Frosting that will get you hugs
There are two kinds of people: those who lick the frosting off a piece a cake and then those who eat the cake and not the frosting.
What do I prefer? Do you even have to ask? Both, together…in copious amounts.
For those who aren’t frosting people, their reasons usually are that it’s too sweet. I’ve never had that feeling but most of you know my sweet scale by now is a little skewed.
This frosting is for those that don’t like it too sweet.
I’ve been wanting to try this frosting ever since I saw it on the Pioneer Woman but was a little hesitant because it was flour based which didn’t sound appetizing at all and then it said to cook the frosting.
Cook the frosting? The result is silky, light, whipped cream-like frosting.
My husband teaches early morning seminary at our house. For one of his student’s birthday’s he asked if I could make cupcakes. What teenager, or adult for that matter, doesn’t want cupcakes at 6:00 AM? I’m always looking to make goodies so I said of course.
I was still sleeping when the birthday boy, Kevin, ate his birthday cupcake but my husband said he kept declaring that it was the best frosting he ever had.
I said, “Did you tell Kevin that’s actually the name of the frosting?”
My husband said, “No. But he liked it so much he did ask if it would be too weird if he gave you a hug.”
Hmm…at that moment it might have been a little weird since I was in bed…sleeping.
Frosting that will get you hugs
There are two kinds of people: those who lick the frosting off a piece a cake and then those who eat the cake and not the frosting.
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It took me around 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn it. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. You can place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools if you are in a hurry. Stir in vanilla. This mixture must be completely cooled in order for the frosting to work.
- While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat until it all combines and resembles whipped cream. Make sure you scrape down the sides every so often so that it all gets incorporated and whipped. If it's not looking like whipped cream, keep on whipping. This frosting is great for piping. Best served the same day.
Notes
Note: Your butter must be room temperature for this to work. Don't microwave it to get it soft. Bring it to room temperature on the counter.
Source: recipe from The Pioneer Woman
Can u use this frosting for to fill cupcakes or is there a better receipe
You can definitely use it to fill!
I am so happy with this icing! I have to do whipped icing for a wedding and I tried the whole whipped cream gelatin stuff and didn’t like it at all! I found this and so far it looks beautiful and tastes great. It’s sitting on the counter now to see how long it will keep it’s shape.
I left the cupcake I frosted out all night and it still looks the same as when I first frosted it! Thank you for this recipe!
I was extremely happy when I found this recipe but it is very sensitive! I ruined 2 batches bc I tried making a large batch. I was only able to double it and even then it didn’t turn out as good as when I cut the recipe in half
Oh and when I doubled it it left these awful yellowish chunks all through it
Thank you!
Thank you!
Is this recipe enough to frost the top of a 9×13 cake?
Yes! I should be plenty.
Plain or self rising flour?
All my recipes use plain flour unless specified. Good luck!
I apologize if someone has already asked this, but has anyone tried substituting the vanilla extract for almond to make an almond frosting? That sounds delicious to me, but wondered if there’s maybe a ratio I could use (1/4t vanilla + 3/4t almond) or something along those lines. I LOVE almond flavor, so I’d probably just sub it all for almond – just wondering if anyone else has tried!
I personally would sub it all for almond and add a splash of vanilla.
My friend goes to seminary at like 5 or somethin. He’s Mormon, and I always thought that was his church’s thing. I think he’s loony. Is early seminary like a Mormon thing? Or are other Christians that crazy. I aint about beauty sleep, but learnin at 5 sounds pretty hard to do. By the way, the icing was delightful.
Haha. I’m Mormon as well. Early seminary seems to be a Mormon thing unless there are other religions that do it as well that I don’t know about.
I’m like 4mo late with this comment but I used this to frost cupcakes for a coworker’s bday – back in November- after initially attempting some awful 10x nightmare recipe that wound up in my trash. I will NEVER use another frosting recipe again! This is FANTASTIC!!!!! Thanks!
Thank you! I love hearing that!
How many cupcakes does this frost?
About 2 dozen!
AMAZING! Do not be discouraged by other reviews. I don’t even like frosting, but this is delicious! I added 1 cup or oreo cookie crumbles. Whipped up perfectly. Thanks for posting.
