The Perfect Icing

This old-fashioned ermine frosting is as silky and dreamy as it gets. Made by cooking flour and milk into a smooth base, then whipping it with butter and sugar until impossibly light and fluffy, this frosting is less sweet than traditional buttercream but every bit as indulgent. With your choice of extract — vanilla, almond, orange, coconut, and beyond — it's endlessly versatile and pairs beautifully with almost any cake. Once you try it, it just might become your new go-to.

Yield: 1 cake or 24 cupcakes

Author: Kelli Bowman

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The Perfect Icing

Prep time: 25 MinTotal time: 25 Min

This old-fashioned frosting is as silky and dreamy as it gets. Made by cooking flour and milk into a smooth base, then whipping it with butter and sugar until impossibly light and fluffy, this frosting is less sweet than traditional buttercream but every bit as indulgent. With your choice of extract — vanilla, almond, orange, coconut, and beyond — it's endlessly versatile and pairs beautifully with almost any cake. Once you try it, it just might become your new go-to.

Ingredients

Icing

• 7 tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 c milk
• 1 1/2 c salted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 1–2 tsp extract of choice (vanilla, almond, orange, coconut, etc.)
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. In a medium skillet, add the flour and milk. Whisk continuously over low heat until the mixture thickens into a smooth paste.
2. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl to cool completely.
3. While the mixture cools, beat the softened butter and sugar for 5–7 minutes, until light and creamy.
4. Once the flour mixture has fully cooled, add it to the butter mixture along with a pinch of salt and your extract of choice.
5. Beat for another 5–7 minutes until the icing is smooth and fluffy.

Notes

• This recipe will frost one sheet cake. Double the recipe for a stacked or layered cake.
• For chocolate icing, mix in 1/2–3/4 c cocoa powder when adding the flour mixture.

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