2-Minute Vanilla Frosting
You can double or triple the recipe if you need more but make sure you add the milk very slowly. It thickens up very quickly. - Jenny Jones
Total Time: 2 minutes
Makes: about 1/2 cup
Ingredients:
- 1 cup powdered sugar (do not sift before measuring)
- 2 Tablespoons softened butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- about 3 teaspoons milk
Instructions:
- Place powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla into a bowl.
- With electric mixer on low, combine for a few seconds.
- Slowly beat in the milk, a little at a time, until it’s frosting consistency.
- Beat on high for about 15 seconds.
OMG I BAKED THIS WITH MY KIDS AND THEY LOOOVED IT!!
This is a very good recipe for when you are in a hurry and do not have any cream or cream cheese, or butter!
Thank you!
Definitely my go to frosting from now on.
Great recipe. Thank you for sharing 🙏
it turned out amazing!
Has anyone tried this with coconut oil (not heated)? Need a vegan recipe
Is this frosting good for cupcakes?
I made this for my cookies and it turned out great
It was difficult to make because if you’re pouring milk from a gallon container it will be hard not to pour more milk than needed into the frosting.
You could pour the milk into a smaller container (like a measuring cup, bowl, glass or a regular cup) then measure it using a spoon you dip into the milk.
quick and easy my 14 year old self could do without any help and with little to none cooking/baking experience
My mom and I made this icing for our cake and it turned out so delicious I would recommend this recipe it’s easy and quick
My mom and I made this icing for our cake and it turned out so delicious I would recommend this recipe🥰
Visiting my grand daughter in La Mesa California from the Florida Keys. We Made a cake and had no frosting to put on it. I googled Quick Frosting, this recipe was the first one that came up. We had everything we needed. We made the frosting and it was perfect. Thank you! It saved the day.
Visiting my grand daughter in La Mesa California from the Florida Keys. We Made a cake and had no frosting. With. I googled Quick frosting and we had everything we needed. We made this. It was perfect. Thank you!
Loved it!
it tastes so good and easy to make
DELICIOUS.
I tripled this recipe with great success. It’s the perfect icing for my Hot Milk Cake.
Made a double batch using lemon instead of vanilla. Was excellent. ( covering for my cracked cake.).
I did the same I’m a huge lemon lover I used lemon extract and also a full teaspoon of real lemon zest then put another of lemon zest on top after frosting is on the cake
Can you use any type of milk? Like almond milk?
yeah use mayonnaise if you REALLY want to 😉
AAAAAGGHHH
Can it be left out overnight after cake is frosted without refrigeration?
If your house is cool then yes, it will keep overnight. I would personally refrigerate though it keeps longer that way
Do you need to refrigerate it? Can it be left overnight out after cake is frosted?
Literally perfect. I will never buy icing again!!!
Mine was really watery. I did everything right, but I did not use a mixer. I used a whisk.I really hoped it would work.
My exact experience as well!
WORKED GREAT. NO PROBLEMS. SAVED ME. CAKE GOT OVER DONE ON TOP. TRIMMED THE TOP AND FROSTED IT. NO A COOK SO I DID KEEP IT IN THE REFRIGERATOR SINCE IT HAS MILK AND BUTTER.
Quick and easy, but most importantly…..delicious! Great recipe to satisfy your sugar fix when store bought icing is unavailable. As a matter of fact, I may never buy store bought icing ever again. Thanks for sharing.
I’m going to try this, I want to add coconut to it.
This recipe is great! I used my electric mixer and it came out so good. It’s the perfect size for a small cake. Thanks!
This recipe is great! I used my electric mixer and it came out so good. It’s the perfect size for a small cake. Thanks!
Will it turn out the same if I use a whisk?
Turned out great with a whisk!
Just wondering do I have to throw in the butter I’m 12 its my sis 18 birthday!!! and she made me a cake for my 10th plz help!!!
Gordon Ramsay would hate me for this….
My kids and I wanted to make a cake but didn’t have frosting so we found this recipe and had all the ingredients in hand so we made it and it was FANTASTIC!!! Great recipe and simple instructions!
Thanks Jenny for the easy frosting recipe. It taste great and saved me a trip to the store made my pineapple,mandarin cake & whip cream disappear and a lot of smiling faces. Steve
Mine turned out runny but I failed to slowly add the milk. My bad. I ended up adding some cream cheese to thicken it up. It didn’t thicken up enough to be frosting but made a delicious glaze.