You’re welcome!
I made this with the 9 yr old twins that I babysit and we had a blast!! We couldn’t keep our fingers off of the paddle it is soooo creamy and light! Delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bravo! The girls think the cupcakes that we made with this icing are the best ones they’ve eaten ever. Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Haha. Love this!
I RARELY, RARELY comment on things, but this frosting will most certainly get you hugs, and maybe some other things too!! It is absolutely divine and IF you follow the recipe, it is flawless.
I cooked my milk/flour mixture until it was VERY thick, thick almost like peanut butter…there was no pouring it in. I had to scrape it out of the pan and scrape my rubber spatula against the bowl and whisk to get it off. I let it cool for a long time and whipped the butter/sugar for quite a while too. The butter was a very pale yellow by the time I was ready to add the milk/flour/vanilla mixture. Mine never separated when I added it. I just beat it on a very high speed with my stand mixer until the grainy texture of the sugar had dissolved.
I am a sweet buttercream (cake is only a vehicle) frosting lover, but this has changed me. I’m not sure I can ever bring myself to make a powdered sugar frosting again. This was perfectly sweet and smooth like satin. It was NOT like the fluffy whipped bakery frosting. I’m not a fan of that, so this is the perfect marriage of sweet enough, slightly lighter than buttercream, but still holds its own.
If this is your first time making this, the only thing you will regret about this frosting is that you haven’t made it sooner.
Oh Jenn! Thank you, thank you! I agree and am so glad you do too and thank you for commenting.
My new fave icing…nothing else compares! It turned out so perfect and was amazing on a Chocolate Baileys Cake. wow
Love hearing that!
I love the taste of this frosting, but I keep having issues with consistency. I follow the recipe to a T and I come out with extremely runny (almost icing like consistency) that I can’t use. Any idea where I could be going wrong?
Are you beating the heck out of it?
I think this frosting is very great. I tried to make this frosting following all the instruction and at first it turned out to be just like what a whipped cream look like but during on the process of cupcake frosting its separating and i dont know why? i let the milk and flour mixture cooled enough when i add it to the butter. can this frosting be like whipping cream that if you over whipped it will turn into a butter like texture? i need your thoughts bout this since i really like the taste of this frosting. thanks.
I’ve heard others that this has happened to and basically you can’t overwhip this stuff. If it does separate you can whip it more.
Personally, I wouldn’t make this again. In fact, I couldn’t even use it… it turned out gluggy, had floury lumps in it, and separated when I put the butter in. I had to throw it out, and ended up making a vanilla and butter glaze for my cake.
I’m sorry Clare. It should definitely not have lumps. You should whip it until no lumps remain.
Hi, I’m looking for a light and not overly sweet frosting that doesn’t use eggs like IMBC or SMBC. I’ve seen this flour based recipe a few times and read the reviews here. just a couple questions; can I use cake flour or half cake flour/cornstarch and could I heat the sugar with the flour mixture? Thanks!
In my opinion, this recipe is very touchy and I don’t think that mixture will work.
I tried this recipe and was successful the second time and it was amazingly light and not too sweet. Can’t wait to try it with cream cheese as well as cream cheese frosting is my favorite as I love the tang!
I was a bit worried initially when it looked like the sugar wasn’t going to dissolve but after another 2mins of beating it was a beautiful consistency.
Thanks for this recipe!
I think that’s the key is really beating it when you think you can’t beat it any longer.
Ok, so I don’t have time to make this the day of the party. What should I do if I have to frost everything the day before? Should it be stored in the fridge? Should I skip this and make a different frosting?
Thanks!
I would store in the fridge for sure!
I have made this several times and gotten tons of compliments. Has anyone made it with fruit purée or juice in place of milk? Does it turn out?
I’ve been using this recipe, found in the premiere issue of Taste of Home, out of the Grandma’s Recipe section, for years! Once I tried it, I’ve never made another icing. I, too, thought it was a little weird to start with flour, and use granulated sugar?? But the results are nothing but amazing. A perfect icing, not too sweet, silky, creamy, and delicious. I’ve had requests for my scratch, Decadent Chocolate Cake, ever since. Try it!
