Frostings, What Is Your Favorite?

[xraytech]

This thread is all about your favorite cake frostings.
Please share your recipes.

I have two frostings I usually make, one is a 7 minute cooked frosting, and the other is a mocha frosting.

Mocha Frosting

1/2 cup crisco
1/3 cup strong coffee
4 cups confectionary sugar

In bowl cream shortening and then gradually add confectionary sugar and coffee beating until smooth and creamy.
frosts top and sides of a 2 layer cake

Sam

 

[mixfinder]

Cooked Please

7 Minute
In a medium saucepan melt
1 cup Karo syrup
12 large marshmallows
When no lumps remain, begin beating
2 egg whites
until soft peaks. Pour the marshmallow mixture into the beating egg whites. Add
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
Beat until frosting is cooled and forms stiff peaks.

French Butter Creme
In a medium saucepan combine
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 egg yolks
Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil and then cool. Pour cooked mixture into a mixer bowl and beat on medium speed.
Beat in a small amount at a time
1 cup room temperature butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Increase speed to high and beat until mixture doubles in bulk.
If you prefer Chocolate increase sugar to 1 1/4 cup and add 1/2 cup cocoa.

Richmond Chocolate frosting
In a medium saucepan combine
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons Flour
3 Tablespoons Cocoa
1 cup cool water
Cook, stirring over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil and cook one minute longer. Remove from heat and stir in
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash of salt

Sour Cream Frosting
Use regular whipping cream which has been allowed to sit at room temperature for 48 hours. You cannot use cultured sour cream
2 cups sour cream
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Combine in a heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat until mixture reaches a soft ball. Cool to room temperature and add
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Beat until mixture begins to lose it's gloss. Spread quickly on cake before icing hardens. If icing begins to set too quickly, simply rewarm the icing over a pan of hot tap water.

 

[mrb627]

Cooked Frosting

I seem to prefer a frosting that is cooked over heat to one that is blended butter or shortning.

Malcolm

 

[petek]

I cheat and use Duncan or Bettys

 

[jeffg]

Kelly, is there a rule of thumb for refrigerating leftover cake? My mom always said if it (or frosting) contains milk it should be refrigerated. True?

Thanks.

 

[nmassman44]

I am with Pete I cheat! Usually Betty or Duncan makes mine in a tub. I dont bother with home made frosting. I have made it from scratch before and what a pain in the @ss it is!

 

[tlee618]

As far as canned goes I agree on the time part but oh my what a difference in taste!! Homemade is worth the trouble. However I do think that Betty makes an excellent cake mix very close to homemade.

 

[aldspinboy]

Kelly... I love your baking skills !
The cake with the frosting on your range is that the French butter cream ?

Darren k.

 

[petek]

For me I don't have anyone to bake cake for since my other half, the one who cohabits here and all that (lol) doesn't like cake or desserts of any kind really. Which means I have to eat it all myself, not necessarily a bad thing so long as not too often. I buy the occasional D.Hines mix and frostings when they're on sale for 99 cents. Which reminds me his lordships friend was visiting just before Christmas and one evening we made one of the cake mixes I've had in the cupboard for quite awhile. Opened up a can of the frosting and it was like a green fuzzy science experiment LOL. It must have not been sealed properly because the other one was fine.
I prefer the Duncan Hines mixes over Betty C.

 

[mixfinder]

Double The Reward

Any canned frosting when whipped with a mixer will double in bulk, spread more easily and lose much of it's prefab taste. And.....you get to use the mixer!! The cake pictured is the Marshmallow Icing. You can whip butter into the Marshmallow icing and then you have an Italian Buttercreme. Italian with a meringue base and french with a pudding base. You can also cheat and make any flavor of cooked pudding mix and then beat in butter after it is cooled. This image is the French Butter Creme getting ready to be spread on a Tres Leche Cake.

 

[dblrinz]

Kelly!

You are the best! I check daily to see if there is a new cooking/baking contribution from you! I have learned sooo much...

 

[aldspinboy]

Thanks Kelly.
Is there any recipe you like for a very rich vanilla cake & and vanilla frosting please ?
That would be great.

Darren k.

 

[aldspinboy]

Sam i have to say that i been using canned frostings lately and spice it up with extracts.
My grandmother use to make a quick lemon frosting that i liked .
She used...
Confectionery Sugar
Butter
milk
Fresh squeezed lemon juice.
Nothing fancy there lol.

But i like vanilla frosting best.

Darren k.

 

[mixfinder]

Favorite

The French Butter Creme is my all time favorite for a vanilla frosting. Baked good taste their absolute best when tempered at 85 degrees. At that temperature the butter fat rolls on the tongue the flavor are redolent. Nothing worse than ice box dessert which feels and tastes like chomping on a cup of Crisco. I face cakes with Saran or parchment and usually leave them at room temperature. The concentrations of fat and sugar in cakes and pies retards bacterial growth so unless its a cream pie or eclairs room temperature is a safe way to store cake. It can be chilled and then allowed to come to room temperature without any significant change in texture or taste.

