Anyone have a gluten free buttercream frosting recipe?

Cafe Society
1

The little one is gluten intolerant, and we’ve got a birthday party to attend tomorrow. I have a package of Gluten Free Pantry’s Yellow Cake mix to make cupcakes for her, but I forgot all about frosting. My frosting recipe calls for a roux, so that’s out. Anyone have a good one? There must be no flour in it (or barley or rye, but that’s unlikely anyhow.) Corn starch is okay, and I have that on hand. Agar or arrowroot or something more exotic would require a trip to the store tonight, which I’d rather avoid, but I’ll do it if I have to.

It doesn’t absolutely have to be a buttercream frosting containing butter and cream, but that sort of creamy soft frosting texture - Her Royal Highness is mightily offended by icing.

2

Could you make a ganache?

Chocolate, cream. Heat cream, melt chocolate, let cool to room temp then whip to frosting texture…

Here is a recipe (scroll down past the preamble). I haven’t used this one, but it’s similar to one I do make.

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I’m reluctant to pick a particular buttercream frosting recipe off the internet and point it out as a good one-- I can’t say I’ve ever used any. I don’t bake cakes or decorate them.

But, I’m baffled that you’d need a special recipe to avoid gluten, as my impression, supported by a quick Google, is that buttercream frosting is really just butter, shortening (Crisco), and sugar. With a drop or two of flavoring optional.

4

I’ve never, ever, used flour in icing…seems odd. This is the recipe I use from Wilton. Just butter, shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. I use regular vanilla unless I need pure white icing. Couple drops of food coloring and you’re good to go if you need a color.

Could you post this icing recipe of yours that uses a roux? I’m puzzled…

5

Oh, that’s an idea! I’ve never played with ganache. So trendy! I didn’t know it could be whipped into frosting.

Do you know if ganache can be frozen, or will the low temperature cause the chocolate to bloom? Ideally, I’d like to make up a whole batch of cupcakes and freeze them for other cake eating occasions where we’ll have to bring something for her to eat.

Eureka, I’ve only ever made my great-grandmother’s frosting recipe, which is divine, but does call for flour and butter to be browned, then cooled, and added to sugar and butter. It’s absolutely divine, but not gluten free. Most of the premade frostings I glanced at online like this and this have “wheat starch” or the ubiquitous “modified food starch” which may be from wheat or may not.

(Side rant: didja know *lunchmeat *often has wheat in it? And jarred spaghetti sauce? And reduced fat cheese? And I’m not even worrying about the more remote processed chemicals extracted and refined from wheat like Stearyldimoniumhydroxypropyl, I’m talking “modified food starch” levels of wheat presence. Not to mention shampoo and lipstick - you try telling grandma she can’t kiss her great-grandchild any more or she’ll vomit tonight!This gluten free thing is Not Fun. Nor is it cheap, but that’s another rant.)

I could get a recipe off recipezaar, sure, but I was secretly hoping **Baker **or some other confectionery wise Doper would wander through. :wink:

kittenblue, that looks great! And it should freeze without taking damage, too! Bless you!

6

Yes, it freezes well…and I think at times I’ve made it with all-butter, but I may be remembering wrong. And if it gets too stiff, you just add more milk. Can also add flavorings if you like.

I have a niece who is gluten-intolerant. She’s heading off to college next year, and the cafeterias will be a challenge. At least at her high school she can pack a lunch!

7

Okay.

5 Tbls butter, melt in pan. Add 3 tablespoons (ish - Grandma Martha was never good with amounts) flour and whisk while browning it to a light roux. Add 1 cup whole milk or cream and heat, stirring constantly until it starts to thicken. Take it off the heat and let it cool completely. In a stand mixer, cream 1 cup of butter and one cup of sugar (granulated, not powdered) and then add just a pinch of salt and about 2 tsp of vanilla extract. Add the milk/roux by the spoonful, beating constantly, until the whole thing is light and fluffy.

This gives a very creamy fluffy frosting that holds its shape no matter how warm the cake gets on the picnic table, with no corn starch taste from powdered sugar or grit from the granulated sugar. It really is the best frosting ever.

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Sounds interesting…I’ll give it a try some day…I tried seven-minute frosting last year for the first time…that was an experience!