The recipe I use calls for 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup crisco. I start the icing when the cake goes in the oven, and put the flour mixture in the refrigerator to cool while cake is baking and cooling.
Thank you for your positive feedback!
I have been making a variation of this for 50 years, we called it “poor mans whipped cream” and it was reserved for chocolate mayonnaise cake(Million Dollar cake) a little irony, there? The only difference in the recipe was instead of 2 sticks of butter we used 1 stick butter and 8 tablespoons of crisco. I later used this for cream filled cupcakes (chocolate, of course and Whoopie Pies. Best possible filling for Whoopie pies!!
I did forget to mention that pertinent to the success of this frosting the milk flour mixture has to be stirred constantly so that there are no lumps and it doesn’t catch (brown) on the bottom of the pan, as either event will ruin it.
Have been making this for 50+ years!!!! On my Waldorf Astoria
aka Red Velvet cake. Also on top of each layer top of frosting
I sprinkle coconut!!!!!!!
Yum!
Thank you ! It IS the best frosting I’ve ever made. Hope my guest will love it as much as I do.
Haha. You’re welcome!
i added a little bit of mint extract for my chocolate cupcake and IT WAS THE BEST DECISION I HAVE EvER MADE. great recipe! (:
This is one of my favorite frostings to make. I think I discovered something messing it up though. I made the mistake of using substitute butter instead of regular butter and it came out very runny and curdled. I didn’t throw it out for some reason and instead put it in the fridge for a few days and last night, I took it out, poured it into a pie crust (after mixing some pureed pumpkin it) and baked it for about 30-40 minutes. When it came out of the oven, the oil/water entirely separated from the rest of the batter and I thought it was a failed experiment. I left it on the stove for an hour or so and noticed that it thickened up a lot because my sister asked if she could eat it, so I put it in the fridge overnight and it thickened quite a bit. I could cut it like a regular pie with no dripping or anything. I topped it with whipped cream and now it’s just a delicious mistake and I have no idea what I just made.
Haha. Wow. I have no idea what you just made either. Yes, you definitely cannot use substitute butter in this recipe. Fun experiment though.
How many cupcakes would this recipe frost? Like the ones you pictured?
It’s supposed to frost 24 but if you do it as liberal as me only about 18.
A friend of mine made this and tinted it light pink and put it on a chocolate cake. It was very pretty, the contrast. I thought it was great. I tried it and it didn’t come out right. It tasted like flour. After reading all the comments I will try it again. Thank you
The texture is fabulous. Light and fluffy light whipped cream. However, it personally isn’t sweet enough for me and I don’t like that I can taste the flour.
Hi!
I tried this out! My frosting turned out yellow though. What did I do wrong?
Hmm. It could be the brand of butter you used. What brand did you use?
I bet it was tinted by your vanilla extract.
ok so after eyeballing this method for over a year I finally made it today. SO EASY AND THIS IS TRULY THE BEST FROSTING EVER. It’s light, fluffy, melt in you mouth consistency, and not sickly sweet. The method is intimidating but truly simple in execution.
I thought I had screwed the pooch with my milk and flour mixture, it was super thick–but I added it anyways and it still worked. It thickens very fast (esp if you half the amts like I did).
Overall, this came together faster than my usual cream cheese butter cream or wilton traditional buttercream and was so much tastier. Easy to pipe on cupcakes. I would not use for fine decorations. Great for cupcakes,cake coverage, filling, large flowers, on cake methods, etc.
just halved and made this frosting thankyou so much not sweet and great texture just what you nee if you run out of powered sugar and cheaper
Mine tasted good but came out really grainy (Like the sugar did not incorporate) no matter how much I whipped it. What did I do wrong? Can I try it with powdered sugar?
Sounds like your sugar didn’t dissolve. You can try with powdered sugar. You will need more than what called for though.
I used this frosting for Strawberry and Oreo Cookie cupcakes and it is the BOMB! Absolutely the best frosting I’ve ever made. I added vanilla bean instead of regular vanilla. I have to say, that I was nervous about making it for the next day, since your note says that it is best if eaten the same day. I decorated the cupcakes and they were perfect two days after. Allow to sit until it gets to room temperature and the frosting is still AWESOME! Thank you so much for sharing.
