Cornstarch Frosting is a recipe is from Stephanie. She sent it to me after reading my review of Quick Chocolate Cupcakes with a flour based frosting, a mixture of flour and milk that is cooked and then whipped into a mixture of butter and granulated sugar. The texture, after you beat it enough so that the sugar dissolves, is supposed to be similar to a rich buttercream and less sweet than typical powdered sugar icing. Update: I recently learned this one is also known as Ermine frosting.
Cornstarch Frosting or Ermine Frosting
This is similar to the flour based icing, but calls for cornstarch. Stephanie's recipe was passed down verbally by her father, and is the one she has been using on cupcakes for years. To me, it seems a little smoother and fresher tasting than the icing made with flour -- slick, buttery, and deeply vanilla. I still think I like powdered sugar frosting best, but if you’re looking for a less sweet icing or you just happen to be out of powdered sugar, this is a good alternative.
As for the "Ermine" name, I'm still reading up on that but I suppose its smooth texture can be comparable to silky to the fur on an ermine or a robe made of ermine?
Cornstarch Frosting aka Ermine Frosting
¾ cup milk (whole, reduced fat and skim all work) 180 grams
2 tablespoons cornstarch (16-18 grams)
¾ cup sugar (150 grams)
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter -- salted (170 grams), softened but cool
½ teaspoon vanilla
Combine cold milk and cornstarch in a saucepan and whisk until blended. Set over medium heat and whisk until thick. Let cool.
With an electric mixer, cream together sugar and softened butter until light and fluffy.
Add the cooled milk mixture and the vanilla, then whip until mixture resembles whipped cream.
Makes enough frosting for 24 cupcakes.
Anna says
Hi Linda,
No, I haven't tried that. I've made some similar icings with Crisco, but not this exact one. It gives the icing a lighter texture.
Linda A Magin says
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have you ever made it with crisco instead of butter...my Mom's receipe called for crisco
Anna says
Dody, I haven't tested it with any substitutions. If I get a chance I'll test that, but it might be a while.
Dody Myers says
Wondering if I can make this with almond milk and butter substitue.
Anna says
Hello Jane,
That's a great question! I've never tried it with peanut butter. The other day I was listening to Nigella Lawson talk about her peanut butter cake on NPR and the way she described the frosting made it sound so good. I haven't tried that recipe, but if you are in the mood for a good peanut butter frosting you may want to check out Nigella's. Here is a link to the cake she spoke of. Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake.
Jane says
Have you ever tried to flavor this with peanut butter? I really want to make a peanut butter version of the cooked flour or cooked cornstarch frosting. I read one blogger say the flour version didn't work with peanut butter, but maybe the cornstarch version would? Let me know if you've tried it. Thanks. I don't have peanut butter powder to try, only real peanut butter. The blogger used peanut butter in place of half of the butter, but I'm thinking just to ADD the peanut butter, not replace the butter.
Anna says
Hi Bella,
Thanks for asking! Yes, the type of sugar used is granulated. I will put the word "granulated" next to sugar to make it clearer.
Bella says
Can you use granulated sugar?
Anna says
That's 2 tablespoons. Thanks!
Azi says
Hi, Does 2T mean 2 table spoons or 2 teaspoons?
Thank you.
Carolyn says
I think this frosting is excellent...hardly ever have powdered sugar but always cornstarch..use it a lot to thicken stuff I make too thin lol.
Michelle D. says
This is wonderful! I too always made the flour version, but just didn't love it. I use it for cream filling. It adapts wonderfully for chocolate (make strong chocolate milk with unsweetened cocoa before cooking), coffee (espresso granules in the milk), add coconut flakes and coconut extract for coconut, orange oil for "creamsicle", and my favorite on banana cupcakes...chai!! Steep 4 chai tea bags for 10 minutes in warm milk, remove and let cool, then proceed as usual. Yum! 🙂
Anna says
Hi Mary,
Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked that one since it is definitely less sweet than traditional American style buttercream. If you get chance, look for a German Buttercream recipe. German Buttercream is also quite a bit less sweet but has a great, smooth, texture.
Mary says
I just made this frosting. I made it with strawberries. I did not have a fine granulated sugar, so I used about 1/2 cup of brown sugar and that's it! This tasted wonderful! It was just sweet enough! Wow..I am SOO impressed. This was my first time making it. I've also colored it a beautiful pink color to frost my strawberry cake. I used fresh strawberries to help give it the nice pink color. *sigh* This is a keeper. So happy you shared this!
Jean Cotner says
My mom made this frosting for red velvet cake. She called it Mock-whipped cream frosting. I've found it's wonderful for making interesting cakes for kids parties since it looks and tastes like whipped cream but doesn't break down. I made my son a fantastic castle cake with this frosting and it was a great hit.
