Heirloom Frosting

This is a cooked flour frosting, traditionally found with Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet Cake, but it is good with many cakes.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 tbsp flour
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar

Instructions

  1. Whisk 4 tbsp of flour into 1 cup of milk. Cook over low heat until very thick. Cool completely.
    Cream 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of room temperature butter. (Really mix these together, at least 3-5 minutes or more.)
    Add cooked flour mixture, and beat until fluffy. It will look like whipped cream.

Comments (18)

on

Absolutely delicious frosting! Add about a tsp of vanilla and you have a winner! I found this recipe originally on The Pioneer Woman and fell in love!

on

My family has long used a recipe very similar to this with our family banana cake. It is a super delicious combination!! The only difference is that our recipe used Crisco in place of the butter. I am a "real" buttercream girl but this recipe is so fluffy good with Crisco I canot change to butter! LOL!!

on

My grandmother has a very similar recipe that goes with her red velvet cake recipe which I made for my uncles birthday it tastes very good, it took a long time to get fluffy. When I tried to add color to write Happy Birthday on top, it didn't mix very well and the color kept separating. Maybe I was doing something wrong or the color was too old (it was my grandmas). But I love the taste!

on

It is regular granulated sugar, though I have used superfine and it worked similarly. I have seen this frosting on cakes as the base, but I do not think it would decorate well. Next time I make it, I will add food coloring to see how it works! :)

on

snuggles45- I make this frosting all the time for red velvet cake and use it for a filling for ho-ho cake. It is not grainy. You beat the butter and/or shortening until it's fluffy and most of the sugar is dissolved. Don't add the cooked part until it is completely cooled, then beat it in. Let it stand a few minutes then taste and you will be amazed that there is no graininess!

on

can you add pecans to this frosting? I have a customer who is wanting the old fashion icing with pecans for a red velvet cake. I always use a cream cheese frostings.

on

This is the filling i use every time for my cakes! I use heavy whipping cream instead of milk. I'e made this enough times where i know to allow the milk & flour to COOL FULLY!!! otherwise it takes about 30 min to whip up this light fluffy frosting! I think for me it covered a 8 inch & a ball i had made last Friday. I am not a big fan of really sweet frosting and this did the trick!

on

this recipe sounds similar to one my mom uses, but you cannot add anything to hers, no coloring or cocoa. not sure how it would do under fondant b/c it is quite soft, has anyone tried it as a base? think I'll try it for cupcakes, and yes you should be able to add solids to it without changing the texture, like pecans.

on

Just wondering how well does it stand with fondant ? I have never tried this before and would like to ....today < *thanks for answers in advance