The Best Frosting {a.k.a. Magical Frosting}
This magical frosting is simply the BEST frosting ever. It requires a bit more planning than every day buttercream, but the results are worth it.
I am rarely left speechless {if you are my husband you are seriously nodding your head right about now}. I like to talk {husband still nodding}. To dissect the details of important matters, such as great toenail polish and food {husband falling asleep}.
However, after taking a taste of this frosting, I was left completely speechless. No words. None. Just absolute, incredible tastebud bliss {husband shocked into silence himself}.
The Best Frosting of My Life
It is the best frosting I have ever tasted in my life.
You might have seen the phenomenon of this type of frosting swirling around. I tried the Tasty Kitchen version (highlighted by the Pioneer Woman) twice, and both times it was a disaster. I had given up on the so-called miracle of flour-based frostings until I saw and made this latest version.
It left me weak and trembling.
And do you know what tops it all? There is a chocolate version. Oh, heaven help me.
I slathered this frosting on the most decadent cake I’ve made to date (posting tomorrow!) and I can’t begin to describe the magical web of fluffy, creamy sweetness that is beholden in this frosting.
I am a self-professed frosting hater, which makes my testimonial of this frosting all the stronger. I abhor the greasy, filmy, overly-sugary taste of traditional buttercream. Even the adventurous seven-minute/marshmallow frostings of the world leave me wanting.
But this frosting…well, it belongs in The Best Recipe section no doubt about that.
My search for the best frosting is over.
I’ll be honest, it is a little more work and requires a bit more planning than throwing butter and powdered sugar together in a mixer but I’m promising you here and now that the results are worth every minute.
The real issue now becomes making sure any of this frosting actually makes it to the cake before being inhaled by my little lips.
One Year Ago: Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce
Two Years Ago: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars
The Best Frosting {a.k.a. Magical Frosting}
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (318 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (36 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups milk, I use 1% or 2%
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (340 g) butter, cut into 24 pieces and softened at room temperature (I use salted butter)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. Slowly whisk in the milk until the mixture is smooth. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a medium saucepan and pour the milk mixture through the strainer into the saucepan. Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture boils and is thick enough that it starts to become difficult to easily whisk. This could take anywhere between 5-10 minutes, depending on your stove, heat, etc. It should bubble quite a bit at the end (be careful of the splatters) and thicken considerably.
- Transfer the mixture to a clean bowl and cool to room temperature – this is extremely important! If it is even slightly warm, the frosting won’t beat up properly. I refrigerated my initial mixture overnight. If you do this, make sure to pull it out in time to let it warm back up to room temperature. If you try to proceed with the rest of the recipe and the mixture is too cold, the butter won’t absorb into the frosting like it should.
- Once the frosting is completely cooled to room temperature (it should have no hint of warmth at all!), beat the mixture with the vanilla on low speed until it is well combined, about 30 seconds (a stand mixer will work best for this). Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat the frosting until all the butter has been incorporated fully, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and let the mixer work it’s magic. Beat the frosting for five minutes, until it is light and fluffy. Let the frosting sit at room temperature until it is a bit more stiff, about 1 hour. I suspect if you chill it for an hour or so, it would be stiff enough to actually pipe with instead of frosting with a rubber spatula.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Cook’s Country Oct/Nov 2010
Made this yesterday and it was really good I add some dulce de leche when I cook the mixture and turnout great. this will definitely replace my buttercream, thank you so much
I made the chocolate version today using Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa and Ghirardelli’s chocolate bar. OH MY GOODNESS!!! Best chocolate frosting ever. Also made your chocolate cake and layered it with raspberry filling and it is AMAZING!!!
Can you use Gluten Free Flour?
I haven’t tried it but you could definitely experiment.
What happens if you would use brown sugar? I’m wondering how that would work in the chocolate version. Also, can I use 1/2 cup cocoa powder, what would the extra dry ingredients do for the texture? I’m looking for a deep chocolate frosting and love this.
I haven’t made either of those substitutions so I’m not sure, Lisa. You’ll have to experiment. Good luck!
Lisa, Cook’s Country also developed a brown sugar version and called it Caramel Miracle Frosting…it is also delicious! P.S? So is their Cream Cheese version (amazing!), and the chocolate one is great too, though I prefer a frosting with a stronger chocolate flavor.
This sounds amazing! Would this frosting work with the Viva paper towel frosting method?
No, I’ve tried it. Because it’s an all butter frosting, it doesn’t crust over like frosting that has shortening in it (which is the best for that Viva paper towel trick).
Holycrapthiswasamazing! Seriously so delicious! This might be the only frosting I ever make again.
