Ermine Frosting is an old-fashioned recipe also often known as “boiled milk frosting”. It’s silky smooth and less sweet than traditional buttercream and is the traditional frosting used for red velvet cake. If you’re not a fan of sugary, overly-sweet icings, you’ll appreciate the more subtle sweetness but beautiful pipe-ability (it’s great for decorating) of today’s recipe. Recipe includes lots of tips and a how-to video so you can have flawless results in your own kitchen!
Adding another one to my frosting library today! This was a must-have considering the recipes I have coming for you later this week… (hint!)! Ermine frosting is a classic, old-fashioned recipe that’s been around for ages. I bet your grandmother knows how to make it!
It’s great for piping and can be colored with food coloring. While there is some stovetop time required, there’s no candy thermometer needed. If you’ve tried my Whoopie Pies yet and made the filling, you’ve essentially had ermine frosting before, but today we’re making it the traditional way with granulated sugar.
What Does Ermine Icing Taste Like?
If I had to compare it to any of my other frostings I would say it most reminds me of my Swiss meringue buttercream. It’s buttery, silky smooth on the tongue, and not too sweet. In fact, it’s much less sweet than traditional buttercream frosting. I have to be careful when I make it, it’s so delicious it’s easy to eat several cupcake’s worth by the finger-full without even realizing it.
What You Need (and Key Ingredient Tips and Substitutions):
- Sugar. We are using white granulated sugar and not powdered sugar (which is the most commonly used icing sugar, and what I use for my cream cheese frosting.). Don’t worry, we’ll cook this with our flour and milk so your icing will not be grainy. Brown sugar may be substituted (expect a richer, slightly caramelized flavor!).
- Flour. Use all-purpose or plain flour, and whisk it well with the sugar to remove any lumps. Flour works as a thickener here and we’ll be making a pudding out of the flour, sugar, salt, and milk. This will then be whipped into the butter, giving our Ermine frosting its signature consistency and smooth, velvety mouthfeel.
- Salt. For flavor.
- Milk. I use whole milk, but 2% milk would work as would almond or coconut milk.
- Butter. I recommend using unsalted and adding salt to best control the flavor, but if you only have salted on hand please see my post on substituting salted for unsalted butter. The butter should be softened, but not so soft that it’s greasy or melty or your ermine frosting will be too soft.
- Vanilla extract. You may substitute your favorite flavoring, but vanilla is the classic flavor used here.
If you’d like, you can also add any food coloring. Stir this in at the end until the desired color is reached (I love using gel food colorings for the most vibrant color).
How to Make Ermine Frosting BRIGHT White
Ermine frosting typically turns out to be very white, but if your butter is particularly yellow or your vanilla extract particularly dark, then sometimes it doesn’t have that pure, snow-white consistency you might be looking for. To get a pure white frosting, I recommend using clear vanilla extract instead of typical vanilla.
If that isn’t enough to keep your frosting a true-white color, you can add a tiny bit of violet colored food coloring. And I do mean a tiny bit! I dip the very end of a toothpick into the food color, dip that in my frosting, then stir well. This works because violet is on the opposite end of the color wheel from yellow (and if your frosting isn’t bright white, it’s yellow from the butter and vanilla), so we balance this with a tiny hint of violet for bright white frosting.
What to Pair It With:
Ermine icing is traditionally made to be served on red velvet cake and red velvet cupcakes. Click the links to see my perfected version of each.
It will also work with just about any of my other cake or cupcake recipes but pairs especially well with my chocolate cake, coconut cake, chocolate cupcakes, and dark chocolate cupcakes.
Troubleshooting
While ermine frosting is generally pretty simple to make, occasionally a would-be-cake-decorator finds themselves with a melty, gloppy mess instead of a bowl of billowy smooth frosting. There are three main issues that usually cause this, and knowing about them in advance and knowing what to look for is the best way to prevent this.
Runny Frosting
- Your roux wasn’t cooked properly. It’s important to whisk constantly while cooking and keep your heat on medium. Do not crank the heat up to high to speed up the cooking process, or you’re liable to burn your roux and the sugar won’t have a chance to melt properly. Remember: medium-low and slow is the way to go!
