcake holders and cute boxes that protect the tops. I get them at my local craft store. Or you could put a cupcake in a plastic cup. That's all I can think of!
This was amazing. I was very sceptical about the sugar disolving, but how wrong was I. I did put the iced cupcakes in the fridge. Ate the last one 3 days later. My frosting didn't separate. A definite keeper. Thanks so much.
Thanks for stopping by my site and telling me about this one. I want to try doing the frosting again in hopes that it turns out better than the first time I made it. I love the steps you gave.
I have been making a slightly different variation of this for many years, but only as a cupcake filling. My recipe calls for half the amount of cooked flour and milk, and instead of 1/2 cup butter it uses 1/4 cup butter or margarine and 1/4 cup shortening. The granulated sugar is 1/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup. I have never had a bit of trouble with it and have never had to put the cooked mixture through a sieve. I'm going to try it as a frosting this afternoon.
adrienne- no you shouldn't be able to feel sugar granules, so maybe you didn't beat it long enough? Or is your sugar extra coarse?
and the flour mixture should be just a little thicker than a white sauce.
Hi ladies - I enjoy reading your blog!!
Even though this is a loooong time after this post, I played around with making a cupcake recipe in "normal" and "gluten-free" versions. I wanted them to taste nearly the same, yet be safe for my gluten-free coworkers to enjoy.
I shared the results - and my recipe - here:
http://shannahhayley.blogspot.com/2010/02/little-bite-of-heaven.html
YUM!!! I just made a trial batch of this frosting and it is light and fluffy and reminds me of the whipped cream frosting that I've been trying to find a recipe for forever! I do think it will taste even better when I add lemon extract to go with the lemon cupcakes I'm going to make for my niece's baby shower (I detect a bit of the flour taste when I use vanilla for flavoring). I had the mixture really smooth to begin with so I wonder if I would still have to strain?? Easy and yummy if you follow directions and use the right ingredients and I would also imagine it is important NOT to over cook the flour/milk mixture. THANK YOU!
I had a bake sale recently and used this frosting recipe for the cupcakes and someone came up to me and said that this reminded him of dunkaroos which I thought was the best compliment ever for anyone who understand that those were by far the best childhood snack ever! he also bought like 5 cupcakes!
This is my first time attempting, and I think I might have cooked the flour/milk a little too long. Should I just start over now? or would I be ok to attempt the rest of the recipe?(i tried to read comments to see if you already answered, but thought this would be faster.) THanks!!!
Lauren, my guess is that you'd be okay. I think it's a bigger problem to *under*cook it, so if it were me I'd go for it.
Yeah! It totally turned out! I have to say, it is the most differently delicious frosting I've ever had. Now I'm just waiting for my devil's food cupcakes to cool, so I can fill them! yum Thanks!!!
Hi ladies! Love your blog! Slightly off-topic question for you: I found this icing/filling recipe on another site and made it, but the whisk on my Wolfgang Puck stand mixer doesn't get all the way to the bottom of the bowl, so I ended up beating with a hand mixer. I have heard that people with Kitchenaids have had the same problem. What type of stand mixer do you use, and is this a problem?
Nicole, we both use kitchenaids and there is a little space at the bottom that doesn't get hit. But it's nothing that isn't solved by stopping once or twice to scrape the bowl. I do however most of the time now use a beaterblade attachment and it scrapes that little black hole at the bottom, as well as the sides. You can read a little blurb about it in this post:
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/12/gingerbread-cookies.html
This frosting was amazing...It does take a while for it to come together but it worked great...I was a little worried since I am in Poland right now, and didn't know how the ingredients here would work, cause everything is a little different, but it worked...a great frosting recipe!! Thank you!!!!
I followed the ingredients listed in the first step and it came out really sticky so I kept adding milk then I hopefully ended up with doubling the recipe. It is cooling now, I am a bit skeptical now.
Diana- it's supposed to be sticky! Next time just keep with it and it will work just fine :)
I am not a super experience baker and this worked really well for me. When I made the milk and flour, it was very thick so I started over with the same results. I used it anyway and it worked fine. I made a double batch and frosted 50 3" sugar cookies and still had 1 cup left. Everyone kept asking if I had bought them from a bakery because they wanted to lick the icing alone. Thanks!
Yes, I did double it and then it came out liquidy. I put it in the fridge and it came out exactly right. Thanks. I was a bit skeptical, thank you! It was very differnt and good.
I've been wanting to make this for a long time now and I finally had a reason to make cupcakes. I made this twice today, once this morning and once this afternoon. This morning it was fantastic. This afternoon it was not great. I didn't think my kitchen was too warm but apparently it was. I will be making this in the morning from not on! :) Thanks for another amazing recipe!
I really want to try this frosting recipe! Did you ever find a way to make it in a chocolate version? Because I would love to try it in chocolate if I like this one :)
I reckon it might work with 'chocolate butter'- adding a two teaspoons of cocoa to the softened butter before beating together with the sugar. Giving it a try this weekend- will report back!
How long do these keep at room temperature? If I had left overs for 3 days would they still be okay sitting out on the counter?