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I have no particular problem believing that gluten is hiding in many a premade frosting*, and yes, if the frosting you are most familiar with contains flour, I can see why you might assume that others do as well. And certainly my sister-in-law who does bake cakes has experimented with a variety of frosting recipes which are mostly fat and sugar, so yes I can appreciate wanting a particular pre-tested version. I was just surprised.

*and one point two million other foods where there is no need for flour if you make it from the raw ingredients.

10

Three that are really good and I’ve found to be long-lasting (although I never froze them so who knows?):

Lemon buttercream frosting

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (sometimes I add a bit more; see note below re lemon zest)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (sometimes I leave this out)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (note: I’m a lemon freak so I actually put in basically the rind of a whole lemon; this renders the buttercream frosting really, really lemony, which nicely offsets the richness)

Beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 30 seconds, then gradually add the powdered sugar on low, then add the rest of the ingredients. Increase the speed to medium-high, and beat for about 3 minutes, or until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Mint buttercream frosting

1 cup butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon all natural peppermint extract (be careful! start with drops and taste until you get the right taste, as you don’t want the mint to be overwhelming)

Same instructions as above.

Peanut butter frosting
This one is great for making a peanut butter and jelly cupcake (any flavor cupcake is fine, but you can stuff some jelly in the cupcake and then frost with this)

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Same instructions as above, except add the milk one tablespoon at a time until you get the right consistency.

All of these are pretty shockingly easy to make and the taste is so much better than premade frostings that I’m a convert. I’ll still use cupcake mixes, but I believe that a good quality stuffing for the cupcake and a good quality frosting mean that the cake is pretty much a minor player.

11

Sorry, that is not any buttercream frosting I have ever heard of. It is sa buttercream frosting mixed with a white cream sauce. I would imagine it got its start in the depression, or one of the 2 world wars as a way to stretch sugar and butter.

12

Yeah, no offense, but it’s amazing and bizarre to me. Buttercream frosting can be made perfectly well (and traditionally) using nothing more than softened butter, confectioner’s sugar, a little milk and flavor extract. (recipes in Campion’s post being typical)

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Re: freezing ganache icing…

I don’t know if you could or not, simply because I’ve never done it. I can’t imagine that the whipped-up frosting would bloom too badly, because you’ve already whipped a bunch of air into it and made it more like a mousse. Hell, if I’m right it might come out a bit like chocolate ice cream.

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No, it’s not bizarre, it’s just out of fashion in frosting making. Such frostings are called “cooked frostings”. Ours is a little untraditional in adding some butter to the flour instead of putting it all into the creaming step, but it was probably done to avoid lumps in the milk - most cooked frostings have you put the flour directly into the milk and heat it. But whenever you add flour to a liquid, you risk lumps, most often noticed in gravy. Coat the flour particles in butter first, and you won’t get lumps. “Lumps” are of spoken in my family’s kitchens the way “cancer” used to be whispered in parlors. :smiley:

Some similar recipes.

Since cooked frostings almost by definition have flour as a thickener, I needed a tried-and-true buttercream recipe (or ganache, which I never considered!) instead - similar texture, different technique. And now I have a whole bunch to play with - yay!

15

I was under the belief that “cooked frostings” and “buttercream” are mutually exclusive categories, since you make “buttercream” by… creaming butter. That is to say, a “buttercream” is a specifically uncooked frosting.

16

You can mash up cream cheese (like Philadelphia) with icing sugar, the colouring of your choice and vanilla essence.

That’s my basic carrot cake topping.
It tastes better than you would think.

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If you really want to nitpick, a true buttercream is a cooked frosting, too. The whole butter + powdered sugar is just a shortcut buttercream. Anyone who has had a real buttercream (be it French, Italian, or Swiss) can tell you it’s vastly different than the powdered sugar version, which can be pasty and overly-sweet. My particular favorite version is Neoclassic Buttercream that was in The Cake Bible. It’s a French Buttercream (she deviates from the original by using corn syrup, which makes the recipe easier to do–the sugar doesn’t accidentally crystalize in the cooking process), and it’s rich, buttery, yet delicate. I used this on many a birthday cake, and I’ve used it for my own wedding cake.

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I’ve never seen flour used in a frosting recipe until now. Flour is not in most frosting.