- The flour mixture was added to the butter before it was cooled completely. This is so important. If your roux is even a bit too warm when you add it to your butter, you’ll have a greasy, curdled mess on your hands. Have patience and let it cool completely.
- Your butter was too soft. Remember, you want it to be softened, but not to the point where it is melty or oily to pick up. If your butter is too soft (this happens quickly, especially during the summer) you could end up with an icing that’s much too soft and runny. I usually remove my butter from the refrigerator 45-60 minutes before I’m ready to begin creaming it for the frosting.
If your frosting isn’t necessarily “runny” but is still quite soft and difficult to decorate with, it may just be a bit too warm. Pop it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes before using.
Help! My Icing Curdled!
If your ermine frosting looks curdled, split, or grainy, the most likely problem is that either your butter was too cold or your flour mixture was too cold.
Don’t worry, there’s still hope! Keep whipping it (this could take several minutes or longer) and most of the time it will eventually come together.
Storing and Making in Advance
You can make ermine frosting up to a week in advance of using. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Before using, let the frosting come sit at room temperature for at least 15-30 minutes. You may need to briefly whip it again with an electric mixer to return it to the proper consistency before using. Alternatively you may freeze in an airtight container for several months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then follow the steps above (sit at room temperature and re-whip) before using.
Once you’ve frosted your cake or cupcakes, this icing will do well at room temperature (below 75F) for up to two days. Beyond that I recommend refrigerating. As with just about any frosting recipe, this one does not stand up well to heat and is prone to melting outdoors at high summertime temperatures.
Other Recipes to Try:
Enjoy, and stay tuned for my long-awaited Red Velvet Cake recipe that’s coming later this week!
Let’s bake together! Don’t forget to watch the how-to VIDEO in the recipe card!
Ermine Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 5 Tablespoons (40 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (236 ml) milk¹
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened but not melty
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Combine sugar, flour, and salt in a medium-sized saucepan and whisk well to combine and remove any lumps from the flour.1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 5 Tablespoons (40 g) all-purpose (plain), ¼ teaspoon salt
- Turn stovetop heat to medium and whisk in milk until mixture is smooth.1 cup (236 ml) milk¹
- Continue whisking constantly until mixture is thickened to a pudding-like consistency (do not crank up the heat or you’ll burn it and the sugar won’t dissolve properly) and the whisk leaves a trail.
- Remove from heat and pour into a heat-proof container and cover the surface with a piece of plastic wrap, wax paper, or parchment paper pressed directly against the surface (to prevent a skin from forming). Allow to cool completely to room temperature (alternatively you may make this mixture a day or two in advance, store in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before proceeding).
- Once flour mixture has cooled, use an electric mixer or stand mixer to beat butter on high speed until it is light and fluffy (this usually takes several minutes, and you may need to scrape the bowl with a spatula).1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- Reduce mixer speed to medium and gradually add flour mixture, one heaping spoonful at a time, waiting until each spoonful is incorporated before adding the next and beating until all ingredients are well-combined. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula, then stir in vanilla extract. Gradually increase speed to medium-high and whip frosting until it is smooth, light, and airy (it should not seem greasy). If you have any difficulty or experience your frosting splitting please see the troubleshooting section in the blog post.1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Use your spatula to deflate the frosting to work out any air bubbles, then use as desired.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Before using, allow icing to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or longer and then re-whip with mixer before using. Frosting may also be frozen for several months, thawed in the refrigerator, and then brought to room temperature, whipped, and used.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Mallery
Have you used this frosting to pipe rosettes on the sides of a cake?
Sam
Hi Mallery! I have not tried it. It is a softer frosting. It likely could possibly be done if you keep the cake cooled. If you plan to do a lot I would use a sturdier frosting.
Jessica
The texture of this frosting was good, but all I could taste was flour. It was definitely cooked enough. It also wasn’t sweet enough, in my opinion (and I don’t like super sweet frosting)
Sam
I’m sorry to hear this happened, Jessica! What happened with the texture? I actually provide tips in the post on exactly when to add things to avoid a bad texture in the frosting. Did you omit some of the sugar or butter? I’m not sure why it would taste like flour? 🙁
Molly
did you weigh your ingredients? if you didn’t weigh the flour and measured with tablespoons instead, but guess is you added too much flour.