I totally loved this recipe I made it twice and it came out perfectly I used half and half cream 10 percent I was wondering if I could use a smaller amount of butter say 1 cup butter I have a stand mixer so I beat it for 10 min I really thank you for this recipe my son in law said he liked as well as the expensive one they got on holidays so this recipe is making me look good my granddaughter is having a baby so they asked me to do them for here big shower thanks again
Have you (or anyone) tried to make this with shortening to get it to crust?
I haven’t tried it with shortening.
I have never made this with shortening, but may years ago I had a neighbor who used either all shortening or half shortening and half margarine* (I don’t recall which). I don’t believe this made it crust over but did give it a different flavor and texture, and is whiter than one made with all butter.
*This dates back to the days when people used margarine and was probably more of an economic issue for her than anything else.
PS I never had a problem with the separating as I do with this version but it’s an easy fix. Just keep beating it and it will come together. I’ve even made this ahead and frozen it.
I have been making a version of this recipe for as long as I can remember. Cook’s Illustrated made it better by adding the sugar to the cooked mixture (instead of creaming it with butter and then blending the two mixtures together which makes for a smoother end product with no grittiness at all) and by swapping out some of the flour for cornstarch. The straining also eliminates any possibility of lumps.
I recently started a batch and realized I only had half and half. I also used some vanilla which had come from the Dominican Republic (much thicker than what we are used to) and it was UNBELIEVABLE.
Also, I recently made a batch with a gluten free flour blend. It came out just fine. So yes, you can substitute the flour. You could probably also eliminate the flour and replace with just cornstarch, but I suspect the texture might be a bit gummy.
I have never tried the caramel version and don’t recall the ingredients list, but I just made a batch using light brown sugar instead of granulated in an attempt to achieve a cookie dough flavor. This worked perfectly fine as well. Based on previous comments, I might try the chocolate version and pipe both together into two-tone rosettes.
Help! I just made the milk mixture for this and it turned out more like a thick syrup than pudding consistency. Has this happened to anyone else?? I’d hate to use all that butter in the next step of its not going to turn out! 🙁
Third time making it – LOVE IT – shared with lots of folks! Thanks for making buttercream go away :).
Hey Mel!
Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe! It’s turned out absolutely amazing both times I’ve made it and it pipes beautifully! This is the first time I’ve come across your blog and I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Tried again and it still separated! It’s sooo yummy (pretty sure I gained 10 pounds today) but just looks funny. I added the cocoa to the original mixture but didn’t add chocolate at the end. Is that my problem? Maybe I’ll just try the original next time and see if I have the same issue. Everything was room temp etc. Grrrr. On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t perfect it so I can fit into my jeans! 3 birthdays in 3 weeks is bad news! Love all your stuff.
🙂 — a fellow Boisean (if that’s a word)
Shoot, Natalie. Sorry this still separated when you made it! I suppose it could be due to the cocoa powder without the chocolate – the melted chocolate may act as a bit of a binder. If you make it “normal” and it still separates, let me know and we can do some more troubleshooting. I hear you on the yumminess, though – don’t even TRY it sandwiched on graham crackers. Just don’t.
Hi there!
I’ve made this frosting hundreds of times and tonight it “broke” or separated and I couldn’t not fix it. Do you know of any tricks to salvage the frosting?
Thanks!!
Can you try adding some powdered sugar and rewhipping?
Mel, can I add food coloring to this. I need to pipe trees, will it stay formed?
Thanks,
Rhonda
Yes, you can add food coloring. I’m not sure what type of trees you are wanting to pipe – tall, stand-alone trees probably not. But just a decoration piped onto the surface of the cake should be just fine.
Remember this icing has real vanilla and butter and although it might not look it, there is a yellowish tint to it. So if you add a true green food coloring you might end up with olive green. Pink might be just a bit orangey and so on. This can even change with the time of the year because the butter changes.
I tried it and it seemed to separate as it sat. What did I do wrong??
Usually it means the frosting needs to be whipped longer to avoid separation.
This sounds delicious! I think I’m going to try your frosting for my son’s upcoming birthday party cake. I am doing a chocolate sheet cake (double layered) and then carving it into a number “5”. I would like do your frosting as filling, and then also as the main layer of frosting all over, but then to decorate with piped frosting in different colors and also a few fondant decorations. Do you think it’ll hold up to that kind of abuse? Haha. Will the color run? Thoughts? TIA!
This frosting pipes really well (especially if it’s refrigerated for an hour or so after it’s whipped up) and I haven’t had any issues with the colors bleeding. Good luck!
Thanks a bunch!
