The Best Bakers Frosting

Cooked flour frosting is well known for its accompaniment to red velvet cakes, traditionally. It is widely thought that red velvet cakes are frosted with cream cheese frosting. However, this is not the case and for good reason. Red velvet cakes are light in flavor and need to be paired with an equally light frosting. Cream cheese frosting is too heavy for such a cake. Cooked flour frosting is ideal in its ethereal quality, tasting like a buttery whipped cream. The consistency of cooked flour frosting is more substantial than whipped cream and therefore lasts longer. It also pipes and spreads like a dream.

Cooked flour frosting uses a slurry of flour and milk or cream that is heated gently on the stove until the mixture is well thickened. This mixture is left to cool to room temperature. Then, butter and granulated sugar are beaten together until a light and fluffy mass results. The cooled slurry is added to the butter mixture and beaten for a considerable amount of time. This is a crucial step in the breakdown of the granulated sugar. If the frosting is not beaten enough, it will be grainy. But once suitably beaten, this frosting becomes smooth and creamy.

A note on the milk: You may use 1 full cup of whole milk if you have it. But if you are like me, and use 2% milk regularly, follow the recipe below. It works perfectly. To compensate for the loss of fat, I used 1/2 c 2% milk plus 1/2 c heavy cream.

Cooked Flour Frosting

Recipe Inspired by: www.southernfood.about.com (Modified by Leelabean)

 

(Yield: About 3 cups, enough to frost a 2-layer 8″ cake)

 

3 T flour

1/2 c 2% milk
1/2 c heavy cream
1 c granulated sugar
1 c unsalted butter, room temperature

1 t vanilla

1/4 t salt

 

In a liquid measuring cup, combine the milk and cream. In a small saucepan, pour about 1/4 c of the milk/cream mixture along with the 3 T of flour.

Whisk together over a medium-low heat. When the flour and milk become a slurry, add the remainder of the milk/cream mixture.

Whisk continually over medium heat. Within a few minutes the mixture will come to a boil and begin to thicken. Whisk for a minute after it starts boiling and then take it off the heat. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. You may transfer it to a small bowl and refrigerate it to speed up the process.

Once the flour mixture is cooled, whip the butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

Dump the flour mixture into the butter and whip this on medium-high for another 5 minutes, being sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times.

The frosting will lose its graininess (from the granulated sugar) and will become airy, lush, and perfectly spreadable. This frosting is ideal for piping as well.

Store cakes frosted with cooked flour frosting in the fridge. Leftover frosting can be kept for up to a week in an airtight container in the fridge.

Sweetly ♥ Yours,