Meghan- what kind of person has cupcake leftovers after 3 days?? lol. It won't be bad as in bad *for you*, but it might start to lose it's perfect texture.
This may be a silly question, but can this frosting be used for cakes too or is it not the right consistency for the sides of the cake. My mother made a frosting very similar to this years ago but it was half butter/half shortening and used powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar. Can't wait to try it, have cupcakes to do for a confirmation next week.
Not a silly question at all. This frosting is wonderful on cakes!
i love this frosting because in no so much butter. i will try today on a cake. Thank you! cccriscake.com
The first time I tried this I used store brand butter and only had the paddle attachment for my mixer....disaster. Had all the problems that others had. Reread all the comments and decided to give it another try, this time using brand name butter and the whisk attachment. This frosting is without a doubt one of the BEST I have ever had. Brought back memories of the frosting my mother made but it was even better!!! Without a doubt will be my go-to frosting from this point forward. Thanks!!!
This recipee is exactly the one my mother got from the Slavic woman who lived next door to us when I was growing up. We had never seen a frosting that started with a white sauce, but as you have discovered, it makes the best butter frosting ever.
I tried this recipe about a week ago, and it flopped. I have no idea what went wrong, but it was bad. I was hesitant to try it again, but I did. This time it tasted wonderful! Definitely delicious! Thanks for sharing!!
I just tried this frosting, it tasted Yummmm!! But when i was beating the mix, it startted looking silky almost instantly! (despite mine being a flat paddle beater)but in a couple of minutes by the time i got my decorating bag ready it started looking like it was seperating it was not silky it was like cottage cheesy. Also if i beat it again it gets silky but within seconds starts seperating. What m i doing wrong? is it the butter but why did it look silky in the 1st case then?
Okay i have a silly question... i want frost my cupcakes can i use the whipped cream u get in those redy made pipe kind tubes at the super market. will it stay or will the cream flatten and deform?
Neha- that's totally normal. You just need to let it keep beating for the full amount of time for it to remain silky smooth. It goes through all kinds of weird stages in between!
about the whipped cream question- sure you could put whipped cream on cupcakes, you'll just want to do it right before serving. If you let it sit for too long it will flatten out.
My baby is turning 2 next week and has requested an Elmo cake - would this frosting work if I piped in on with a star tip or smoothed it on and then fluffed it to look like fur? I'm not a big fan of traditional buttercream, and I'm dying to try this frosting!!
jjnhubs- sure, this frosting pipes really well. Although I'm not sure how it will hold up with the crazy amount of food coloring you need to achieve "Elmo Red"!
Thanks!! i made the frosting again and i did beat it more. its great!! i love the taste...this works so well....im not using whipped cream im sooo using this frosting :) thanks Sara.
Has anyone found a way to make this chocolate? I want to do the chocolate cupcakes with this as a filling and then a chocolate frosting on the top for my daughter's birthday. But of course I'll have to do a practice run ahead of time :).
Mary- check this one out
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/05/chocolate-frosting.html
Awesome, thanks! I cannot wait tot try this! I am planning to do this as cupcakes and then a yellow cake and this sounds like a perfect frosting for that as well!
Any tips on melting chocolate if you are not using a microwave and do not have a double boiler? Any time I do it I usually just heat a big pot of water and put a smaller pot on top of that. I don't own a microwave :).
Mary, that's perfect! Even if you don't have an "official" double boiler, it's considered one when you place a bowl on top of simmering water. I use a glass mixing bowl because it heats up fast.
I made this frosting today for my daughters and my birthday cake. I will admit I was a little nervous, but it was really easy and turned out great! I doubled the recipe and had no problems with it at all. It got rave reviews by everyone. My ex-husband said it was the best frosting I've ever made, and one of my friends, who does cake decorating like a professional said it is now her favorite frosting. Thanks so much!!
I made this recipe today, I even used walmart's butter. It came out perfect! Creamy, silky, fluffy and almost like whipped cream! I made yellow cupcake and used this recipe for its filling. Yummy!
Fantastic! Very light and creamy. Worked the very first time I tried it and every time since. Definitely a keeper! Only thing that could be any better would be if it were more white instead of off-white- but that is what you get when you use butter. This is now my go-to buttercream frosting recipe. Thank you for this terrific recipe!!!
I need 3 cups of this to dye red (organically of course) for a ladybug cake, then I'm going to use it to fill the chocolate cupcakes. Any idea if I should make this x 4 or 5? Thx!
You just need 3 cups of frosting total? I think doubling might be enough, and x 3 should give you more than enough.
You were right, doubling was enough. I ended up making this twice. The first time I used a lot of organic food coloring that unfortunately changed the taste. So I re-made it and used less food coloring and more vanilla. Our ladybug cake wasn't very red, but it was very tasty. Thanks so much!
I originally recieved this recipe from my mother. We call it wallpaper icing. Due to when heating the flour and milk in a sauce pan till it resembles wallpaper paste. It has always been the favorite recipe at our house and when I take it anywhere!
Glad your sharing it!
