Cooked Vanilla Frosting

So our Kirkham family blog has a Cooked Cream Frosting similar to this but it uses margarine and shortening. I wanted to find one that uses real butter and so voila! I LOVE this frosting. It is not as sickly sweet as buttercream and works great piping on cupcakes. The author said best served the same day, but I made my cupcakes and frosted them in advance and they kept great in the fridge for days afterwards (until we ate them all!) In fact, I'd say it's better if made ahead because I had a slight graininess with the sugar that disappeared completely after it sitting on the cupcakes overnight.

I will say a couple things about this frosting: 1. You have to plan ahead to make it--it's not a throw-together-at-the-last-second-and-go type of thing.  And 2. It has a learning curve.  Sometimes people have trouble making it. I'd say the most important things to remember are:
- Make sure you cook your flour and milk long enough, stirring constantly and don't stop until it's thick.
- Let your flour-milk mixture cool COMPLETELY before adding it to the butter-sugar mix. I usually do the first step and then go do other things for awhile before finishing the frosting.
- Pull your butter out when you start this recipe and let it sit out until you're ready to mix everything together, that should be plenty of time to get it soft on the counter without having to nuke it and maybe not have the right consistency.
- It will look like it's not working when you beat it all together for the first couple minutes. Just keep going!  It'll eventually start to look like whipped cream and will all come together in the end!

So just a few tips to make the best frosting ever! Super tasty with chocolate or red velvet cakes!

COOKED VANILLA FROSTING
(I got this recipe from here, but she credits the Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients
5 Tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature (see note)
1 cup granulated white sugar (not powdered sugar)

Instructions
In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It took me around 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn it. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. You can place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools if you are in a hurry. Stir in vanilla. This mixture must be completely cooled in order for the frosting to work.
While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat until it all combines and resembles whipped cream. Make sure you scrape down the sides every so often so that it all gets incorporated and whipped. If it's not looking like whipped cream, keep on whipping. This frosting is great for piping. Best served the same day.

Note: Your butter must be room temperature for this to work. Don't microwave it to get it soft. Bring it to room temperature on the counter.