Frosting with Flour?

[marmalady]

I was looking through an old reproduction New Orleans cookbook, and came across this frosting recipe which is made with flour. I've never seen anything like this anywhere, and wondered if anyone has made it/heard of it?

French Cream Frosting

In a small saucepan, make a paste of 2T flour and 1/2 milk.
Heat til thickened, then cool.

In a bowl, cream for 4 minutes - 1/4 cup shortening, 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup sugar. Add 1 tsp. vanilla, and the flour mixture, and beat another 4 minutes.

[LotusCakeStudio]

A friend of mine made me a birthday cake with a similar icing since I don't eat eggs. It was the first time I have heard of it, but since then, have seen them all over the place. She used all butter though and no shortening and added some white chocolate. I thought it was great. It looked pretty stable too, enough to pipe shells. Less sweet than regular American buttercream (fat + powdered sugar). I've tried 2 or 3 recipes for the icing that goes with red velvet cake since they too are made with flour, but none of them came out right. They were too liquid and didn't taste very good. I wish I saved the recipe my friend gave me!