By the way I use butter if I want more of a wedding cake icing and margerine if I make a devils food cake. Just as good!
FYI, one batch of this is enough to fill the chocolate cupcakes, and doubling it is enough to fill and frost them if you choose to do that instead of ganache. Yummy!!!
Made this tonight and it was so delicious! I'm very glad I found this recipe, and your site. I'll be stopping back again for sure. Cheers!
I just made a "trail run" batch for my boys birthday party tomorrow...DELISH!
Since it's supposed to be 112 degrees tomorrow, hopefully people can appreciate the cuteness of those big tops for one minute after we bring them outside before the frosting melts!
Ok, so I had avoided making this frosting for a LONG time. The whole milk/flour/let-it-cool thing turned me off... too much extra work! But last weekend I made Kate's strawberry cupcakes and since she specifically used this frosting, I thought I'd finally give it a try. Well, I was right about the milk/flour thing, but it was all my own fault. The first time I let it cook too long and it was pretty thick, though I think it would've still work [I was just too chicken to try it]. The next TWO times... well, it was late and I was tired and I somehow glazed over the whole mixing milk and flour and THEN turning on the heat and was adding milk to an already heated pan and... yeah, that didn't work. Fourth time was the charm!! [And I don't think I'll have any problems next time... got ALL my mistakes out of the way!] After that, it all whipped together quite nicely and easily. I whipped the crud out of it and it was very good, though I didn't think it was quite the "near-whipped-cream" consistency everyone was talking about, so I might let it go a little longer next time. It was, however, very silky and tasty and I will be making it again!
[Oh, and I want to try the chocolate, too!]
I would love to try this recipe for my birthday in three weeks (yes, I have to make my own birthday cake), but I want to know if anyone has tried it gluten free and/or dairy free. If not, I'm going to try it on my own and I can share the results.
Don't worry Aileen, I make my own bday cake too :). I have not tried it gluten free yet but was trying to figure that out since my mom is allergic to wheat. I did see a gluten-free all purpose flour at my local walmart, FYI :).
I tried reading through all of these posts... maybe i missed it... but, is it okay to add gel coloring to this? have you ever done so? would i need more flour? I plan on making a very, very large batch and dividing it in 4 and then making 4 different colors for a tropical themed bridal shower. Thanks for the response!!
Yes, gel coloring works great! If you're making a huge batch, you might want to do it in 2 separate batches.
Thank you so much, Sara!!! I can't wait to try it!
omg this is the best ever! i did this for the first time last week for my niece's birthday cupcakes with little butterfly marshmallow fondants on top, and they were a GREAT HIT.
not sure if this will help or means that i did it wrong, but when i cooked the white sauce base, i think i did it a bit longer than i was supposed to (because of the warning that most people undercook it). it was not runny at all - in fact the whole gob collected on the ladle i was stirring it with. i got so worried. i chilled it anyway and then dumped it into the whipped butter and sugar, and in TWO minutes at medium high, i got the nicest icing ever! maybe it was a fluke but the icing was light, fluffy and super yummy. because the white sauce was so thick, i couldn't sieve it. but the lumps were barely noticeable. maybe the next time i try it, i will cook it till runny, sieve it and cook a bit more?
I just made this and it is DELICIOUS! I have to say, I was very nervous, I thought for sure it would be a disaster! I was using a hand mixer, so I wasn't sure if it would work as well. My flour/milk mixture was thick, so I stirred in about 1 tsp milk before I cooled it in the fridge to thin it out a little. This worked great! I used 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp almond extrace, and it has a wonderful flavor. Eight minutes with my hand mixer, and it was a wonderful frosting. My husband loves it! :) Thanks for the great recipe!!
I'm am SO excited to have found this recipe. I have 350 cupcakes in the freezer for my daughter's wedding reception on Saturday and qualms about frosting these light delicate cupcakes with heavy, sickly-sweet frosting. I've googled light frostings before and this is the first time you came up. I am so HAPPY. Just tried with a beautiful teal color, decorator tip and voila. Perfection! Am a bit nervous about how much in advance I can make this...so I'm leaving it out overnight to see. Will let you know what happens after several days. I will definately be sharing this link with my blog readers sometime in the near future.
Great Frosting!!!! I was a little uncertain about it but I am so glad that I tried it. The frosting came out great!!!
I made the rainbow cupcakes today as a practice set, for my daughter's birthday later this week, when I'm going to take 2 dozen to her class. They came out fine, really bright and vivid!
Then I made the frosting. I think you should put up a video of the cooking process for the milk and flour bit, because I was so unsure of whether mine was done or not... it got really thick and I could pull it with a spatula, see the bottom and then it would fill in again, so I took it off the heat. I let it cool on the counter, and when we whipped it up, it seemed to work, but... it wasn't as light or whip-creamy as I thought it was going to be (although it was very silky and smooth), and I thought it had a raw flour taste (only to me, hubby loved it), and a bit of an aftertaste... so does that mean I under-cooked it or over-cooked it?
Retro mom- I'm guessing undercooked, but I'm not sure. A video is a great idea!
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