A wooden spoon and some elbow grease. I'm without my mixer, and my standard buttercream recipe calls for 20 minutes of beating.

I don't mind a bit of elbow grease as … Does anyone have an alternative that isn't reliant on a mixer? The old fashioned way. Many of us still do it that way, as it is a lot easier to wash up. Friend wants a vanilla layer cake with fluffy vanilla frosting for her birthday tomorrow.