Frosting Recipes » Buttercream Frosting

Frosting Recipes: Shortening or Butter?

sarita — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:47:02 +0000

Frosting recipes rely upon fat to create flavor and texture. As we see, there is enormous variety in the fats used in frosting recipes. We seen cream cheese and whipped cream but also yogurt and avocados. All of these contribute to a rich, delicious cake or cupcake frosting.

Two of the most common fats used to make frosting from scratch are butter and vegetable shortening. Just like in pie crust recipes, bakers have very strong feelings about which one (or combination of the two) produce the best results.

The advantage of using butter in a frosting recipe is its flavor. Butter adds a rich, melt-in-your-mouth feeling to the frosting. Using vegetable shortening can be preferable for its texture, because it makes for a lighter, fluffier frosting. However, shortening is all fat (butter is around 80% fat) and not especially flavorful.

The solution? We’re now trying a combination of butter and trans-fat free vegetable shortening (Smart Balance, Spectrum Organics and Crisco make it) to achieve the best frosting flavor and texture. Ratio of each to be determined! We’ll let you know how it goes.

Fabulous Cake Frosting Demo Video

sarita — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:45:47 +0000

This very informative video takes you through the steps of frosting the top and sides of a round cake with buttercream frosting. It’s great to see the way the turntable is set up and how she uses each of the cake frosting tools.

White Chocolate Mint Frosting Recipe

sarita — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:45:17 +0000

Craftcake shared this fabulous white chocolate mint frosting recipe, that has a delicate pale green color that beautifully accentuates deep chocolate cake. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Mint Buttercream Frosting

yield 2 3/4 cups

Ingredients

2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened
12 ounces white chocolate
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (do not use mint)

Directions

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave and stir. Note: Follow the directions on packaging for melting. Set aside to cool.
Using a handheld or stand mixer beat the butter in a large bowl at medium speed until creamy.
Add the melted white chocolate and beat until well combined. Be sure to scrape the sides down.
Add the confectioners sugar, mint, vanilla and a drop of green food coloring and beat at low speed, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy.

Chocolate Cupcakes + White Chocolate Mint Frosting : craftcake.

Perfect Frosting Recipe For Kids

sarita — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:25:25 +0000

Let’s face it. Kids like the frosting the best, so try having your kids make this simple frosting recipe. It doesn’t involve eggs or the stove, so kids just measure and mix the ingredients and start cookie or cake decorating. You can split the recipe into several batches to make different colors. If they’re ready, you may have them try using a pastry bag. Otherwise, an offset spatula or butter knife works great for spreading.

Ingredients

1 stick butter
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. milk
Food coloring

Directions

Cream 1 stick of softened butter and 3 cups of confectioners’ sugar.

Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons of milk, then cream until smooth. Add desired food coloring.

Recipe from:

Cookie Frosting Kids Can Make – and More Great Family Fun Recipe Ideas.

Brown Sugar Frosting For Devil’s Food Cake

sarita — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:48:54 +0000

Tender Crumb shares knockout frosting recipes, including this one, a brown sugar frosting designed to coat an 8-inch, triple-layer devil’s food cake. (Check out their pics). We’ve never tried a brown sugar frosting but think it sounds fabulous. There’s also a brown sugar buttercream frosting, along with the devil’s food cake recipe.

Brown Sugar 7-Minute Frosting

6 egg whites

1 and ½ cups of brown sugar

¼ cup light corn syrup*

2 tablespoons of water

½ teaspoon of cream of tartar

{*corn syrup can be substituted with equal parts of treacle OR liquid glucose OR light colored honey}

Do not try to make this frosting on a rainy day or if you live in an extremely humid area. The humidity will make it impossible to work with the egg whites.

Place all the egg whites in a bowl and set them aside while you make the syrup.

In a small heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, and water. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush. Boil until the syrup reaches 238 degrees F (softball stage) on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from heat.

Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites in the bowl and beat just to combine. With the mixer on medium speed gradually add the syrup in a thin stream taking care not to hit the beaters. Beat until fairly stiff peaks form but the frosting is still spreadable. If the frosting is too stiff it will be hard to work with. Use immediately.

via TENDER CRUMB: Mile High Devil’s Food Cake (TCS).

Orange Marmalade Buttercream Recipe Frosting by Martha Stewart

sarita — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:18:29 +0000

The Sacramento Bee (8/12/09) shares this fabulous adaptation of a Martha Stewart buttercream frosting recipe. Marmalade folded into the frosting at the last minute helps give it the taste of an Creamsicle. This would go beautifully on vanilla or yellow cake or cupcakes, as the frosting is really the star here. (Be sure to check out our other orange buttercream frosting recipe.

Orange Creamsicle Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Prep time: 30 minutes

Makes enough to frost one 2-layer, 8-inch cake or 24 cupcakes

The addition of marmalade and orange blossom water at the end makes for a creamy, citrusy frosting. Pair with vanilla cake to create a Creamsicle-inspired confection that will invoke nostalgia at every bite.

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cups Smucker’s Sweet Orange Marmalade

4 large egg whites

1 ¼ cup granulated sugar

1 ½ cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon orange blossom water

INSTRUCTIONS

In a food processor or blender, purée the orange marmalade until smooth, about 1 minute, and set aside.

Combine egg whites and sugar in the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer and set in a saucepan of boiling water. Cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture reaches 160 degrees.

Attach the bowl to the mixer and fit the mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk the egg-white mixture on high speed until stiff but not dry; peaks form. Keep beating until the mixture is fluffy and cool, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Remove the whisk attachment and replace with the paddle attachment. Start beating on medium-low speed and add the butter, several tablespoons at a time. Continue beating for about two minutes. If the frosting separates, beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and orange blossom water.

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the puréed marmalade until incorporated smoothly throughout the frosting.

Can be stored in an airtight container, refrigerated, for up to three days or frozen for up to one month (thaw frozen frosting in refrigerator for one day before using). If the frosting has been refrigerated, let come to room temperature and beat for about two minutes.

Per slice based on 12 slices of cake, frosting only: 389 cal.; 2 g pro.; 48 g carb.; 23 g fat (15 sat., 7 monounsat., 1 polyunsat.); 62 mg chol.; 44 mg sod.; 0 g fiber; 46 g sugar; 51 percent calories from fat.

Easy Buttercream Frosting and Easy Decorator Frosting

sarita — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:12:53 +0000

This is a buttercream frosting that is a favorite of my mother’s. She always uses this on her cakes, and they are always delicious. It turns out great every single time, but you have to be a little careful when you are adding the milk to get the consistency that you want. Anyone can make this!

Easy Buttercream Frosting Recipe

¼ cup butter, softened
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup milk

Cream butter, salt, vanilla, and 1 cup powdered sugar in mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add remaining powdered sugar alternately with milk, mixing well after each addition. Beat until smooth and creamy. Adjust powdered sugar and milk if necessary for desired consistency.

Do you like to decorate cakes for special events? The recipe below is a simple recipe for decorator’s frosting that anyone can do! This is yet another favorite of my mother’s. She used this frosting for our birthday cakes, graduation cakes, and every other special event that we had. Both the frosting recipes that you see here would go great on any flavor cake, but with the Decorator’s Frosting, you have to be careful to match the type of flavoring that you add with the flavor of the cake that you are making.

Decorator’s Frosting

1 cup shortening
2 pounds powdered sugar
½ cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 teaspoons flavoring

Cream shortening in mixer bowl until light. Add powdered sugar, water, corn syrup, and desired flavoring; beat until fluffy.

I hope these recipes have been helpful and that they make your cake a hit!

To see more easy recipes for desserts, casseroles, main dishes, and side dishes, please visit my website at:
http://www.allaboutcooking101.blogspot.com