7-Minute Frosting (Foolproof Recipe)
This foolproof 7-Minute Frosting is a classic for a reason. It’s light, fluffy, easy to spread, and the perfect topping for just about any cake. Old-fashioned and never out of style, its smooth, marshmallow-like texture is sure to make you, your family, and your friends smile!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: 7-Minute Frosting
- Ready In: 7 minutes
- Serves: 4
- Calories: 278 cal
- Main Ingredients: 1 cup sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon cream of tartar, 2 Egg whites, 3 tablespoons water, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Why You'll Love It: This failproof 7-minute frosting recipe is a light, smooth, and fluffy cake topping like marshmallow cream that melts in your mouth.
Light and Fluffy 7-Minute Frosting
If you’ve never had this old-fashioned frosting, you’ve been missing out! This recipe has been a timeless favorite since the early 1900s, and it’s easy to see why. It’s fluffy, glossy, and light-tasting icing reminiscent of meringue… only better and spreadable!
Growing up, I had it atop my grandmama’s coconut cake and my Aunt Sue’s famous pound cake, and boy, oh boy, it was always a treat!
There are many reasons to love this recipe, but most importantly, it’s quick to make, easy to spread, and doesn’t include a double boiler like so many others. It comes out perfect every time, so if you’re a beginner baker looking for a foolproof frosting recipe, you’re in the right place!
I’d recommend watching our quick video tutorial before you start your recipe so that you can get a nice visual!
Reader Rating
“Love love this recipe! My grandmother made this same recipe long time ago and it’s a family favorite!” – Julia
Recipe Ingredients
- Sugar
- 2 eggs (for the whites only)
- Cream of tartar (don’t substitute!)
- Salt
- Vanilla
Want to Jazz Up Your Frosting? Try These Ideas
- Use brown sugar instead of white sugar.
- Fold about 3 ounces of melted chocolate chips into the finished frosting. You want both products to be at the same temperature.
- Use a different extract flavor instead of vanilla, such as peppermint or almond.
- You can also torch the frosting like you would with this coffee pie with meringue.
How to Make 7 Minute Frosting
1. Add Ingredients to a Pot
Start by adding your sugar to a thick-bottomed sauce pot.
Pro tip: You’ll want to use a good stainless steel pot for this. Definitely not one with a nonstick coating, because we are going to beat it for several minutes and all that mess would flake off and get in your icing – so don’t do that!
Next, add the salt, then the cream of tartar and the egg whites.
Pro tip: When separating your eggs, do it in a separate bowl first. The icing won’t turn out if even a little bit of yolk gets mixed in with the whites. This way, if a yolk breaks, you won’t have to waste all your ingredients.
Finally, add the water. We don’t add the vanilla extract until the end.
2. Heat & Beat
Place this mixture over medium-low heat (about a 4 on my stove) and then turn the electric mixer on.
Beat this constantly for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until sugar dissolves and stiff peaks form.
A word of caution
Right now, you might be thinking, “Okay, this is crazy. This is never going to form stiff peaks. I’m sure this is as good as it will get. I might as well give up and just ice the cake.”
Don’t! This is one of those recipes that must be followed to the letter. If you go rogue, you get rogue results. Maybe they’ll be good, maybe they’ll be bad, but they won’t be on me. Stick with it, I promise it’ll work.
Look! We have stiffness! You can see how the frosting reaches and maintains the trail left by the beaters rather than sliding back into a glop. This is what we want.
3. Fold in the Vanilla
Now add in your vanilla extract and fold it in. Maintain that perfect trail left by the beaters and keep any icing from sliding back down to smooth. Remove this from the heat and have a little taste of it – pure marshmallow heaven.
Ice your cake with this 7-minute frosting, and you’re good to go.
Oh my goodness, how light and fluffy does that look?
If you’re looking for other foolproof frosting recipes, check out my creamy chocolate frosting or royal icing recipe.
Does this frosting need to be refrigerated?
No, you don’t need to refrigerate this frosting! I’ve found that a cake frosted with this recipe will be perfectly fine covered on the counter for up to two days. After that, the frosting will start to melt into the cake. I suggest making and frosting the cake the day you are going to serve it for the best results.
7-Minute Frosting FAQs
The main difference between these frostings is that Swiss meringue buttercream is cooked, then mixed off the heat. Meanwhile, this frosting is mixed as it cooks on the stovetop.
If you just toss that granulated sugar into your egg whites, it won’t dissolve properly. You’ll end up with a gritty frosting, and nobody wants that! By taking a minute to make a simple syrup first, you ensure that sugar melts down nice and smooth, giving you that silky, fluffy frosting we’re aiming for. It’s a small step that makes a world of difference.
It’s normal for this 7-minute frosting to have tiny sugar crystals mixed amid the fluffy velvet cream. This is part of the frosting’s texture, so don’t worry, you haven’t done anything wrong! The crystals add to its unique, fluffy, velvet-cream consistency. Just close your eyes and enjoy the smoothness of this marshmallow fluff-like icing as it melts in your mouth.
