Creamy Vintage Vanilla Frosting: Easy and Delicious!
This frosting is pure bliss. Dating back over a century, this frosting, sometimes called “Ermine Frosting,” “Roux frosting,” or “Flour Frosting,” it begins with cooked flour and milk that comes together as a roux. It is cooled and then gradually added to softened butter until it become something between a whipped cream and a silky buttercream.
It is the original vintage frosting for red velvet cake before it was dethroned by cream cheese frosting. As red velvet has such a delicate flavor profile, I actually prefer this frosting, as it complements without overpowering the cake. It is also scrumptious on a deep chocolate cake.
Creamy Vintage Vanilla Frosting
The timeless frosting is is decadently creamy, airy, and smooth, but much more stable than whipped cream. It begins with by combining flour and milk into a roux and then whipping it with softened butter and sugar. It uses granulated sugar, not confectionary sugar and the end result is a not too sweet, smooth as silky frosting that complements rather than competes with the cake.
Ingredients
- 5 TBSPS All Purpose Flour (50g)
- 1 cup milk (240g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup unsalted butter (227g)
Instructions
- Cook the flour and milk in a saucepan over medium low heat, whisking gently the whole time, until thick.
- Using a rubber spatula, transfer it to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Cool completely.
- In a standing mixer, cream softened butter with sugar and vanilla until fluffy.
- Gradually add cooled flour mixture in with the butter. Mix until cream on medium high speed. Do not overbeat.
- Add vanilla and stir for a few seconds to incorporate.
- Set aside until ready to use.
Matriarch Muse : Liz
Liz Murray was born in 1914 in Pennsylvania. She studied home economics at Marywood College and went on to serve as head dietitian at a state hospital for 35 years, overseeing three meals a day for 1,600 people.
She never married and lived in a lively Irish Catholic home with her mother, aunts, and her younger sister Marguerite’s family. After her sister’s death at just 47, Aunt Liz became a steady, loving mother figure to her six nieces and nephews.
Kind and generous, elegant and funny, her cooking became the stuff of family legend—from Thanksgiving feasts to her niece’s towering cherry walnut wedding cake. She remains our culinary gold standard, and preserving her recipes is a true honor.