This is a fantastic recipe. I have successfully made the chocolate version with a lot more chocolate and it was to die for. I have also reduced the 1 1/2 cup sugar to 1 1/4 cup with no issues intact for what ever reason it came out better. We are toning down on sugary stuff and find as we go lower in our sugar content we are more sensitive to it in baked goods. I’d rather focus on favors then just sweetness anyway. So if you want to reduce it even more… You can definitely do so with a 1/4 cup…. Depending on how we like it I may even try 1/8th less next time.
“Magical Frosting” is a totally apt name for this. I was incredulous (which is silly because every recipe on this site is amazing) and I felt like an actual magician. This frosting was PERFECT. I piped it on cupcakes, and my coworkers raved about the frosting more than the cake! Thanks for giving me a new (and super impressive) go-to frosting!
I made this frosting and your Unbelievable Chocolate Cake & it was wonderful!!
Could you please tell me, how long does the frosting last in the refrigerator since it has milk in it? Thanks!!
Probably up to a week.
Thank you Mel!
This frosting knocked my socks clean off, from here to Texas. Seriously. It’s truly magical – best frosting I’ve ever had. I’ve made it (along with your chocolate cake recipe) at least 3 times now. I’ve even told my husband not to bake me a birthday cake (which always offers to do) because I simply MUST HAVE THIS ONE!
I have a lemon cake on the agenda, and I wonder if this frosting would work with some lemon juice and zest added to it, or whether I should just stick with a lemon buttercream / confectioners sugar-type frosting. Any thoughts? Have you ever tried it with lemon or any other flavor?
Hi Aimee – happy to hear you love this one. I haven’t made it with lemon but I believe several people in the comment thread have with great success.
Hi Mel,
I think I have finally decided I am making this frosting and your chocolate cake for my daughter’s birthday! Will there be enough frosting from this recipe to ice a 13 x 9 sheet cake and to have some left over to add food colouring gel to pipe letters on the cake? Thank you.
Are you frosting just the top of the 9X13 cake? If so, then yes, I think you would have enough to frost the top and do some piping.
A follow-up on making strawberry frosting: 6 dark strawberries mushed into milk and strained to yield 1.5 cups milk came out suuuper delish and very strawberry flavored. In all other ways like the original. However, the vanilla made the whole thing brownish, so I had to use 2 drops food coloring for pastel pink.
Also, I tried to chill this for piping, left it in the fridge too long and had to rewhip it. It was a hot mess texture-wise after that. But still delish.
Hi Mel,
I was wondering if I could pipe “happy birthday” on this kind of frosting since it does seems so light and airy…I am worried what ever I use may bleed into the white frosting? Can you suggest what to do? Should I frost the cake with this magical frosting and use another for the piping? Any suggestions are very much appreciated! Thank you!
Hi Melissa – I pipe with this frosting all the time (it helps to chill it first like the recipe suggests). Once you frost the cake with white frosting, it helps to refrigerate to let that frosting harden before piping another color on top.
I DID! Thank you! You are right about how great it’ll turn out! only downside is it can’t hold shape too well.
Hey Mel, I’ve just finished cooking the milk and flour mixture. The consistency is as you described it should be, but the color is strangely dark! I’m a bit worried and am hoping it lightens up once I add the butter. Any ideas what may have gone wrong?
Just wanted to say I finished making it and it is DREAMY!
I am glad it worked out!
Hmmm, that’s odd, Ruby – it should be a light color. Did you use all-purpose flour? Any chance the mixture overcooked?
Can i freeze this frosting?
I wouldn’t recommend freezing this.
If you frost first and then freeze it once it is on a cake, you’ll have no problems. My mother-in-law froze a leftover cake (who’s ever heard of leftover cake???) I made using this frosting, and it came out just as delicious when they ate it a few weeks later.
Mel, your frosting is perfect for me. Thnaks for this post. I will back.
Hi Mel,
I’m wanting to use your frosting recipe on a birthday cake. Have you had luck piping this frosting?
Thank you!
Yes, it pipes great.
^^sounds like a german buttercream.
I would describe the taste as whipping cream mixed with white chocolate. It bountifully frosted 24 cupcakes.
It was very good, but a few mouthfulls did leave me feeling sick (maybe it was more than a few?) I am already thinking about tweaking it with a cooked thick vanillia pudding replacing the flour & milk mixture. I think this will get rid of the “cookie dough” taste some were decribing.
Thanks for a great recipe!