AMAZING! So easy, so simple, so perfect! 😋 YUM
It was very confusing and turned out to be very watery. Not even like frosting.
same thing really watery
tried to put in fridge and it worked though
How long did you refrigerate it
Mine was perfect! used a whisk after half melting the butter
The instructions were not clear, and my frosting turned out very watery
Can you please say what was confusing and I can try to clarify. Thank you.
It was easy and very taste.
Thank you God bless
Best frosting recipe
Really! I might as well try it!!!
This frosting recipe is fantastic just as it is. The go to for anytime I want to make a white frosting. Reminds me of the old fashioned buttercream frosting my mom used to make.
I made it turned out great only very sweet, anyway to make it a cream cheese flavor or just not so sweet
Thanks
This doesn’t make sense!? In the ingredients list, it does not lust milk. But in the instructions, it says to beat the milk slowly & also doesn’t say how much milk. Help, lol, please!?!
The amount of milk is listed in the ingredients.
I missed the milk ingredient also, now I see it 🤣
This is a perfect recipe if you follow directions carefully adding the liquid 1/2 tsp at a time I added 1/2 coffee 1/2 milk and a T of cocoa. Should double the recipe for a 2 layer cake or maybe even 2 1/2 times. Great mocha flavor this way. Would be great on german chocolate cake with coconut added😀
Hi Jenny – love your videos! For the frosting recipe, can I use skim milk?
Frosting came out perfectly again! This time I swapped the vanilla with lemon extract and the powered sugar with Lemon Powdered Sugar! Still added a bit of Vanilla extract to soften the taste. I added a splash of milk for my preferred consistency!! Thanks Jenny!
Brown ish. Think has curdled. Tastes good with ginger snap. Similar consistency to ketchup. ;0
Frosting can not curdle and the consistency is what you make it with the amount of milk added. If you follow the recipe it can’t be brown, can’t curdle, and you can use less milk to keep it thicker. I hope you’ll try again.
Tiffany, if it looks curdled but tastes fine, your butter was probably too cold. What looks like curdles, is probably little pieces of butter. The brown color is probably too much vanilla. Good luck!
This worked great. Not runny at all.
Just add milk a little at a time. Need to double or triple recipe if you want to frost a double layer cake & middle all over.
Thank you came out yummy!!
It was so good the kids loved it i will use it again
At the VERY TOP of this recipe readers are directed to: “…make sure you add the milk very slowly. It thickens up very quickly. – Jenny Jones”
PLEASE let ALL of us know HOW you made “soup” following these directions. Please???😂😂😂😂 Very Sharon Weiss
I think it worked pretty well I would do it again for sure a little thick at fist def need the electric mixer for this one
Love all recipes – quick and easy thanks
Hello, I am Kate I’m in sixth grade and when I tried this recipe it was really good and I had no problems. So if you’re an adult and the recipe turned out soupy or too sweet you probably read the recipe wrong because when I saw this recipe there wasn’t a lot of ingredients and it took 2 minutes at most I recommend this recipe if your in a rush or just in general I would rate this 5 stars
Does it have to be real butter or can i use margarine? I am looking to make brownie witch hat cupcakes for my school kids for Halloween! I work in the cafateria. We use margarine big blocks of it
I know it’s to late for this answer but it doesn’t matter which one you use. My sister replaces butter with Greek yogurt on a lot of different recipes. Real butter or margarine will work just fine for this recipe
Margarine is very unhealthy!
Margarine may contain trans fat, which raises LDL (bad) cholesterol, lowers HDL (good) cholesterol and makes blood platelets stickier, increasing heart disease risk. Margarine containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils contain trans fats and should be avoided.Dec 3, 2020
Gee thanks for the tip there KAREN! Lord knows just how ignorant everyone is and using it in a recipe once or twice will definitely cause all of us to die (of heart failure/clogged arteries/strokes) myself I would also worry about the sugar content!
you are a karen! .
The more I choose to be kind, the Easier it gets! Especially if I think of all the mean things I’ve said to people. Good recipe!
I’m sorry. I couldn’t read your comment because of the reflective glare from your tinfoil hat.
My Mom made this tons but used cold coffee instead of milk …. Very good
That sounds delicious!
Great recipe for a beginner such as myself! It was a hit. 🙂
I agree
This recipe was delicious. Very easy to follow and loved that only four ingredients are needed.
