Old-Fashioned Vanilla Frosting made without Powdered Sugar.
My *NEW* favorite vanilla frosting recipe! I used this recipe to frost an Easter bunny cake this spring, on cupcakes I made for my birthday last month & several times in between. The frosting is made with regular granulated sugar not powdered sugar. It comes in super handy if you don’t have powdered sugar on hand but still need to make vanilla frosting. It has to be cooked on the stovetop but it does not take long to make. It also works good for those that are allergic to corn because powdered sugar from the store has corn starch in it, this recipe contains no corn.
This recipe is pretty forgiving & easy to make. You cook the flour and milk together on the stove until it becomes a thick paste then you add it to the butter/sugar mixture to make a nice whipped vanilla buttercream frosting. If I am using the frosting to pipe on to cupcakes I sometimes add extra sugar to thicken it up more so you can add extra sugar if you need to when making it.
Note: This recipe will not taste 100% like powered sugar frosting recipes you may be used to, to me it is more whipped, creamy, & buttery. It is a little less sweet. I love it! Sometimes I find regular vanilla frosting to be too sweet. It is normal for this to be more grainy then powdered sugar recipes you may be used to because regular sugar is more coarse.
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons flour
- pinch of salt
- ¾ cup sugar (add up to ½ cup extra sugar if you want it on the thick side)
- ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Whisk milk, flour, and salt together in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Keep stirring until the mixture gets very thick and bubbly.
- Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
- In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer beat sugar and butter together until smooth and creamy. Beat in the cooled flour mixture until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla.
- *Note* If you want it to be thicker you can add more sugar. This recipe is very forgiving and if you want it a really thick consistency keep adding sugar to it.
Hard to get the lumps out of the flour milk mixture!!! I tried a few times then gave up
Hi Shawnee, I’m not sure what the problem could. There should be no lumps whatsoever in the mixture, it turns into a paste. Did you use a whisk or fork to mix it until it starts to turn thick and bubble?
how many cupcakes can this batch of icing cover?
Hi Lea, I frost about 18 cupcakes with this recipe. Thanks!
Katie thanks for the recipe i frost 12 cupcakes its was pretty good!!😋
Hi Isabelle, I’m glad it worked for you. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
Hey, how many cups of frosting does this make?
Hi Sophia, I have not measured out the cups but I use this recipe to frost a 9×13″ sheet cake and it also frosts 18-22 cupcakes. Thanks!
My mother taught me this recipe years ago. But, found a simpler one that you don’t have to cook but tastes the same. My favorite vanilla frosting.
1 c of sugar, 1/2 c of milk, 1/2 c of butter, 1/2 c of Crisco, 3 Tablespoons of flour, 1 Tablespoon of vanilla.
Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and beat until fluffy and sugar is dissolved. Beat on high, it will take awhile. Rub between fingers to see if the sugar is dissolved. I start clean up while it’s beating.
This frosting is amazing and pipes well.
Hi Patti, Thanks for sharing your families recipe. I would give it a try but I’m allergic to Crisco. I have heard that it works good for frosting though.
can you make this icing before you need it as I have a lot of cakes to make and it would be good if I can make this before hand
Hi Pauline, I have not tried making it ahead but I think it would work if you refrigerate it and then bring it to room temperature to frost cakes. Thanks.
You can substitute coconut oil for the crisco.
I followed your directions but it’s almost liquid, How do I thicken it ?
Hi Cynthia, It will be almost liquid in the beginning. I would continue to mix it with an electric mixer, add some more sugar, then continue to mix it, it should thicken up.
This is absolutely delicious. So good , next time I double it for my cinnamon rolls. Thank you so much!!
Hi Joanne, I’m so glad you liked the recipe. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
This recipe did not work at all for me … would not completely combine .. just looked watery and curdled .. never got “fluffy” at all
Hi Danielle, I’m not sure what the problem could be, the flour was a thick paste when you added it to the butter/sugar mixture correct? That should have been what thickened the frosting. If the frosting is too thin you can keep adding more sugar until it thickens to the consistency you want.
The watery curdle happens when the moisture is beaten for too long. Hope this helps.
Same problem. I added extra sugar and it came out watery.
Hi Heidi, I’m not sure what the problem could be, I make this recipe all the time now. It does look different then powdered sugar frosting and although it sometimes looks thin to me when I frost a cake with it it turns out to be just fine. You can add an extra 1/2 cup or more of sugar to it if you want it to thicken.
Mine didn’t come out watery at all! It’s actually a very cool way to make up for having no Powdered sugar in the house, &needing a good vanilla frosting. Some people just don’t understand the concepts of actually doing “one step at a time”
Only could become watery if the elbow work in the whisking’ part was t applied.
Hi Julie, I’m glad you had good success with the frosting recipe. It is one I make frequently. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
A friend makes a similar recipe but uses 5 tablespoons of flour in the milk, perhaps that might help to thicken the icing a little more? I am going to try your recipe, though.
