Frosting Recipes

This orange buttercream frosting recipe can work beautifully with chocolate or vanilla cake.  Or, you may think about it with berry-lemon flavored cupcakes, pineapple yogurt cake, chai tea cake, or even a caramel combination.  It would also be festive on carrot cake, or served with a dark chocolate or pumpkin cake around the holidays.  It’s beautiful garnished with chopped nuts, white chocolate shavings, chocolate sprinkles or chips, candy corn, candied ginger, orange zest, fresh blueberries, or left just as they are with the fluffy frosting piled high.  Also, try this buttercream frosting recipe as a thin cookie icing. With a bit of food coloring, it makes for a perfect Halloween or Fall treat.  Also, be sure to check out our other Orange frosting recipe.

In this recipe, the sweeter the preserves, the more you can reduce the amount of powdered sugar in the recipe.  Depending on the sweetness of the cake or cupcakes, you may not want any added sugar at all.  Keep in mind that the extracts really take the flavors to the next level, although they are not absolutely necessary.  Nevertheless, invest in real vanilla extract for your pantry, as the more natural flavor (rather than the cheaper synthesized vanilla liquid) makes all of the difference in recipes like these.

This is yet another delicious recipe from the Cupcake Project.  Check out pics and more after the jump.

• 1/2 C (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 3 oz (about 1/3 C) orange marmalade
• 1 1/2 C powdered sugar
• 1 T heavy cream
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 t orange extract

1. Beat butter until creamy.
2. Beat in marmalade.
3. Beat in powdered sugar.
4. Add heavy cream and extracts.
5. Taste and smile. It should frost about 12 cupcakes, depending on how much you use.

Buttercream Frosting Recipe – Orange Frosting ~ Cupcake Project.

Fig frosting is one we don’t see very often.  Figs can be so sweet and concentrated, they’re more often used in cakes that are balanced with a mellow vanilla or cream cheese frosting.   So, we were excited to see the opposite: a butter cake with a fig frosting!  We think the butter cake recipe is great for tempering the rich figs.   You may also consider a fig-goat cheese frosting lightly drizzled with honey.

Fig Frosting Recipe

1 egg white, unbeaten
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 drop almond extract
1/3 cup chopped figs

Combine egg white, sugar, water, and lemon juice in top of double boiler, beating with mixer until well mixed. Place over rapidly boiling water, beating constantly, and cook for 4 minutes, or until frosting will stand in peaks. Remove from the boiling water and add lemon peel, almond extract, and figs. Beat until thick enough to spread. Frosts top and sides of an 8-inch square cake.

Butter Cake Recipe with Fig Frosting.

Wilton’s 2010 Yearbook of Cake Decorating includes easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions, how-to photos, and a technique resource guide, as well as detailed product information for the inside scoop on the newest decorating gear and classic essential items.   With over 200 projects, this softcover volume is the perfect gift and inspiration for the cake decorator in your life.

The Wilton® Cookbook – Brownie Fun! Book proves brownies can be as colorful and fun as your favorite party treats! In Brownie Fun!, the fudgy treats everyone loves take on amazing new shapes and dazzling colors that will be the talk of your next celebration.Brownie Fun! is packed with over 140 easy-to-make designs and recipes for brownies and mini treats. You’ll find fun shapes like flowers, footballs, burgers, volcanos and space aliens that are perfect for kids’ birthday parties.

We were recently discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using different fats in frosting.  Sometimes I find a buttercream frosting to taste so much like sweetened butter that it’s just not enjoyable.  (I eat it, but don’t enjoy it).

Occasionally we use yogurt as a base for our frosting recipes.  I love the tanginess, but it can get so runny that it slides off the cake.  And there’s very little fluff factor.  (This means that it’s hard to make yogurt the light, airy type of icing you’re looking for).  Cream cheese can achieve fluffiness, but it still somehow seems heavy when combined with certain cake flavors..

We liked this homemade lemon buttercream frosting recipe designed to top a rich lemon cake.   It is so bright-tasting and would make a welcome end to a winter meal.  The frosting includes a combination of heavy cream and butter which we think makes an ideal blend of fluffy and rich.  The lemon juice and zest also freshen it up.

Different cake or cupcake flavor options may include carrot, gingerbread or banana flavors.  Earl grey tea cake would be a nice cake for the more adventurous, and would really highlight the icing.  If making a layer cake, substitute fruit preserves for the frosting on alternating interior layers.  Garnish the cake with candied citrus peel, candied ginger, berries or other fresh fruit.

Lemon Frosting Recipe

1/2 pound unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg yolk (optional)
1 pound confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk, beat the butter and egg yolk at medium-high speed until creamy. Beat in the sugar at low speed. Beat in the cream, vanilla and salt, then beat at medium-high speed until fluffy, 3 minutes longer. Beat in the zest and juice.

Cake recipe after the jump.

Cake with Lemon Frosting Recipe | Food & Wine.

Perfect for cozy holiday mornings, First Look Then Cook shares a recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls, where the swirls perfectly trap the delicious icing and the delicious smell of brown sugar and cinnamon warms the house.  This gooey cinnamon roll icing recipe couldn’t be easier to make and contains just four ingredients.  The roll itself (recipe after the jump) is also delicious and relatively low in fat.  We like them garnished with pecans.  (Check out our killer pecan praline frosting recipe). You may even like them sprinkled with fresh blueberries, cooked bacon bits or crumbled sausage.

You can use either a yeast dough recipe or a biscuit dough recipe for cinnamon buns.  The biscuit version tends to be a bit less time consuming.  You may also use a bread machine which is very convenient.

Cool buns about 10 minutes before frosting. Enjoy when warm from the oven.

Easy Cinnamon Roll Frosting Recipe (from First Look Then Cook)

3  tablespoons  butter, softened
2  tablespoons  heavy cream
1/2  teaspoon  vanilla extract
1  cup  powdered sugar

To prepare icing, combine 3 tablespoons softened butter and cream; stir with a whisk. Stir in vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar; stir until blended. Spread frosting over rolls; serve warm.

An easy alternate type of cinnamon bun icing is to substitute 4 ounces of cream cheese for the heavy cream.  This makes a thicker, opaque frosting that is either scrumptious or overkill, depending on your taste.  One enhancement to the recipe is to add espresso to the icing, making it even more wonderful with your morning coffee.  Other sticky bun recipes bake the frosting, made with brown sugar, in the bottom of the pan.  Flip out the cinnamon rolls to cool, and you have a nutty caramel topping.   For the ultimate icing shortcut, you can simply combine powdered sugar with water, milk, or buttermilk, but we think the recipe above is easy enough and worth the extra ingredients.

Cinnamon Rolls « First Look, Then Cook.