 

[xraytech]

I also store all of my cakes and baked goods at room temp too, I just use my Tupperware Cake-Taker, or if it is leftover from a dinner party and the cake is on my good Fenton cake pedestal I just put the lid from an aluminum cake server over it.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I loved when we made 7 minute icing because it involved using the double boiler! Mom would buy those Russell Stover rose bud mints then just barely tint the frosting pink sometimes and put the pink ones around the top of 8 inch layers.

My real favorite was the Criso and powder sugar icing that they used on cakes at Rich's bakery. They would have BIG roses in pink, yellow or blue and whoever's birthday it was got first dibs on the biggest flower. Today's decorated cakes have very soft icing that feels like it would melt under a table lamp, but this stuff had real body to it. Heaven.

 

[perc-o-prince]

My preference is for the kind on the beaters (AFTER they're removed from the mixer, thank you!!!)!!!

Chuck

 

[danemodsandy]

My Favourite...

...Is coconut-pecan frosting, the stuff that goes on German chocolate cake (note to those from Germany: we know it's not anything authentic, we just call it that).

In fact, coconut-pecan frosting is such a favourite I dare not have it in the house. I would be, as a dear, departed friend of mine used to say, easier to jump over than run around.

 

[frigilux]

Not necessarily my favorite frosting (chocolate cream cheese takes the checkered flag for me), but this tastes better than you'd expect, is low in calories, and has almost no fat. I usually freeze individually plastic-wrapped pieces of frosted cake, and this freezes (and subsequently, thaws) very well.

ANY FLAVOR FROSTING
1 4-serving size pkg. sugar-free/fat-free pudding mix in flavor of your choice
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 8-oz. tub of Cool Whip (fat-free version, if you desire), thawed

1. Pour milk and vanilla extract into mixing bowl. Sprinkle pudding powder over milk. Beat until fairly smooth, about two minutes. This will be very thick and pasty.

2. Fold in the Cool Whip (you may want to use the mixer on a slow speed).

Makes enough to frost a 13" x 9" cake.

 

[mixfinder]

German's Chocolate Frosting

In a heavy saucepan combine
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup evaporated milk
3 egg yolks
dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cookover medium low heat stirring constantly until mixture coats the back of a spoon. Don't boil. Remove from heat and stir in
2 cups Angel Flake Coconut
1 cup chopped Pecans or Walnuts

 

[danemodsandy]

Noooooooooooooo, Kelly!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

[gyrafoam]

Hey Kelly,

What happens if one substitutes flour for the cornstarch in the French Buttercream (which is what I do with great results)?
What is the recipe for the Italian version?

 

[polkanut]

Here is an old family favorite for chocolate cake, or brownies.

1 cup white sugar
5 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup milk
Boil for 1 minute. Stir in 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. Spread or drizzle at once while cake is still warm.

 

[gizmo]

ganache

I make a flourless chocolate, date and walnut cake at work. I ice it with a dark chocolate ganache.

250 ml cream
400 grams dark chocolate, chopped

In a small saucepan place a cup (250 ml) of cream. (not double cream, it's too fatty.) Don't use a very heavy pan, you don't want it to store too much heat.
Bring to the boil. Remove from heat and add the chopped up chocolate and stir through. There should be enough residual heat in the cream and in the pan to melt the chocolate. keep stirring till all the chocolate is melted, it should be completely smooth and creamy with no lumps of chocolate at all.

Allow to cool till it is starting to thicken up a bit. it will cool faster at the edges of the bowl so stir occasionally to even up the temperature. When it its thickened up but still glossy and pourable, spread about half over the cake. place the rest into a mixer bowl, place in the fridge to thicken further till the mixture has a matte (not glossy) appearance. Whip up in your Kenwood Chef or inferior substitute(!) mixer, till it is pale in colour and fluffy. Place the whipped ganache in an icing bag (frosting bag??) with a star nozzle and pipe peaks of whipped ganache around the edge of your iced (frosted?) cake. Try to space then so one portion of cake gets one swirl of whipped ganache.

 

[mixfinder]

Flour or Cornstarch

French Buttercreme is dairy based (pudding) and Italian Buttercreme is egg based (meringue). Our German exchange student pronounced it mare-in-gay. I use flour if I am not adding eggs and cornstarch if eggs are added. Cornstarch gelatinizes at lower temperatures but is unstable if overcooked. Items will thicken and then become thin. When eggs are added extended cooking can cause the protiens in the egg to seize producing a curdled look. Flour takes longer to gelatanize and at higher tempratures so it is more stable for gravies or sauces that are held for longer periods of time. Flour has a heavier somewhat pasty taste so for purity of flavor I opt for cornstarch with seafood, poultry or fruit and citrus and flour for the heavier flavors like beef or chocolate. Personally I like the French buttercreme with eggs better but in the back of mind the niggling fear of single handedly wiping out the family from salmonella makes me opt for flour based if it goes to a potluck or a friend.

 

[autowasherfreak]

I usually buy either Pillsbury, Duncan Hines, or Betty. Sometimes (on rare occasions), I will make it from scratch from a recipe in the Hershey cookbook. I love cream cheese frosting the best, followed by chocolate.