Hi Jean, I hope you like the recipe. Let us know how it turns out for you. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Hi, everything seems great except it’s grainy… what can I do? I really love the flavor
Hi Lisa, This recipe is a little grainy compared to frosting that uses powdered sugar because the sugar granules are not as fine.
This is a recipe I always use for red cake but always use the superfine sugar like my mom did. Never grainy 😋
Hi! The flavor is absolutely devine! I used your recipe to make dairy free frosting, I swapped out milk and butter with subs, everything worked out fine until it became too thin, I tried to add more sugar but that didn’t work. I don’t want to waste it so I have it in the freezer, hoping it will set until my cakes are cooled. Ik sometimes dairy free butter can get too warm when whipped but I am still new to gf df baking. Any tips? A veteran gf df baker will absolutely be able to use this recipe with subs btw, like I said, I’m just new to it, haha. Ty!
Hi Ashley, I hope that cooling the frosting helps to thicken it up. This frosting doesn’t hold well when it gets too warm even with regular butter. I keep whatever I frost in the refrigerator so it stays firm. Adding more sugar helps too, I’d say you could add an extra 1/2 cup of sugar to the recipe and see if that helps too.
I’m making it now, but have a question, when I combine everything, do I cook it or just bet it, I’m using an electric beater, and it’s still really grainy, is that how it’s supposed to be,
Hi Vanessa, The only thing you cook on the stove top is the flour, milk, and salt. Then once it has cooled down some you then mix it in with the other ingredients with an electric mixer. Having it be more grainy then powdered sugar frosting recipes is 100% normal because powdered sugar is much finer.
I made this frosting today and I’m now converted! It was absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Deann, I’m so glad you liked the recipe. I make this recipe more often then the powdered sugar version now. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
Thank you for the incredible recipe! It worked perfectly as expected. I run a small organic baking operation and was faced with paying $1.60/Kg for organic granulated sugar or $9.00/Kg for powdered sugar. Needless to say, your recipe fixes a big problem, saves a ton of money, but does not compromise flavor, texture and pure perfection when it comes to butter cream as it should be. The granule size of my sugar is also much bigger than typical granulated sugar, but no crunchy sugar can be detected when all said and done. I have made every type of butter cream in my life (Italian, French, American) and this stands up next to those easily in both quality and indulgence.
I ended up tweaking your recipe to make a chocolate version. I simply added 15g of organic cocoa powder in with the butter and sugar. I then added 25g of melted organic 54% chocolate in with the final whipping where the vanilla is added. Delicious!
Thank you again!
Hi DF Haban, I am so glad you like the recipe! It is one of my favorites. I can’t believe the price difference between the 2 sugars, I’m glad you found a solution. I used to make my own powdered sugar by putting regular sugar into a food processor or a coffee grinder to make it into a fine powder. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
My granddaughters wanted to make cupcakes for Valentines Day. Guess what….no powdered sugar. I googled frosting with no powdered sugar….expecting to find nothing…your receipe came up. Due to time crunch, I didn’t go any further. We made a double batch and this will be my new favorite frosting receipe. Granddaughters loved it and they are picky. This was very easy to make. I have a hard time with frosting. Usually doesn’t turn out. This gets 5 stars out of 5 stars on easy, tasty & quick. Mine was thick without adding extra sugar! Thank you!
Hi Robin, I’m so glad the recipe worked out for you & your granddaughters! Thanks for taking the time to comment & let us know. We appreciate it!
What is the storage life of this frosting on fridge and freezer?
Frosting is usually good in the fridge for 2-3 weeks and up to 3 months in the freezer.
Oh my gosh. This is the best frosting ever. I love the fact that it is not as sweet as regular icing. And it is really not that hard to make.
I needed a recipe that didn’t use icing sugar as our Pastor has a corn allergy and I didn’t realize that icing sugar had cornstarch in it.
Thank you so much.
And to the person who got lumps in their flour mixture, try using your sifter as you add your flour and whisk your milk. Little bit at a time, worked great.
And to the person who said cinnamon buns….thanks….I am using this one now.
Thanks again. My new icing recipe.
Hi Gloria, I’m so glad you liked the recipe! It’s one of my favorite frosting recipes. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
Can I shorten this recipe and only use half of each ingredient to make it smaller?
Hi Alexzandra, Yes you can make half a recipe I do that all the time. Thanks!
Hi, I had the same problem as a few others with the milk/flour mixture not thickening. I added a little bit more flour and turned up the heat and it thickened right up real quick. Tastes great!
Hi April, Thanks for sharing. I am glad adding extra flour worked. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
This is absolutely exquisite! I love it so much 😍😍😍
Hi Liz, Glad you liked it. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
This recipe totally bailed me out when I found out we were out of powdered sugar while decorating a birthday cake. It tasted great!
Hi Rob, I’m so glad the recipe worked out for you. It comes in handy when you run out of powdered sugar. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
This was amazing I loved it so did my kids thank u
Hi Helen, I’m so glad you and your kids liked the recipe! Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it.
Love this recipe!
If anyone can make gravy, then you can make this. I didn’t watch it at first and it was really lumpy.
