If you could see what the piece of paper that this fluffy white icing recipe is written on, you will know that it is used often and well-loved. It is stained and splotched and crumbled. This fluffy white icing is one of my absolute favorite icings because it is light, fluffy, and pure white. This frosting is old-fashioned. You can find it in old cookbooks as boiled icing, or seven minute frosting. I love it with chocolate cake, yellow cake, or underneath a layer of coconut. Sometimes I get crazy and add some coconut extract to really bring out the coconut flavor. It is the perfect frosting to color because the base is so white. I also love it because it is not buttery. It really is marshmallow without the gelatin, it is the best thing that I have ever put in my mouth.
I need to thank my friend Amanda for introducing me to boiled icing, I think of you every time I make it.
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
In a saucepan combine the sugar and water with a pinch of cream of tartar.
Make sure that when you are cooking the sugar that you do not stir the sugar mixture. It will cause the sugar to crystallize and you don’t want that to happen.
Boil the sugar until it reaches 245 degrees.
Meanwhile, put the egg whites and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat until the egg whites are peaked.
Slowly pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites. I mean slowly, this sugar mixture is 245 degrees, you do not want it to splash.
Beat the frosting on high speed for about 7 minutes (hence the name seven minute frosting) or until the sides of the bowl cool down.
The frosting will be light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla extract.
I hope that you love this recipe as much as I do.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 3 egg whites
- pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- In a saucepan combine the sugar and water with a pinch of cream of tartar.
- Make sure that when you are cooking the sugar that you do not stir the sugar mixture. It will cause the sugar to crystallize and you don’t want that to happen.
- Boil the sugar until it reaches 245 degrees.
- Meanwhile, put the egg whites and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat until the egg whites are peaked.
- Slowly pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites. I mean slowly, this sugar mixture is 245 degrees, you do not want it to splash.
- Beat the frosting on high speed for about 7 minutes (hence the name seven minute frosting) or until the sides of the bowl cool down.
- The frosting will be light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla extract.
I am Bree. I love to cook. Even more than I love to take pictures.
OMG Bree, what I wouldn’t give to have a piece of that cake right now!!! Yum! Looks absolutely delicious!
Come visit and I will make you one!
Hi Bree,
I found your blog while looking for a recipe for ice cream cone cupcakes. I am planning on using yours, and I was wondering if this icing recipe would work? My son is really picky about icing- he won’t eat buttercream. He is more of the store icing lover. Would this taste like that? I want to be able to use the icing bag to make them beautiful like the ones you made. Thanks for sharing and all your hard work!
Hi Sarita, you can use this frosting, but I would make it the day that you are going to serve them. It tastes like marshmallow. I have yet to meet a kid that doesn’t like it.
i know that coconut cake is traditionally southern, but this Connecticut yankee is ob.sess.ed with it. that frosting looks good enough to just sit down with a spoon and eat! this has been starred in my reader & i can’t wait to try it!
It is. And I speak from experience. I love coconut cake. It is an Easter tradition.
I agree with you! Boiled Icing is my absolute favorite (although for awhile I was calling it wrongly Royal Icing and I’m not sure why). There are some amazing old fashioned frosting recipe’s out there!
Caramel frosting is amazing too. I need to perfect that before I share it.
This is my moms favorite icing– haven’t tried it yet, but you’ve inspired me
mine and my grandmother’s too!
I’ve always been intimated by boiled icing, but your instructions make it seem less scary. I’ll have to give this a try sometime. Thanks for sharing it.
It really is not scary. Just make sure to get your sugar hot enough.
I love white fluffy icing so much that I named my food blog after it. What a fantastic post and scrumptious pictures!! Wow.
-Laura
what a great name for a blog!
I was actually thinking the same about Baked Bree. Ha!
Are you on Twitter, by chance?
Best,
Laura
Laura from White Fluffy Icing recently posted..The Boy Cooks a Brisket
why yes I am! @bakedbree
Hi Bree, This sure looks good, But I am confused..
The ingredients say 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
the instruction calls for using a pinch?
Did you mean ?for the pinch of salt to be boiled
Sorry I just want it to be clear to me…thanks
The pinch of cream of tartar goes in the sugar and the pinch of salt goes into the egg whites.
Just made a cake & cupcakes and topped them with this frosting. YUM! A new household hit.
Thank you, Bree.
-Ann
You are welcome Ann!
[...] In the bowl of a mixer, whisk the egg whites and salt until they form peaks. Turn the machine off and start making the syrup. Make the sugar syrup by combining the sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a saucepan and boiling over medium-high heat. When the mixture reaches 245 degrees, turn the mixer back on and mix on a slow speed. Slowly stream the sugar into the egg whites with the machine still running. Let the machine whisk until the bowl cools off and is room temperature, about 7 minutes. Add the vanilla. (This is exactly the same as fluffy boiled icing.) [...]
[...] Frost cooled cupcakes. Source: Baked Bree [...]
Hey thank you for the recipe, I really would like to try it but I need to know if it stands up well in humidity I live in the Caribbean and humidity is always an issue for icings and frostings, how does this recipe hold up in heat.
Look forward to your response.
I am not sure to be honest with you. I do know that it should be eaten the day that it is made.
I luv this icing and was raised on it…
My grandmother used to make it from scratch and my mom use a boxed version of it and I think it was made by Jiffy which till this day i will never forgive for taking it off the market .I also se many people still looking for it and the box version was JIFFY …BRING IT BACK BRING IR BACK
I had no idea that there was a Jiffy version.
Grew up on both of scratch and Jiffy versions of this icing. I still make the cooked version for special occasions.