This looks incredible! I’m starting out as a new baker, if i add coloring to the frosting for example, i need it to be a light blue will it ruin the frosting in anyway?
No it shouldnt!
My mother has been making this for years also and it was given to her by my great grandmother. This is my all time favorite icing.
I followed this to the letter but it came out too liquidy…help! how do I fix it? can it be fixed? it tastes great but I can’t use it on anything 🙁 it has a light yellow tint (not white), but that doesn’t really matter. I used 2% milk–was that the problem? Thanx for your advise
Yes, whole is best. You probably should have cooked it until it was thicker.
I love this frosting. Ive been making it for years, but i cook the sugar in with the milk and flour.
OMG i just done it!!! is perfect it taste like whipped cream is delicious and so white and super soft i loved it and everybody here too!!! thanks for posting it
I guess I messed this up somehow. It’s kinda runny. Tastes decent but it wasn’t the texture I thought I was going to get.
Quick question. Do you think this icing would work very well for icing/decorating a cake? Or is it more for piping onto cupcakes?
Thanks!
You could definitely use it for both. As you see in the notes it’s originally from The Pioneer Woman and I know she uses it for cakes.
could I use this on a cake? any suggestions/notes?
Yes! It’s great with cakes.
I’ve just finished making the flour and milk slurry and am waiting for my butter to soften. I’m wondering if I can use my food processor to ‘whip’ up this icing. I don’t have a hand mixer, but do have attachments that are used for making whipped cream. Has anyone used their food processor?
I’m disappointed! What looked like a straightforward recipe turned into a hot mess and uniced cupcakes! Help! Looks curdled! And I whipped FOREVER!
I just made this- yum! But- since I was really looking for a good cream cheese frosting recipe I added an 8oz block of Greek brand cream cheese and another tsp if vanilla- oh my. Perfection! Thank you so much!!!
This by far is the greatest recipe I ran into so light fluffy not to sugary!!! Excellent recipe thank you for sharing I’m the happiest baker in the world!!! I sifted my flour and added the milk to the flour gradually to avoid lumps other then that I followed your instructions and my friends raved!!!
Hi.
I’m in the UK and I’m a bit confused as I know we have different names for our sugar.
We have granulated sugar which is very course, used in tea and coffee, caster sugar which is a bit finer than the granulated, used forbaking and icing sugar which is powdery and used for frosting.
I believe that our caster sugar is your granulated sugar, can anyone confirm this, please?
Also as there’s milk in this recipe, how long will it last for as it won’t be in the fridge?
Thank you
Teresa, I believe you want caster sugar and this frosting is best served the same day but should be fine at room temperature for the day.
My mom made “Red Satin” cake, which is basically red velvet cake with a variation of this frosting (8 T flour instead of 5 T). She always sprinkled sweetened coconut over the frosting. So yummy. I think she said the recipe came from Neiman Marcus or Macy’s (or maybe that’s an urban legend). My older sister, in her 60’s, requested this every birthday as a child! Who would have thought boiled flour and milk could be so good!
I grew up with this frosting, hardly use anything else. I’ve always made it with 1 heaping tablespoon of cornstarch instead of the flour and used 1 stick of butter and 1/2 cup of shortening. As many times as I’ve made it, it will occasionally break. Not sure why, so I just blame it on the weather! lol
I was just wondering why you cant use powdered sugar for this frosting recipe? Years ago when I first started using this recipe I used powdered sugar and it came out fine. Lately when I see a recipe for cooked frosting like this it usually says not powdered sugar. HELP!
I’m not sure why it would say that unfortunately. I’m sure if you’ve used it in the past then you would be okay to use it.
The only difference in using powdered sugar is make sure you are measuring by weight, not volume.
Is it possible to over-whip this? After about one minute of beating I had a nice whipped cream like consistency but continued to whip because I thought I had to whip the living daylights out of it. Now it seems a bit thinner as if it melted a bit. I think maybe the butter got too soft with all of the whipping? Is there a way to save this? Maybe stick it in the fridge for a bit, then take out and whip for a minute? Has anyone tried that?