As everyone else’s did, mine was extremely lumpy. But, I mixed the cooled flour, milk and salt with a heated up rest of the ingredients and it was so much better.
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Hi Lynn, I’m glad you liked the recipe! Thanks for sharing your comments, we appreciate it.
Hi. Can vegetable shortening be used in place of the butter?
Hi Kena, I prefer to use butter for frosting recipes so I’m not sure how it would turn out with this recipe. I know it can be used in regular buttercream frosting recipes though.
i made this frosting for my favorite cupcakes. i wasn’t sure if it would be that good… i was wrong! this frosting is delicious!!!
Hi Alice, So glad you liked the frosting recipe and that it worked out for you. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
I only have unsalted butter. Will that work?
Hi Rita, Yes you can use unsalted butter but you probably want to add salt to the recipe. The ratio for adding salt to unsalted butter is 1/4 teaspoon for every stick.
Hello when I made mine it turned into a glaze not a frosting? What do I do
Hi Tyler, The frosting definitely shouldn’t have been a glaze, I’ve never had that problem before. Did you cook the flour and make the paste prior? Maybe it didn’t get thick enough. Also did you let it cool before adding it? Maybe it needed more sugar.
So like most of your comments, I needed some frosting & had no powdered sugar & uncle google popped up with your recipe. It was amazing! I needed peanut butter frosting however, so I took a chance when the frosting was done & added 1/2 cup of peanut butter & turned the mixer back on for a minute. It is just to die for! Thank you!
Hi Jennifer, I’m so glad you liked the recipe, the addition of peanut butter sounds delicious! Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it.
I used this Recepie today as I had no icing sugar and not much sugar if any kind actually .. so I halved all of the other ingredients and left out the salt…
I was a bit dubious of the paste at first as I thought it was turning lumpy but just kept stirring .. mixed together with butter and sugar mix it made a lovely texture! I added a bit of cocoa powder for the cake my son wanted to make..
Perfect.
I will use this again. Thank you
Hi, I’m glad the recipe turned out for you and you were able to make your cake. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
Hi. I dont know if I did it right. It came out grainy and thin. The flour mixture came out as a paste and was thin. Not sure what I could have done wrong. Any ideas?
Hi Tasha, If the flour paste wasn’t think that may be part of the problem, it might have needed more time to thicken up. Also this recipe does have a slightly grainy texture to it because you are not using powdered sugar. Powdered sugar is ground into a very thin consistency which gives regular frosting a very smooth texture but regular sugar is much coarser which gives it a slightly different texture. I actually like the taste/texture better then powdered sugar. Hope that info helps. Thanks!
HI, a skin formed when mine was cooling. This resulted in small lumps when I added to butter and sugar mixture ? I did it again, this time I covered the flour mixture with parchment paper but skin still formed, tried to scrape skin off but still lumpy (flour mixture was smooth). Help !
Hi Liz, I’m not sure what the problem is. It might help to only let it cool for 10-15 minutes, I’m not sure how long it sat but I’ve not had that issue before.
Hi um when i mixed everything together it became sorta liquidi what do i doo
Hi Natalia, It will look thin at first but if you made the flour paste and let it cool some it will thicken up, you just have to mix it for a couple minutes with an electric mixer, if it is still too thin then add more sugar and continue mixing. Thanks!
hi, i made this and it came out to taste like butter and sugar only. i added extra vanilla. what do i do?
Hi, I’m not sure what type of vanilla you used, I like to use pure vanilla extract vs. imitation vanilla for a better flavor. It should have had a vanilla smell/taste but it also does have a sugary/buttery taste to it. This recipe is not like traditional frosting made with powdered sugar since the sugar is coarse.
This was such an easy and delicious recipe! It saved my day. I made a cake for my husband and didn’t bother to check if I had powdered sugar in the cupboard, I didn’t. A quick Google search and your recipe literally saved the cake. This is now my go to frosting recipe.
The trick with the flour/milk (rue) mixture is to wisk, wisk, wisk. Don’t stop until the mixture is the right consistency and you won’t have any lumps or burned milk. ;)
Hi Shanna, I’m so glad you liked the recipe and that it was able to help you finish your cake! Thanks for sharing your tips and taking the time to comment, we appreciate it.
Excellent recipe! Loved the old-fashioned buttercream flavor. Reminded me of baking with my grandmother.
Hi, I’m glad you liked the frosting recipe. Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate the feedback!
I used two heaping tablespoons of floor, I wasn’t sure 2 level tablespoons would be enough. I think you might use 3-4 tablespoons next time, that might help alleviate any wateriness others are having. I like the fact that the flour is providing the thickening, not sugar, as my family doesn’t like the sweetness of traditional buttercream frosting. I think I should chill my frosting a little before applying it or frost on a slightly cooler day as it was very soft and hard to apply. I think also it would look better if I’d mixed it more after the sugar had finally melted into the water and milk, because it looks a little weird up close. But overall a great new addition and it’s very tasty.
Do you think that lemon or orange extract would curdle the milk if used in place of the vanilla? I’d like to use lemon extract next time. I might also experiment with bourbon as the flavoring, I think I’d like that as well.