Did you try this 7-minute frosting? I’d love to hear how it turned out for you! Please share your experience and any sweet stories by leaving a rating and comment below.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar *do not substitute
- 2 Egg whites
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients except the vanilla in a stainless steel heavy-bottomed saucepan.1 cup sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon cream of tartar, 2 Egg whites, 3 tablespoons water
- Place mixture over medium-low heat and beat with an electric hand mixer constantly for 5-7 minutes, or until icing is fluffy and stiff peaks form when the beaters are removed.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Ice the cooled cake.1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Notes
- You’ll need two recipes of this icing to ice a layer cake. Fortunately, this recipe doubles beautifully, so there’s no need to make two separate batches, just double it and make it all at once.
- If you want to jazz up your frosting, here are some fun additions:
- Use brown sugar instead of white sugar.
- Fold about 3 ounces of melted chocolate chips into the finished frosting. You want both products to be at the same temperature.
- Use a different extract flavor rather than vanilla, like peppermint or almond extract.
- You can also torch the frosting like you would meringue.
Nutrition
“Peoples s’posed to be nice. That’s just the way you do things.”
~Grandmama
Wow! This was so delicious! I’ve only made this type of frosting one other time 10 years ago & it still came out great. And so easy to make, I didnt have cream of tartar so I replaced it with lemon juice
What a smart swap!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
I didn’t have a hand mixer, so I put my egg whites in my stand mixer and started whipping them as I boiled the sugar, cream of tartar and water. I waited until the sugar was dissolved and the mixture was simmering around the edges then slowly poured the hot syrup into the egg whites. I turned up the speed and the mixture started stiffening up pretty quickly. I had seen this technique on a cooking show where they were making marshmallows. It turned out quite nicely!
I would not say 7 minutes after 20 minutes and yes I followed the direction. I have no frosting
Am sorry to hear that Dana. It may have been that it wasn’t heated up well enough. Some people use candy thermometers and make sure it heats up to 165 degrees. The room temperature can effect things as well and every stove is different. Also you have to make sure none of the egg yolk gets in. Sometimes you have to give a new recipe, especially one like this, a few tries before the final run. Hope you will give it another shot.
Hi Dana,
am sorry to hear you had this experience! There are a few things that could have gone wrong. If any yolk got in the mix, that would cause an issue. The temp in your kitchen can influence it but often it’s the temp on the stove eye or burner that just didn’t get hot enough. Hope you give it another go. Good luck!
I know from making this with a different recipe that there are details that are important but not mentioned. You need to start with a completely clean bowl and beaters. That’s fine if you are only making this recipe. But if you didn’t know that was important, you might rinse off the beaters you just used for the cake mix, or use a measuring spoon you used for butter or oil. This will be a problem because there can’t be any fat in this recipe- including any hint of egg yolk. It is even recommended to wipe down the bowl and beaters with vinegar to ensure there is no residue. If you subbed milk or coco milk for the water, like I did, that will be a problem, too. 🙂 The water needs to be water. I usually use a different recipe and it explained the process in more detail, but this recipe does work well provided you keep this in mind. Also, cream of tartar is yucky, so don’t accidentally add more, and don’t plan on skipping the extract. This recipe uses more tartar than my previous one, but it also whipped up faster. It was light and creamy looking a couple of minutes in, but, I still beat it until I got stiff peaks, so it wouldn’t droop on my cake. This recipe also uses a bit of salt which I find a great way to reduce what can be overpowering sweetness in frostings. You don’t taste the salt, but it is good to have it there. 🙂
Another thing worth mentioning is that eggs cook quickly and you don’t want scrambled frosting, so make sure you combine the sugar and egg well before you heat the pan. And if you are not sure about cooking it this way, just set a metal mixing bowl over a pot of water and let the steam heat it while you beat. It is the more traditional way and you still only have one bowl to clean.
This is a good recipe and worth making. The little extra effort is worth it. Cakes come out beautifully glossy and the frosting is light-not greasy. It is perfect for special occasions. The only downside is the need to refrigerate for storage.
This year I tried this slightly different version of my grandmother’s seven minute frosting recipe. From now on, I’ll be using this one and I know my grandmother would have agreed 🙂 !
Thank you so much Susan! Really appreciate the comment and the rating but more importantly am completely humbled that you feel your grandmother would give this recipe her approval. Truly made my day!
I love this recipe as a cherished memory of my mother in law. She was an excellent ‘from scratch ‘ cook. This was the icing for her popular coconut cake. Thank you for posting this! Merry Christmas and God Bless! ❤️❤️
Merry Christmas to you as well. I am so glad you found us 🙂
I’ll have to try this recipe I’m only used to making buttercream frosting. It sounds and looks so delicious. I can’t wait to make this an order to put on a cake. I am very excited to get back to baking. Personally, my family handles desserts during Thanksgiving so I’ll use this recipe to frost my next cake probably for Thanksgiving. This frosting looks super soft and looks very easy to spread on stuffing like cupcakes. I enjoyed reading this and I hope you have a fantastic day. I hope you get to make many enjoyable foods this holiday season.
Can I freeze a coconut cake w 7 minute frosting ? Want to bring one to my Dad. He’s in Montana I am in Kentucky
Can I triple this recipe to make it for a large cake? Also, can I use store bought pre packaged egg whites?
Absolutely! My mil froze hers. It was delicious