Sort of sounds familiar. Make a custard, then beat butter into it. But custard has eggs in it and now you would have to keep refrigerated,
Hi Mel,
I LOOVE this frosting! I made it along with your unbelievable chocolate cake, and they were DELICIOUS. I am in no way an experienced baker, this is actually only my second time “baking” anything. My first time I baked a rainbow cake for my sons birthday and the frosting ended up being a total bust I just used cool whip as frosting ( lol). But I am so glad I found a frosting that is delicious, not too sweet, and overall amazing! It will be my go to. The process is not hard at all, a little time consuming but it’s worth it! Tastes better than any other frosting I’ve had (store bought) . Thanks for the recepie!
Hi, just saw this recipe and wish to try it. Would like to know if you can leave the cake for a few days without it spoiling. Th cake is not for a special occasion, I just like to bake and I make large cakes. Thanks, I am sooo tired of confectioner cakes like WIlton,s recipe. I will have to try it at another time though as I want to finish tonight
I reduced the amount of butter by a couple tablespoons and still had great results!
Can this be made to be peanut butter. I have used this as is and love, love, LOVE it. Just didn’t know if it would work and if so what would I have to do to adapt it to make it PB.
Thank you so much
I’ve never tried a peanut butter version but maybe you could decrease the butter by a few tablespoons and mix in 1/2 cup peanut butter at the end while whipping the frosting?
I haven’t tried it, but PB2 powder would probably work great!
I’m wondering if Kristy or Karen or anyone tried the PB version – AM LOVING THE IDEA!
Would you guess that one might add in PB2 powder in the same way one would add in cocoa powder? IN ADDITION TO ? or INSTEAD of actual PB when adding butter?
So I made a peanut butter version. I added 1/4 cup slightly packed PB2 to the flour mixture. I have a 3 tier chocolate petal cake to ice and half way through making this realized I probably wouldn’t have enough frosting. This is my first time making a cooked frosting so I. Wasn’t sure but wanted to err on the too much side. So I quickly cooked up a second batch and put it in the fridge to cool for a few hours. I had left the first batch on the counter with the butter while I was at work. I also needed more volume for my mixer to work properly. It’s a 5qt bowl lift. I was getting more butter out when I realized I wouldn’t have enough. So I added all I had, about 4 1/2 sticks. It needed more fat to it and didn’t have the peanut buttery taste I was going for. So I tried adding some regular peanut butter to a small sample and it worked wonderfully. I then added 1 cup to the whole batch and is great. Still short a few tablespoons of fat so I hope it holds up okay. It’s doing it’s hour of chilling now. When I finished I couldn’t stop eating it so I guess that’s a good sign. Will update when cake is served in a day and a half. I used my family chocolate cake recipe which is quick and easy and so good. It tastes better after sitting a few days.
Thank you Karen! I didn’t know that existed.
I’m making a birthday cake for my father-in-law for tomorrow afternoon. Can I use this between layers of a round cake, or is it not stiff enough to work there? I have four skinny layers (about half an inch) planned. Thoughts?
Hi Kasey – I use this between cake layers all the time! I hope this worked out for you.
It was perfect! I even added a little food coloring to two smaller batches and piped rosettes and a Happy Birthday message. No chilling of the frosting required! If I knew how to include a picture, I would. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
I would love to see how it turned out
Can you pipe this frosting with a pasty bag or is it betsy used to spread on cakes?
OOPS – best not betsy! 🙂
Yes, I pipe with this frosting all the time.
I think the quality of butter and chocolate play a big part in this recipe. Having tried both the pioneer woman’s and this recipe, I can’t see why this one would taste more buttery as I do not like the PW recipe for that very reason.
Hi Mel! I hate to say it, but this was the worst frosting I’ve ever made. It was for a birthday cake, and everyone commented on how it just tastes like butter. I made the chocolate version and it came together well, but the flavor was horrible. I’ve made the Pioneer Woman version, I think I’ll have to stick to that one in future. I was really disappointed, I wanted it to be great! Any ideas on why the flavor was off?
Not sure, CJ. Sorry you didn’t like it – it must boil down to personal preference since this is a favorite for us. Did you whip it for the amount of time in the recipe? I’ve found the long whipping time helps balance the flavor.
That was probably Pioneer Woman herself 😉
Good one, chuckle,chuckle.
Oh yum! What a great recipe! For years I’ve wanted an Icing recipe that isn’t sickly sweet and here it is! Absolutely divine! I didn’t have enough butter so I used margarine and still incredible and light. So I wonder how much better it would be with butter! Thank you for this. It will be used frequently in the future!
Looks yum!
Question! Will whole cream milk work in place of 1% milk?
Yes, I think you could sub in 2% or whole milk with good results.