Yes, I have stuck it in the fridge and then whipped it again. I could see how the butter might get soft.
I have been reading the comments with interest, because there are such a wide range of successes and disappointments with this recipe. I haven’t made it yet- I just discovered it- but I had to think about the science which was troubling so many of your cooks, because I want to be successful. The issue here, from all of my research, isn’t the COOLING. It is the TEMPERATURE, DURATION OF COOKING and OVER-STIRRING while it is being cooked which are the problems. I will attach a link for you to read up on the science. Basically, in order for the flour to absorb the liquid, which is milk, it must come to a BOIL and while you gently keep stirring, it must cook at a low boil for 3 minutes at least to incorporate the liquid I to the starch molecules of the flour. If you don’t do that, the liquid will separate from the “structure” or flour, and you will have a globby mess. It probably would be best to use at LEAST 2% milk! which will help reduce clumping. Once this mixture has become like a somewhat runny batter, or white sauce and boiled,,it will thicken upon standing because the starch molecules will absorb more liquid, giving you a reliably stable product. For the last step, I believe that it is essential that you have sufficient BUTTER. You can err on the side of a bit too much but NEVER too little. You must have enough FAT to basically act as a molecular balloon around the other ingredients, as you best AIR into it. I think that if it looks like it won’t thicken, try adding more FAT, bit by bit, until it the science of the recipe gives you the results you need. There are lots of “variables” in this recipe , but I think the points I’ve covered will clear up the mystery. Here is the link on starch: http://www.finecooking.com/articles/thickeners-food-science.aspx?pg=0. Good luck to us all. Cooking is all about science, but we just don’t think about it!
Thank you so much for all of the helpful information!
Hi, really want to try this recipe. But would just like to know how much butter is 2 sticks in grams? I ask this because I will be using butter from a tub.
Thank u in advance 🙂
1 cup butter (or 2 sticks) is 230 grams. Hope that helps.
Definitely the BEST FROSTING I’VE EVER HAD!
Everybody LOVE IT!
I don’t think I will do any other frosting in the future, but this one.
THANK YOU!
This looks wonderful but I was wondering does anyone know if the granulated sugars effect the texture??
It whips out so you shouldn’t notice it in the texture if done correctly.
I wasn’t going to leave a review saying i hated the icing out of courtesy, but i thought what if i had seen at least one person say that the icing tasted like boiled milk, i probably wouldn’t have spent so much time and ingredients making it. But if other people read this and are wondering about the icing this is my suggestion.
It will look nice, and be like whipped cream and appear oh so good. But if you are like me and the smell-let alone the taste- of boiled milk make you gag then this recipe isn’t for you. I wonder why it never occurred to me before making it that the milk would actually have to cook up…but i couldn’t stand when my mother used to boil milk, the smell and taste were revolting to me. It just had this boiled milk taste that i couldn’t hide no matter how much vanilla and icing sugar i added on top. Thankfully i found a great vanilla icing recipe that wasn’t too sweet, and didn’t have a boiled milk taste.
I’m rather intrigued why so many people like it, do you enjoy the taste of boiled milk in frosting? I will not be trying any cooked milk frostings in the future…you just can’t hide the boiled milk flavour. URG so gross.
Thanks for your honesty!
I believe I’ll have an issue with the milk as well. What was your great vanilla frosting recipe?
Yesterday was the first time I’ve come across your website because I was looking for a frosting that wasn’t too sweet. This one was sooo easy to make and it turned out perfect, I cut the sugar in half because it suited us the best that way, it really was perfect! Thank you so much, this was my first time baking a cake ever so this really helped me a lot!
This is my absolute favorite frosting recipe – it’s like a mix between italian/swiss meringue buttercream and a whipped cream frosting. I’ve used it MANY times so far, and plan to many more. Here are some tips and tricks!
-Make sure you cook your flour mixture long enough, and stir it frequently (I usually do it closer to constantly) to make sure nothing is burning on the bottom. You’ll know it’s done once the mixture starts popping big bubbles – give it 1 more minute after you see the first bubble, and you’re good.
-Strain your flour mixture before letting it cool!! This is super important for the most perfect result, otherwise you might get little tiny balls of cooked flour in your frosting – blech.