I will use it again.
Terrible
Can you tell me why you didn’t like this recipe? I’m looking for an easy frosting for a cake but don’t want to ruin it with a bad tasting frosting
I think it tastes great snd you can add other things to it to make it more for your tasting but just as is, is good too. Maybe she did something wrong I don’t know Good luck
This frosting is delicious. It’s incredibly easy to make in a small or large batch. I made a small batch to frost sugar cookies for my young granddaughters to decorate. I did soften the butter as directed and slowly added milk to get the right consistency. Also…I used salted butter and whole milk, you could use cream too. Another commenter used cold coffee as the liquid. The better quality ingredients you use, the better the taste!
I am trying this recipe I think my mom use to do this same recipe or something similar. No one cooks alike even if you use the same recipe. I just cooked some chocolate layers I thought I had some icing and I didn’t. So I need something because my grandkids are coming and my oldest son loves to have something sweet. I thought I would do something fast . Thank you
My boys and I had a craving for graham crackers and frosting so I quickly made this and it was so good!!! Thank you!! I believe I ended up using a little less milk than the recipe.
My mom used to make this frosting all the time 40 years ago. It’s perfect!
I tried the recipe 2 times and it looks nothing like the picture, it just became a sugar soup. Not sure if you have any tips, if so, please share.
Add more sugar
Try adding the milk a drop @ a time. 🧈 and sugar should be the condensity of a frosting with adding of the milk and vanilla should make it perfect
It sounds like you used 3 tablespoons of milk instead of 3 teaspoons.
Nope just nope. I should have read the comments first. I had my doubts before starting too. I just added the rest of the ingredients to my normal frosting recipe.
This is a classic buttercream frosting – just a small batch and using less butter. (Jenny’s recipes are always healthier and more economical). For those of you who had failures with the recipe (and wrote rude comments), you may not know about classic buttercream. The butter is softened – that means room temperature, not melted. You cream in the powdered sugar until you get a frosting consistency. You only add the milk a little bit at a time, beating well after each addition. You may not need all the liquid. The amounts of powdered sugar and milk are not exact – you just add and stir until it is at the desired consistency. If it is too wet, you can add some more powdered sugar or place it in the refrigerator. Please look up buttercream frosting.
I would also recommend they ensure they are using butter and not margarine as it can affect the consistency when the main ingredient of margarine is WATER.
This recipe was….ok. 3 teaspoons of milk is a BIG lie. AT LEAST 5 teaspoons were needed to make this workable. There are better recipes out there using less ingredients and taste way better, but for how much worse this recipe could’ve come out as, it’s ok.
I’ve made this recipe many times with great results but if it didn’t turn out, I might consider what I might have done wrong rather than post a rude comment like this. A better frosting with less ingredients than sugar, butter, vanilla & milk? That sounds like a big lie to me.
Great comment, Marty and nicely stated. Some people just cannot help being rude.
That’s strange. I used less milk. Maybe because I used skim milk 🤷🏼♀️ It was really good when I made it. I didn’t even take the effort to use the electric mixer because I was too lazy to clean it at the time, haha! I used an old school mixer that you have to turn with your hand.
I made this for my sisters birthday cake and when i tried it, it was very sweet and i only used half a cup of powdered sugar. My sister doesn’t like that level of sweetness, so i dont know what to do with it
This was awful. It made sweetened liquid.
Really good and soft it took about 5 minutes total but that might be because I’m slow also I don’t have an electric mixer. Is there a way without it I just used a wooden spoon and it was enough for 4 medium sized cupcakes.
Diddn’t work! Such a waste of food. I followed it and yet such a waste.
I didn’t bother to measure and just eyeballed because this is so simple. I love this frosting. It kinda reminds me of a less greasy dunkaroo frosting! We made bunny cupcakes for Easter with this 🙂 I’ll be using this as my go too frosting from here on out
We appreciate you being out there to help us with our culinary skills – Jenny really can Cook & Bake – Made this cake with frosting, and sprinkled it with toasted coconut on top & chopped up pecans – excellent recipe – Thank you – LAP
I’m going to do the vegan version- plant based butter, and plant milk, and see how it goes! 🙂 Will report back.
Is there a chocolate version of this same recipe?
Yes! https://www.jennycancook.com/recipes/2-minute-chocolate-frosting/
I’d love to hear how this turned out?! Did you use Earth Balance?