Old Fashioned Frosting

Most frostings these days use butter, with powdered sugar, cream or milk, and flavorings beaten in. That type of frosting is just fine – in fact, it can be really good. But for the smoothest and most velvety white frosting, Old Fashioned Frosting is the recipe to use.

It’s unusual because flour and milk are cooked together until thick. This paste is cooled, and is then beaten into a mixture of butter, shortening, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar. The flour paste adds incredible smoothness to the frosting (those finely divided solids again), and you don’t taste the flour at all. Don’t worry about the solid shortening – it makes the frosting a more pure white color and you won’t taste that either.

You can substitute butter for the sold vegetable shortening if you’d like. The frosting will not be as white, however. It’s up to you!

Try this frosting recipe on white cakes, carrot cakes, yellow cakes, and chocolate cakes. You’ll love it!

Tips for the best Old Fashioned Frosting:

• Make sure that you cook the flour mixture thoroughly. Do not skimp on this part of the recipe. The flour needs to be food for two reasons: Food safety (because flour is a raw agricultural product that can contain harmful pathogens), and because cooking gets rid of the raw flour flavor.
• You also have to beat the shortening and sugar combination thoroughly so the sugar dissolves. If the sugar doesn’t dissolve the frosting will be gritty. Taste a bit of the mixture to see if you can sense any grains of sugar. If you can, beat some more.

Why this recipe works:

• The flour mixture adds a velvety richness to the shortening and sugar mixture. Some powdered sugar reduces the possibility of graininess, and the whole thing has an elegant and old fashioned flavor and feel.