Seven-Minute Frosting (2024)

Frosting
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This old-school frosting of egg whites and sugar comes together fast to give your cakes and cupcakes piles of fluffy, marshmallow-y swirls.

Sara Bir

Sara is a chef, culinary educator, and author of three cookbooks, The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook, Tasting Ohio and The Fruit Forager's Companion. The latter won a 2019 IACP Cookbook Award.

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Updated February 22, 2022

What If I Don’t Have a Hand Electric Mixer?

There are ways, yes, but they’re basically adaptations of Swiss meringue—so if you only have a stand mixer, we recommend making our Swiss Meringue recipe instead.

It is possible to make this sans electricity, with handheld eggbeaters (that’s how this recipe originated), though it’s tricky, since it takes both hands to operate the beaters.

You’d need to have a very stable double boiler and resilient arms (or someone in the kitchen helping you make the frosting). But, we haven't tested the recipe using a handheld eggbeater.

Why Is It Called Seven-Minute Frosting?

It takes roughly seven minutes of cooking and constant beating for the frosting to transform. Seven minutes is not a magic number though—sometimes it takes more time, sometimes less. Use both a timer and our visual cues in the recipe and you’ll be in good shape.

Slow and Steady Makes for a Fluffy Frosting

After many experiments, I discovered heating the egg-and-sugar mixture too fast resulted in a frosting that was dense and sticky.

For the lightest frosting with the biggest volume, make sure the water is simmering, not at a full boil, and keep the bowl 4 to 5 inches above the water. Don’t be in a rush—take pleasure in watching the process unfold.

Ways to Flavor Seven-Minute Frosting

Looking for ways to jazz up this fluffy cloud of sweetness? Here’s how:

Use brown sugar or maple sugar (not syrup) instead of granulated white sugar
Fold 3 ounces melted and slightly cooled unsweetened chocolate to the finished frosting. You want the chocolate to be the same temperature as the frosting when you add it—otherwise, the chocolate will seize
Fold 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon, orange, or lime zest into the finished frosting. If using orange zest, use orange juice instead ofwater
Add 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract instead of vanilla extract
Add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract instead of vanilla extract

Troubleshooting Seven-Minute Frosting

Learning frosting takes time. I’m here to help. Here are somethings that could go wrong and what to do about it.

Frosting is gritty: This happens when sugar at the rim of the bowl does not get dissolved. There’s nothing you can do to fix it. In the future, be sure all the sugar is dissolved—scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula while whipping.
Frosting is droopy instead of light and fluffy: The egg and sugar mixture got too hot, too fast. When this happens, your frosting will be tacky and viscous, like marshmallow fluff from a tub. At this point, there’s no fix—you can still use it, but it will be harder to spread, and won’t hold its shape very well. Next time, have your water at a hearty simmer, not a rapid boil. Your bowl also may have been too close to the water in the double boiler

Frosting in a Snapshot

How do you match this with cake? If frosting had a dating profile, this would be it.

Taste: Extremely sweet, marshmallow-like
Texture: Light and billowy
Piping: Good for piping through a large star tip, but not good for fine detail work—it sets up too fast
Works best on: Layer cakes and cupcakes
Time investment: Less than 10 minutes.
Make-ahead: Use frosting immediately after making; cakes are best enjoyed the day they are decorated. This frosting cannot be frozen

Advantages of Seven-Minute Frosting

Quick to make
Easy to spread
Light and airy
You can torch it like meringue

Drawbacks of Seven-Minute Frosting

A handheld electric mixer is a must
Can’t freeze it
Can’t make-ahead
Difficult to cover, sticks to plastic wrap; not good for transporting

More Mouthwatering Frosting Recipes

Cream Cheese Frosting
Vegan Chocolate Frosting
Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Seven-Minute Frosting

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time10 mins

Total Time15 mins

Servings64 servings

Yield8 cups frosting

This quick, fluffy frosting is stunning on cakes and cupcakes, but does not hold up well. It’s best used right after making it. Serve frosted cake or cupcakes within 4 hours of decorating.

This recipe calls for partially cooked eggs. Because of the possibility of salmonella, we don’t recommend this recipe for the elderly, the very young, pregnant women, or those with weakened immune systems. Be sure to use clean, uncracked eggs. You can make this with pasteurized egg whites.

Ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (250g) sugar
1/3 cup water
4 egg whites
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Combine and beat all ingredients except the vanilla:
In a large metal or heatproof glass bowl, combine the sugar, water, egg whites, corn syrup, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat with an electric hand mixer at low speed just to combine so the eggs are lightly frothy.
Set up your double boiler:
Fill a medium saucepot about 1/3 of the way with water. Set it over medium to medium low heat and bring it to a moderate simmer not a boil. The water should have small to medium-sized steady bubbles on the edges of the pot.
You do not want the simmering water in the saucepot to touch the bottom of the bowl. You are using the steam to cook the frosting, not the water directly. The greatest danger with this frosting is cooking it over too high of heat.
Beat the frosting:
Use a hand mixer to beat the mixture at low speed; over the next 3 minutes, gradually increase the speed too high. The first minute or so, the mixture will be frothy, with large bubbles.
After 2-3 minutes, the mixture will be foamy, with finer bubbles. Around 4-5 minutes, it will have greatly increased in volume and will be fluffy, and white like soft clouds.
Around 5-7 minutes, the beaters will leave very distinct trails in the frosting. It will be glossy, stiff, and sticky. If you lift the beaters from the bowl, they’ll form firm little peaks in the frosting. Keep beating and cooking until you see the peaks—it might take a little less or more than 7 minutes.
Remove the frosting from heat and let cool:
Remove the bowl from the double boiler. Continue beating until the icing is very stiff and glossy, another 2 to 3 minutes (this increases the volume of the frosting, but also helps it cool down). Stir in the vanilla extract.
Use the frosting:
Use the frosting within 30 minutes. As it sits, the frosting becomes too tacky and deflated to work with. If someone comes to the door and you can’t use the frosting immediately, drape a warm, damp kitchen towel over the bowl. This can buy you a little time.
Serve:
Cakes with this frosting are best enjoyed the day they are decorated; after about 4 hours, the frosting will look less glamorous and become tacky, with a chalky outer crust. It’s still safe and delicious to eat. It’s just not very pretty.
Store cakes uncovered:
Store cakes iced with seven-minute frosting uncovered and avoid having plastic wrap come into contact with the frosting—it’ll stick to the wrap. If your cake is sliced you can fold plastic wrap or parchment over and press it against the cut part of cake to prevent it from drying out.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
17	Calories
0g	Fat
4g	Carbs
0g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 64
Amount per serving
Calories	17
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g	0%
Saturated Fat 0g	0%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 6mg	0%
Total Carbohydrate 4g	2%
Dietary Fiber 0g	0%
Total Sugars 4g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 0mg	0%
Iron 0mg	0%
Potassium 5mg	0%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.