-Some people complain that their frosting ends up being grainy or crunchy. If you’ve experienced this, or want to avoid taking the chance, grind your sugar in a food processor before adding it to the butter. IF you don’t have an FP, they sell superfine sugar in most supermarkets.
-The cold issue – many people write here that this frosting is only good if you’re using/serving immediately. This is kind of true, and kind of not. It will be absolutely fine if you’re frosting your cupcakes/cake after you make it, and then chilling them to use the next day or the day after. As long as you’re not agitating the frosting once it’s cold, I’ve never experienced a problem. If you want to try to make it and store it in the fridge, and THEN use it to frost the next day or the day after, do so at your own risk. It will separate, but it should come back together with enough high-speed mixing and a reasonably warm room temperature. I recently used it for catering desserts for a wedding. Made it in the morning – put it in the fridge for a few hours – then put it in the mixer. Sure enough after about 5 seconds of agitation it started to separate. However, after another 3-5 minutes of mixing it on super high speed, it all came together again. I can’t guarantee you will or won’t have problems with this, but try it sometime! Tonight I’m actually going to try frosting a cake, and then freezing the whole cake to be served next week, so I’ll come back and report the results.
Also, in my experience, one batch of frosting for 12 liberally-frosted cupcakes, and three batches for three-layer 8″ cake.
Thanks for all of the feedback!
Totally agree with you on the description of “a mix of Italian/swiss meringue buttercream”…. Simply, the BEST!
This recipe is very old. I first experienced this icing about 40 years ago when an acquaintance of mine brought a cake to a neighborhood get together. I wanted to make a fool of myself and eat the whole thing. I just had never tasted such light, delicious icing. I got the recipe and tried to make it but somehow messed it up. Thanks for posting it though.
EXCELLENT frosting! I think it would be great with ANY cake. I will keep this recipe handy. THANKS 🙂
Just made this frosting and OMG it is the best ever. I am eating it with my fingers. yum
Hi – how many cupcakes does this frost? Thanks!
It frosts about 24 cupcakes.
Hello. I was wondering if I could use tub butter instead of stick but. Thanks.
Sure. It has to be butter though. No margarine…
Yep-This is the icing that was meant for Red Velvet Cake – if you haven’t tried it on one YOU MUST 🙂
I haven’t tried it on other cakes but when I saw it, I was like…yeah, that would work on other cakes too.
I’m not a fan of cream cheese icing on red velvet cake and understand why a lot of people think this icing is hard to do but it’s not and it’s worth the little extra work!
Thanks
Pat
I just made this and tossed the whole thing. It had gooey lumps in it and tasted like milky icing. Not my favorite or my best. Now I have naked cupcakes until I can make some bc tomorrow.
did you let the cooked flour and milk cool completely? Also it may have happened because the mixture wasn’t cooked completely – don’t give up on it. It’s worth it.
I just made this and tossed the whole thing. It had gooey lumps in it and tasted like milky icing. Not my favorite or my best. Now I have naked cupcakes until I can make some bc tomorrow.
Mosey,
I will say that this is a tempermental recipe. When in doubt whip it into submission. I’m sorry it did not turn out for you!
Hi! This looks amazing! I’m thinking of using it for cupcakes at a graduation party! I wanted to know, how many cupcakes could I ice (liberally) with this one batch?
I would say that it frosts about 12 liberally. If the party is outside it may be better to use a different frosting. This one does not hold up well to heat.
From what I’ve read on other sites of this recipe, it holds up very well in hot and humid climates. I have made it a few times with a well cooked and cooled flour mixture, turned out great, brings to mind old school butter cream frosting from my youth. Btw, this is the original frosting of red velvet cake.
I love this frosting, but it’s tradition name is “cooked flour frosting.” It is, indeed “the” frosting for red velvet, though I like it on devil’s food too.
I tried this recipe the other day. Did everything as it says to the note. But when I had whipped it (with an electric hand beater) it didn’t whip up like cream, it stayed like the consistency of a cake mixture. I put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to see if it would thicken up, but no…. Was very disappointed…
This is genius. Super easy and delicious! I used a 1/4 cup of almond milk in place of the regular milk, however. Turned out perfect yet! Deffinently one of the best frosting recipes I’ve tried 🙂
Should I use unsalted butter?