And we always died it green at Easter one year we would have with green coconut and the next we wouldn’t but we always “hid” jelly beans in it on our Easter Cakes. I hated coconut but coconut was my sister’s favorite so our mom switched it out.
What a cute idea! I have never had the Jiffy kind, I wish that I had, it sounds good.
I’m making this right now, but without a candy thermometer! I’m just going to eyeball it… how long do you usually boil the icing for & at what temperature? I’ll make sure you link you up when I post it to my blog.
Thanks for the recipe.
I boil it over medium-medium high heat. Maybe 5-7 minutes?
My family has been making this frosting for years. Here is a tip for those who do not have a thermometer to check the temp: when the mixture has been boiling for a few minutes (and you can see that the sugar is disolved) take a fork and give a stir of the mixture ( do not touch the sides of the pan) gently lift the fork straight up with the tines facing down (bring the fork up to about eye level over the pan). You will see drops of the mixture forming on the end of the tines. Watch as the drops release from the tines – when you see a fine thread form and hang from a tine the mixture is ready to add to the whipped egg whites. I usually do this a few times (quick stir and look for a thread) just to make sure that I have a good “thread”. They can be short threads or as long as 3 or so inches (very thin and delicate) I usually take it off the heat when it has a bit longer thread. If you don’t see a thread form it isn’t ready…
Hope this helps somebody!!
I’m making my daughter’s birthday cake and she wanted pink icing on her cake. Can I add food color to this icing? Also, you think it would go well with a red velvet cake? This recipe looks yummy. Thanks.
Yes, it will be a pale pink and perfect on a red velvet cake.
[...] In the bowl of a mixer, whisk the egg whites and salt until they form peaks. Turn the machine off and start making the syrup. Make the sugar syrup by combining the sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a saucepan and boiling over medium-high heat. When the mixture reaches 245 degrees, turn the mixer back on and mix on a slow speed. Slowly stream the sugar into the egg whites with the machine still running. Let the machine whisk until the bowl cools off and is room temperature, about 7 minutes. Add the vanilla. (This is exactly the same as fluffy boiled icing.) [...]
[...] by step photos were taken from Bakedbree.com *Photos of frosted cupcakes, are however, mine. Recipe for marshmallow fondant will soon [...]
Hello Bree,
I would just want to ask if I can use confectioner’s sugar instead of plain sugar? I had made an icing that just look exactly like this before in my baking class but it was called royal icing. but when i search of it now, royal icing seems to be the icing that turns very hard as candy. And before i remember we using a confectioner’s sugar for it. but the one we made before is not hard at all even after it cools it remained soft and like that in the picture and it tastes like marshmallow. So i am now confused which recipe to follow. the royal icing or this boiled icing. We used it before to cover a cake. Will the icing you made be able to cover a cake? and will not turn hard as candy ?
Thank you sorry for lots of questions.
No, they are completely difference frostings. Royal icing gets rock hard, and is used for decorating cookies, etc… Boiled icing is a fluffy icing for cakes.
Made this boiling icing but its a little brown when you say light corn syrup do you mean the colour as in white corn syrup.
Yes, it is a clear product, so the frosting should be bright white.
Do you think this would hold up well as a filling inside cupcakes?
Absolutely!
[...] Seven Minute Icing (adapted from bakedbree) [...]
i do not have cream of tarter,now what….helpl!!!!!
I am not sure, it stabilizes the eggs.
[...] But this morning I said that I’ll give it my best shot. So I gathered the ingredients and the equipment needed to cook the marshmallow frosting. Recipe adapted from Baked Bree. [...]
Sooooo happy I found your recipe. I’ve been pulling my hair out trying to test a cookbook full of mistakes. Finally I found the proper way to make this type of frosting! THANK YOU
You are welcome. I make this frosting all the time and it is fool proof. I made it 3 times last week!
I want to try out this boiled icing, but am a bit intimidated.
Is this icing thick enough to pipe roses onto cupcakes, will it hold it’s shape? I have to make rose cupcakes, but I wanted to try an icing that wasn’t as heavy as an American buttercream.
Thank you:)
It is just like marshmallow fluff. It will hold a soft shape, but for roses I would use something sturdier.
Can we use it on Christmas cake??? & what will happen if we keep it to dry???
Can we use it for the Christmas Cake??? & how will it look like when it dries.
Regards
Antoine Aswad
What is Christmas Cake?
How many cups does this recipe make?
I don’t know, 6? Enough to ice a 2 layer cake.
i have tried to make this frosting but it comes out not too fluffy and also runny is it because an using a hand mixer in stead of a kitchen aid where did i go wrong
If you are using a hand mixer, I would do it over a double boiler. Or your sugar is not hot enough.
just like my granny made, thank you!
kudzu
You are very welcome! Love this recipe!
Hi, I live i Houston where it’s pretty humid. I know you said that it’s best to make it the day that it’s served. Is it okay to refrigerate it for a few hours also and do you have any suggestions on how to get it to be more stiff to withstand Texas’ humidity?
I would not refrigerate this, it might sweat. I don’t really think that there is a fix except for not making it when it is really humid.
Hi Bree,
I have a little problem here.. im using a hand mixer only and it doesnt have a wire whisk.. will the regular beater do for this kind of icing in beating the egg whites?
I am not sure if this is the best method for this frosting. You probably should do the double boiler method instead.
Hi, Bree! Uuhhmm.. How strong is the fire while boiling the syrup? Low, medium or high? I hope you reply..
It doesn’t matter as long as it boils. I like medium-high.