Deanne
I haven’t tried this as yet, but can you add gelatin to it to make a more fortified icing?
Sam
Hi Deanne! I think that’s a great idea, but I haven’t experimented with it to say exactly how to do it.
Kathy
This is the perfect compromise for icing! it is velvety smooth and just sweet enough for my cinnamon rolls.
Thanks.
Sam
So happy to hear this! Thanks for trying my recipe, Kathy!
Jennifer
I have tried the brown sugar and chocolate versions of this frosting as well as the straight-up vanilla. If you follow these directions it turns out perfectly – a great and easy alternative to American buttercream. You can decorate with this – I found one recipe of this to do generous rosettes on 18 cupcakes with the Wilton2D tip.
Nichole
I just made this for the first time and I’m blown away at how good it is. It’s absolutely perfect as a subtly sweet filling. I created a raspberry “Zinger” cake roll, and I needed a light filling to go on top of the raspberry preserves inside of the roll. I didn’t want just whipped cream, and this frosting completed my creation. It is soooooo good.
Suzi
Hi! Looks great. I have a gluten allergy, I was wondering if you had any advice on making the roux from gluten free flour?
Thank you!
Sam
Hi Suzi! Unfortunately I do not have experience with gluten free flour. Hopefully someone else can chime in who has tried. 🙂
Jude Howard
While I haven’t used this exact recipe I’ve made ermine frosting with red mill 1:1 GF baking flour and it turned out just the same. Flour is more being used as a thickening agent than anything else so as long as it’s a soft flour it should work well.
Barbara
I love this recipe. Can you use the paddle attachment to get out all the air bubbles to make a perfectly smooth finish on a cake (like you get with SMBC)?
Sam
Hi Barbara! I use a spatula to smush it. I feel like a paddle attachment could add more air bubbles. 🙂
Barbara
This is a great recipe and Sam’s advice is excellent!
Nichole Davis
Would this frosting be good for a pumpkin roll as an alternative to cream cheese frosting?
Sam
Hi Nicole! Cream cheese is the classic frosting for a pumpkin roll, but I think this could work in it’s place. It will certainly change the flavor a bit. 🙂
RICHARD
Sam, I love ermine frosting and your recipes is great !
Thank you for the chocolate variety.
I would really like to see more flavors of frosting recipes using this as the base (not just add an extract), real additions.
Coffee, mocha, maple syrup, peanut butter, (straw)berry, ect.
I’m sure it would be a project but I think it could provide a great alternative to buttercream(s).
It’s so nice to see a frosting recipe that doesn’t use a 5 pound bag of sugar !
Sam
I’m so glad you have enjoyed them so much, Richard! I will add some variations to my list and see what I can come up with. 🙂
Mary
Richard, if you want the best strawberry frosting, be it using this recipe or any other you need to mix in 1/2 to 1 cup (depending on your preference to intensity of flavor and color) freeze dried (not dried strawberries but freeze dried) strawberries that you have pulverized in a food processor. It will give you the perfect strawberry taste and color.
Sam
I do think this is a great suggestion! Thanks Mary!
Shelby Windsor
Great recipe, so worth the extra effort. Silky smooth and FAR less sweet than buttercream I use plant based butter and soy milk and it’s perfect every time. Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy it turned out so nicely for you, Shelby! 🩷
JK
I just made the chocolate ermine frosting. I did not have time to let the mixture cool, so I used an ice bath and whisked it while it cooled. It worked perfectly. Wonderful, soft texture and tastes great.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know how it went for you! Enjoy 😊
Lou
I hope my family likes this because I never want to make a different frosting again. I love how it’s smooth and creamy but not too sweet. My butter was definitely too soft when I creamed it, but that was my fault-now I know how to get even better results next time! It’s definitely a recipe to save and use again and again and again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you enjoyed it so much, Lou! It’s one of our favorites too 😊
Lee
Better than butter cream!