Why would you want to thicken frosting without powdered sugar?
If you are a fan of sweetness, you definitely love cakes spread with a beautiful coat of frosting.
Nobody likes runny frosting on their favorite cakes and if you are a baking master or just home baker, it will be a nightmare to encounter a batch of watery frosting.
We all know that each pie requires a different kind and texture of frosting but in general, if your frosting is too thin or runny, it will ruin your dish anyway.
Can you thicken frosting without powdered sugar?
You can choose one or two of many methods to thicken your runny frosting so just don’t panic. A lot of thickening agents are available to fix this situation depending on the type of frosting you have and the most common one is powdered sugar.
However, if your frosting is already fairly sweet, or you don’t prefer adding more sugar, there are still other options for you.
In this article, we will show you some ways to make your frosting thicker without using powdered sugar.
Tips to thicken frosting without powdered sugar
- You should notice that each ingredient will be more proper with a specific kind of frosting so just ensure that you choose the right one so that the original flavor of the frosting won’t be affected. For example, butter should be added to buttercream frosting, heavy cream and gelatin match with whipped cream frosting or cream cheese frosting,
- When you use flour to thicken your frosting, remember that flour only works as a thickening agent when you are making warm frosting because it tastes weird if not cooked properly
- Before trying all the methods below by adding other ingredients, just experiment putting your runny frosting into the fridge (be sure to tightly cover the top of the frosting bowl before refrigerated)
- It’s recommended to add little by little of thickening agents to the runny frosting to make sure you don’t over thicken it. At that time, we will have to waste time and effort to add liquid or something else to make it thinner again
Things you’ll need
- A bowl
- An electric or hand whisk/ mixer
- Flour or cornstarch
- Fats (butter, heavy cream,…)
- Gelatin
How to thicken frosting without powdered sugar by adding cornstarch
- Add 0.5 tsp. of cornstarch into a bowl of runny frosting
- Whisk it by hand or by an electric mixer
- Check the consistency if it reaches your desire, if not, you can add more 0.5 tsp. of cornstarch until the mixture achieves perfect thickness. Best result when using a 100% pure cornstarch.
How to thicken frosting without powdered sugar by adding flour
- Add 1 to 2 tsp. of flour into the warm pot of frosting
- Put the pot on the stove top over the low heat and keep stirring
- Once it starts thickening, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool
How to thicken frosting without powdered sugar by adding butter
- Add 1 tbsp. of soften butter to a bowl of runny frosting
- Mix with a hand whisk or an electric mixer until you feel the frosting is thicker
- By adding whipping cream
- Add 3 to 4 tbsp. of cream to a bowl of frosting
- Whisk it by hand or by an electric mixer
- Check the consistency if it reaches your desire, if not, you can add more (preferably at 1 tbsp. increments) until the mixture achieves perfect thickness as you want
How to thicken frosting without powdered sugar by adding gelatin
- Make unflavored gelatin and let it completely cool
- Add 2 tbsp. of gelatin while whisking the frosting together
- Chill the mixture in the fridge for about 10 minutes
You could also add a ready-made unflavored gelatin that you can get from Amazon.