Could I use peppermint extract??
Cant wait to lick the spoon 🙂
You should use unsalted butter and peppermint extract would be great.
Hi there! I’m hoping to use this recipe (+coloring and mint extract) for some wedding cupcakes I’m making this summer.
Have you ever doubled or tripled this recipe? I’m doing 60 cupcakes with large swirls of frosting, so I’m thinking I might need to make this recipe times 5, but I’m wondering if it wouldn’t work well if I tried to do it all at once…
I think you could double or triple it for sure. You would have to have a really big bowl to do 5 batches all at once!
Thank you for this recipe. It is an amazing technique to substitute the icing sugar. I have never been much of a fan of icing sugr bcause of its uncanny sweetness. But, this cooked frosting will cenrtainly give you an edge with that. BTW, isn’t this recipe using almost the same technique as of making Bechamel sauce?
Yes, you’re right. I love a good Béchamel sauce.
Thank you for this recipe, it was what I have been looking for for years!! The normal butter cream is always too sweet even though I only use 2 cups compared to 4 the recipe calls for. But this flour one was amazing. My flour/ milk cooked up in less than 30 seconds, I was actually scrambling to get it whipped up before it burned. I also used 1/2 skim and 1/2 half and half (what I had). this will most definitely be a staple, love it!
I’ve tried this today, at first I was a bit dissappointed because the taste of cooked flour is over empowering all the other ingredients so I added a tsp of almond essence and voila! the taste was perrrfect, so creamy and nice….also, just so you know, I’ve used caster sugar instead of granulated or regular white sugar because i was worried it may come out gritty, the result was smooth and lovely to pipe icing, the best of all the icings I’ve tried before. I would definitely use this again.
what kind of flour?
Tracia,
Just all purpose flour.
Oh my word! This was AMAZING! Tried this directly from Pioneer Woman and it completely failed a couple years ago. Saw this post, didn’t realize it was from Pioneer Woman and tried it again, this time really paying attention to the directions and her stress on proper heating, cooling then whipping. Delicious, not gritty, airy, perfect sweetness and richness; just perfect. Did the middle layer of a tiered cake normal, but for the outer layer frosting I melted milk chocolate and whipped it into the frosting to make it chocolate… Divine! Doubled it for a three tiered cake and had plenty to spare.
Hello! this look delish.. Should the butter be straight from the fridge or room temp?
I think it should be a little soft but still cold. Somewhere in between the two.
help help! i’ve been whipping for a half hour and it doesn’t seem to be working. 🙁 the ingredients still seem separated, the look like a vanilla frosty as opposed to whip cream. what did i do wrong?
Was your flour mixture completely cooled? That’s very important.
Hello,
Just found your website as I was looking for a frosting which is creamy and light but not too sweet. Had it once on a shop-bought cupcake and it was a case of ‘once tasted never forgotten.’ Whenever I ask people who bake what type of frosting it might be nobody ever knows. But I think I may have found it or something very similar with this frosting. So I shall be giving it a go in the next few days. If in the meantime you can post the weight of the ingredients in grams or ounces that will help me a lot as I only am familiar with metric or UK measurements.
Linda,
Ahh! I know there are conversion charts out there but I’m not sure how convert it correctly.
We’ve been making and eating this frosting for 43 years. My mom’s best friend Marge put it on all of her cakes and cupcakes. And she always topped it with chopped walnuts. Brings back lots of happy memories. In fact I put this on a cake I made for my husband and he couldn’t believe it was cooked on the stove!
thnx christy
i tried it today with adding some brown sugar the taste came out great but it kept on spearting even after 15 minutes of constant whipping now its in the fridge (in its spearted form )
don’t know what went wrong … :/
As I followed directions on how to make this recipe mine did not turn into a whipped texture at all. After following all directions carefully, I’m not sure why the texture didn’t turn out as whipped frosting. It still taste verrrry delicious but for sure is not whipped enough to put on my cupcakes. . .
How long should it take to have to whipped final product for piping?????
Keep on whipping! Did you cook it long enough?