Lynn Jankiewicz says
I've made this recipe every year for my lamb cake, but this year for some reason, i had to throw away 2 batches...they never thickened up and don't know why...any reason you can think of?? What could I have done differently?
Jane says
Hi - I just discovered your blog and I have to tell you I've been looking for this recipe for a long time. I knew this as Ice Cream Icing because it seems to remind one of the flavor of ice cream. I lost my recipe and had been searching for one like it and this is as close as I've come so Thank You so much. I'll keep reading your blog for other good recipes. Yes, I'm older (someone said this appeals to older folks because it's not so sweet as regular buttercream - lol) and I like it exactly for that reason. I guess I was raised by European parents who did not make terribly sweet desserts so I think this is just perfect. Again, thanks for posting!
Sofia says
I think this might be my new favorite frosting recipe! Loved the buttery texture, and it definitely wasn't too sweet.
Katrina says
The frosting turned out perfectly. It definitely wasn't too sweet. I personally think I like a sweeter frosting. This one has quite the butter flavor. It's good and the kids like it. Kevin decided he just doesn't like frosting. I made him put a little on a mini bundt cake and he spread about 2 teaspoons as thin as possible over the whole thing. (I don't get him--he ate the whole little cake and then had a bowl of chocolate ice cream after the kids went to bed. That's sweet. Whatever. 😉
The method for making the frosting was very easy which was nice.
Sherry says
I love this!!!! I can't tell you how many times I've made something that needed icing and I didn't have any powdered sugar!! Of course I could be more prepared... but this will save me!
Adam says
Strange. I just checked the spam filter in case for some reason it got flagged, but I don't see the comment there either. Isn't technology wonderful :)? Thanks for trying :). And thanks again for the frosting, it's probably going to be making a bunch of appearances in the future 🙂 since there are so few that I like.
Stephanie says
This sounds like such a great recipe. I too struggle with frosting in my house because of the sweetness factor.
Anna says
Louise, it takes a while. I'd give it at least 30 minutes.
Adam, I wrote you a long comment on your blog but I don't think it went through. Of all 3 versions that I've tried, the recipe I gave you is my favorite (it's almost the same as this one and the one I made last week but with less flour). So this one's my favorite. I guess the key is less flour plus some salt.
https://www.cookiemadness.net/2007/07/waldorf-astoria-original-red-velvet-cake-with-cooked-icing/
Katrina, I can't wait to hear what you think.
BTW, I never posted the recipe because I didn't love it at the time, but some people swear by this version made with marshmallows. There are a few versions floating around including one which uses marshmallow cream, but the one I made used actual marshmallows. It was something like this.
http://www.nibbledish.com/people/Endymion/recipes/the-easiest-marshmallow-buttercream-ever
I remember it was slick and not nearly sweet enough for me. I think I "fixed" it by dumping powdered sugar in. It's worth a try for those of you who don't like sweet.
Katrina says
Well what do you know, my 7 yo, whose turn it is to pick a treat to make for snack tonight just decided on cupcakes and I thought I'd look to see about frosting. Since my husband really doesn't like sweet frosting, I think we'll give this a try.
Adam says
Anna, how does this compare to the cooked frosting you pointed me to for the Red Velvet cake? I really enjoyed that one.
Louise, I would imagine that you could aid the cooling by popping it in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes.
Louise says
Roughly, how long does it take for the milk/cornstarch mixture to cool down? Sounds like something I should start right after I put the cake/cupcakes in the oven.
Anna says
Cheryl, thanks! I like to sit here and re-load the page so I can see the parade of dogs. Our shelter is striving to be a no-kill shelter and came really close last month.
Cheryl says
I like the blog design makeover too! Glad to see a print button that is easy to find. Hats off to showing off a dog to adopt in your area!
C&C Cakery says
I really enjoy the taste of flour frosting - but, you right, the texture is less than pleasant sometimes. I'm glad to see this recipe come along - it looks like it'll have the same less-sweet taste with a much better texture. Thank you so much for sharing!
C&C Cakery says
I really enjoy the taste of flour frosting - but, you right, the texture is less than pleasant sometimes. I'm glad to see this recipe come along - it looks like it'll have the same less-sweet taste with a much better texture. Thank you so much for sharing!
corinne says
I made the flour one and a bunch of old (well, older than me anyway) people loved it, but my sugar tolerance/desire is so outrageously high I think I need to stick to standard powdered sugar ones.
Sue says
This is a good one to know about so thanks to you and Stephanie for sharing it. I've made the flour frosting before and thought it was good for the times that you go to make frosting and realize you don't have powdered sugar, but this one sounds better.
Helena says
I love the blog makeover! And frosting is always great 😀