Make my Grandma’s fluffy white frosting to decorate your favorite cakes or cupcakes! It’s a simple recipe I’ve used for over 45 years.
Today I want to share my Grandma’s recipe for fluffy white frosting, which can be used to decorate cakes and cupcakes. This recipe was given to my Mom (her daughter-in-law) MANY years ago, who then handed down the recipe to me over 45 years ago. I feel a wonderful connection to my Grandma Grace whenever I have made this frosting over the years.
Grandma’s Fluffy White Frosting is simple to make, but it DOES take a while to beat with an electric mixer (or stand mixer) to make it fluffy and fully dissolve the sugar. That being said, the end result is a light, fluffy frosting you will enjoy using. Here’s how to make it:
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How To Make Grandma’s Fluffy White Frosting
Place the milk, cornstarch and a dash of salt in a medium saucepan. Use a spoon or wire whisk to combine these ingredients, and then cook on LOW heat, stirring often, until the mixture thickens. Once the mixture thickens, remove it from the heat and set it aside to FULLY cool.
In a separate large mixing bowl (or stand mixer), use an electric mixer to cream together the vegetable shortening, butter, granulated sugar and a portion of the powdered sugar. Mix these ingredients REALLY WELL for 15 minutes, until creamy. I use my stand mixer for this, because I can turn it on, walk away, and let it mix the frosting on its own.
NOTE: It is important to take the time to mix these ingredients really well, so the granulated sugar is dissolved and no longer “grainy”.
Time To Finish Making Grandma’s Fluffy White Frosting
Add vanilla extract to Grandma’s Fluffy White Frosting, and then add the cooled and thickened milk mixture. Make sure the thickened milk mixture has fully cooled before adding, so it doesn’t melt the frosting! Beat these ingredients well, until fully incorporated.
Add the remaining portion of powdered sugar to the frosting, and mix well until fully combined. Now this yummy frosting is done, and it should be fluffy and light in texture, and ready to use.
Decorating With Grandma’s Fluffy White Frosting
There will be enough frosting made to easily decorate a two layer round cake fully with frosting, or cover 2 dozen cupcakes. I ALWAYS use this frosting on my Grandma’s Red Velvet Cake. When I was growing up, this was my favorite birthday cake that my Mom made. This light, fluffy frosting was the perfect topping! YUM!
I hope you have the opportunity to try this recipe- it’s never failed me yet after all these years. If you’re looking for other cake or cupcake frosting recipes, you will love my recipe for Mom’s Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. Thanks for stopping by this website today. I hope you have a wonderful day, and trust you will come back soon.
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Original recipe source: My grandma Grace B.
Make my Grandma's fluffy white frosting to decorate your favorite cakes or cupcakes! It's a simple recipe I've used for over 45 years.
- 1 cup milk
- 1½ Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 dash salt
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- ½ cup butter (or margarine) , softened
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1⅔ cup powdered sugar , divided use
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place milk, cornstarch and a dash of salt in a medium saucepan. Stir or whisk to combine ingredients. Cook on LOW heat, stirring often, until mixture thickens. Once mixture thickens, remove it from the heat; set it aside to cool.
In a separate large mixing bowl (or stand mixer), mix together vegetable shortening, butter, granulated sugar and a portion (2/3 cup) of the powdered sugar. Beat these ingredients REALLY WELL for about 15 minutes, until creamy. NOTE: It is important to take the time to mix really well, so the granulated sugar is dissolved and is no longer "grainy".
Add vanilla extract, and the completely cooled, thickened milk mixture. Beat ingredients well, until fully incorporated into the frosting.
Add remaining cup of powdered sugar to the frosting. Mix well until fully combined. Now the frosting is done. It should be fluffy and light in texture, and ready to use. Will make enough frosting to fully cover a 2 layer round cake or 2 dozen cupcakes.
NOTE: The total amount of frosting is enough to cover two round cake layers, OR a 13x9 cake, OR 2 dozen cupcakes. * Caloric calculation is for total amount of frosting, using butter.
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!
Did you mix it well. I mean this icing needs to be beaten a%# of a lot. 15/20 mins. You really need to have a stand mixer for this icing
This recipe has been in my family for many many years, and our favorite for each and every birthday. The only thing that is different is adding powder sugar. I’m making it today and will add the powdered sugar. I’ll see if anyone notices a difference. Hopefully even better.
I do have a question, once in a while there will be some lumps in it, why would this happen?
Thank you for posting!!
Honestly, I am not sure about the lumps, Cathy. There could be many reasons… I simply don’t know. Sorry!
Do you sift the powdered sugar? That tends to break up the sugar so there are no chunks. Also is your butter soft or still cold?