Frosting Recipes

Green Your Plate has a great story of their struggles with making a fluffy textured chocolate frosting.  As you know, it’s not just the quality of ingredients you use that makes a great frosting.  It’s also knowing how and in what order to combine the ingredients so they reach the desired texture.  You work to bake a light, even cake, so you don’t want to ruin it with a heavy, gloppy frosting.

What really took this frosting from glop to great is careful sifting of flour and “awakening” the cocoa powder with the right amount of water.

Here’s Green Your Plate’s Chocolate Frosting Recipe.  Be sure to check out the full article and photos after the jump.

Fluffy Chocolate Frosting
Adapted from the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor

This recipe makes 1 1/2 cups, enough to frost a 2-layer 6 inch diameter mini-cake.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 T. boiling water
4 T. (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Pour the boiling water over the cocoa powder and stir it together to combine. Let the mixture sit for a couple of minutes to cool down, then add the butter and mix on low speed until it is combined (this takes less than a minute).

Then, add the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix on low speed for another minute so that the powdered sugar is incorporated into the mixture. Turn the speed up to medium and beat the frosting for a couple more minutes until the mixture lightens in color and turns fluffy. The longer you beat it, the lighter it will get.

Green Your Plate: It’s the frosting, stupid!.

Kipper has some great, simple recipes for all kinds of foods, but we liked this straightforward banana cake with caramel nut frosting.   The great thing about this frosting recipe is that you can always keep these items stocked in the pantry if the spirit suddenly moves you to make a cake with caramel nut frosting. You’ll find more info and the cake recipe after the jump.

Caramel Nut Frosting

3/4 cup brown sugar

6 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons canned milk

1 cup chopped nuts

Beat together and spread on warm cake. Put under broiler until topping browns just slightly (Not too long!).

via Kipper’s Snacks: Banana Cake with Caramel Nut Frosting.

Thanks to candy canes, we often associate mint flavors with the Christmas season.   However, we often find ourselves with more candy canes than we know what to do with.  We came across this wonderful Devil’s Food Cake recipe featuring a peppermint buttercream frosting, perfect for sprinkling crushed leftover candy canes as decoration.  You can use whole candy canes to decorate the sides of the cake and crushed either on or mixed into the frosting itself.  (Also check out our White Chocolate Mint Frosting Recipe).

If devil’s food cake isn’t your thing, this would make a great mint icing for brownies or cookies.  Also, a vanilla lemon flavored cake would be a nice compliment to the peppermint frosting.  Garnish with while or dark chocolate shavings, or those fabulous Thin Mint girl scout cookies either whole or crushed.

You’ll find more, including the sumptuous cake recipe and photos after the link.

Peppermint Frosting
2 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
3 large egg whites
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
Bittersweet chocolate curls

Instructions

Combine sugar, 1/2 cup water, egg whites, and corn syrup in large bowl of heavy-duty stand mixer. Whisk by hand to blend well. Set bowl with mixture over saucepan of gently simmering water; whisk constantly with hand whisk until mixture resembles marshmallow creme and ribbons form when whisk is lifted, 8 to 9 minutes. Whisk in peppermint extract. Remove bowl from over water and attach bowl to heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until mixture is barely warm to touch and very thick, 7 to 8 minutes.

Using offset spatula and working quickly, spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle chocolate curls over top and sides. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; chill.

Kitchen Bliss: Christmas Colossus Cake: Bon Appetit’s Devil’s Food Layer Cake with Peppermint Frosting.

Not all flowers taste good, or are edible, but rose, lemon verbena, hibiscus, pansies and lavender have their place in baking.  (not all breeds are edible, however, so always check before sampling).

We found this wonderful violet frosting recipe that calls for violet sugar.    You can buy flower sugars, but they’re fairly easy to make by sealing fresh, unsprayed petals and white sugar in a jar for a week or more.  Flower sugars are great for frosting cookies and cupcakes, as well as a lovely addition to tea.

Here’s Elizabeth Edwards’ Violet Frosting Recipe.  We love decorating this type of frosting with candied violet petals.  Very simple and elegant.

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons flour
* 3/4 cup milk
* 3/4 cup butter
* 3/4 cup violet sugar
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

Place flour in a saucepan and stir in a few tablespoons of the milk to make a paste. Add remaining milk. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Cool. Cream butter using an electric mixer, gradually adding violet sugar and salt. Beat well. Add cooled milk mixture. Beat until fluffy. Add vanilla. Spread on cooled cake or cupcakes.

Violet Frosting – - MyNorth Recipes.

From Wilton, the most trusted name in cake decorating: Wait until you see how much fun cupcakes can be using the decorating tips! Just place tips in the bags included, fill with icing and follow the easy decorating instructions. You’ll create all kinds of fun frosting designs perfect for celebrations or everyday treats. Includes 4 tips and 8 disposable bags for basic decorating, plus instruction booklet.  Available at Meijer.

Wilton 12-Piece Cupcake Decorating Set