I just made this frosting with mostly 2%milk. I put about 3 tbs of evaporated milk and the rest was 2%. (I thought it might need more fat?) It came out awesome! It’s going on my daughters birthday cupcakes. She said this frosting is what clouds would taste like. So light and creamy! great recipe.
I’ve made the PW’s version several times and this is superior. Cooking the sugar with the milk instead of adding it later makes it smoother. I’ve also been recently diagnosed with wheat/gluten intolerance, so I used GF flour (Krusteaz Gluten-free AP Flour). It worked very well! Once it was ready, I also stirred some lemon curd into the portion used between the layers. Delish!
I love the idea of having a frosting that is not super thick or super sweet, like most of the buttercreams that I’ve made in the past. I like that this is light and fluffy. I did add some whipped cream cheese at the very last stage, because I thought it wasn’t actually sweet enough. I also added maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup powdered sugar at the end and let it all whip in together. It was delish! Thanks for sharing!
I will definitely have to give this a try. I am a HUGE fan of whipped icing, and I seriously cannot find a recipe that compares to an icing I tried several years ago made by someone who won’t give up the recipe. I HATE that. It was like whipped cream, but not whipped cream. I don’t think I will ever get it, but I definitely want to give this one a try.
I live in Israel and we don’t have the same butter sticks as you have in the States. do you know the exact weight/grams/ml for the butter needed (24 tablespoons (3 sticks) butter, cut into 24 pieces and softened at room temperature)?
Thanks!
One stick of butter is 4 ounces.
Your recipe was amazing but a but on the salty side. I may leave out the 1/4 teaspoon of salt or use unsalted butter next time. What do you suggest?
Either of those suggestions sounds like it could help – I haven’t tried either one since I like the recipe as written but it’s worth experimenting to see. Good luck!
I use unsalted butter in all my frostings and baked goods. That way you control the salt. I made this recipe for my sister and forgot to add the salt and it came out perfect. The salt helps to cut the sugar so the frosting isn’t overly sweet.
Hi, I looked through the comments for this, but I don’t have time to read all of them all the way back in time.
I was hoping for a little more detail on the “difficult to easily whisk” step – I think “difficult” depends a bit on endurance levels and determination factor. 🙂 How would you describe the consistency of the mixture at the point when it’s thick enough to take off the heat – chocolate syrup, caramel sauce, paste?
It’s very thick, like a pudding consistency.
My cake partner and I used to call it “the blob” 😉
HI!! OMG can i hug you/ kill you? I have been looking for the perfect frosting since forever because i always try the American Buttercream but am always disappointed by the sweetness/grittiness. This cream is sweet and fluffy but the sweetness is not overpowering and makes one want to try more 😀 I am thinking of adding various flavors to this frosting, for example, some salted caramel. I will update you on the results later! Thanks!
Yes, I used to sell cakes and my customers from India , Pakistan and the far east were always surprised that they actually liked the taste of their children’s birthday cake.
I’m scrolling through the comments, but haven’t come across the answer yet. Have you or do you know if anyone has had success subbing gluten free flour for the flour. I’m recently eating gluten free, but love this frosting.
I’ve never tried a gluten free version, sorry, Kelley!
Hi there, I just added a new comment below about subbing GF flour. Success!
I was wondering if I could substitute liquid stevia for the sugar? I wouldn’t normally question it but I’m not sure if the sugar does more than sweeten in this case (texture, bulking, etc.)
That’s a good question, Rachel, but I’m afraid I don’t know the answer. You’d have to experiment to find out (or maybe someone on this thread could chime in if they’ve tried it).
Hi! This is my all-time favorite frosting recipe, but I’m not an experienced enough baker to know how to correctly adjust recipes (I am, however, an expert at INcorrectly adjusting recipes). My soon-to-be six-year-old has requested a vanilla cake with strawberry frosting.
Is there a way to add strawberry puree to this frosting without it becoming runny and/or off-putting??
The key with this frosting, in my opinion, is to add any extra liquid to the beginning step (cooking the flour mixture). I haven’t tried it but I wonder if you could replace some of the liquid with strawberry puree at the beginning?
I recently made this into a strawberry version, replacing the milk with frozen strawberries (the kind that come in the freezer aisle at the store that are sliced and sweetened) and blended them up and it was delicious! We used it on our favorite strawberry cake recipe found here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/strawberry-cake
I tried this recipe with fresh strawberry puree and it came out great! I took your suggestion Mel and put in the strawberry puree in during the step with the milk. I did not exclude any of the milk, but added about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of puree. It took closer to 8 minutes for the mixture to boil with the added liquid, but was fine. The frosting piped really well too after an hour in the refrigerator.
Sounds fabulous!