"rox" > wrote in message
news
> Hi. Novice frosting maker here, and I'd like to relate an experience and
> hear your theories. This was the first place I thought of coming to ask...
>
> I made some frosting the other night. The basic recipe was:
>
> 1 tbsp butter
> 1/3 c milk
> 2 oz baker's chocolate
> 2 cups confectioner's sugar
>
> Melt butter and chocolate with milk, cool, add sugar, beat til thick
enough
> to spread.
>
> Well, I didn't have baker's chocolate so I used a tablespoon of duch
cocoa,
> and I used 2 tablespoons of butter rather than one.
>
> Instead of 2 cups confectioner's sugar, the frosting required 2 boxes to
get
> thick. It ended up quite tasty with the addition of a little bit of
> peppermint extract, but do you think the slight changes I made caused it
to
> require that much more confectioner's sugar, or was the recipe inaccurate?
>
> Thanks for your perspective, and while we're at it, I'd love to know your
> favorite easy frosting recipe.
>
> Cheers.

It sounds like an awful lot of milk for frosting, to me. Generally when I
make a fudge frosting (where the chocolate/butter is melted) I combine the
chocolate butter combo with the powdered sugar, and then add the milk until
I get the right consistency. Sometimes I skip the milk and use coffee.
Lately, though, I've been using a chocolate cream cheese recipe I threw
together one night, because I like the texture better. It stays creamier,
and is very versatile. I use an 8 oz block of cream cheese, 4 tbsp butter,
both softened and creamed together. (this is a larger recipe than yours, so
you can half it). Then I added 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 2 ounces melted
unsweetened or bittersweet cocoa, depending on what I have on hand and about
a pound of powdered sugar (4 cups). Begin blending and add 2 tsp vanilla and
milk or coffee, 1 tbsp at a time, until the right consistency is achieved.
Increase speed and beat a couple more minutes (I use the paddle attachment
on my stand mixer for this recipe). It will lighten a tiny bit, and you'll
notice the powdered sugar will not be so starchy tasting.
It's yummy, and the cool part is you can make it in a variety of flavor
twists, just by adding different extracts. Peppermint, orange, raspberry,
etc. You can also do the same cream cheese-butter-powdered sugar blend
without the chocolate and flavor from there. Try grating some orange peel,
adding a couple drops of orange oil, and subbing orange juice for the milk.
Use to frost a white cake with orange curd filling. Awesome!


kimberly

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