It turns out that buttercream frosting is really very easy.

[brooksmoses]

I expected it to be sort of tricky, like baking is, but then I looked at the recipes and did it twice, and it isn't.

The basic recipe seems to be thus: Take a quantity of powdered sugar, about equal in size to the amount of frosting you want. Mash in butter (or, if doing dairy-free, margarine) a bit at a time until you get to a smooth paste. Then mix in milk or cream (or, if doing dairy-free, coconut milk) a bit at a time until it's the consistency you want. Presto, frosting.

For chocolate frosting, add cocoa powder in something approximating a 1:5 ratio with the sugar and mix that together first. Optionally, whether doing chocolate or plain, add some vanilla along with the milk. Presumably you could also add other extracts, such as almond or orange or lemon or mint.

Comments

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Heh. Cocky young varmint. Now try royal icing: the proportions are not nearly enough egg-white to far too much powdered sugar, and beat like crazy for ever...

[brooksmoses]

That doesn't sound more difficult, exactly, just a lot more work! But egg whites always seem to be more work.

Hm. I wonder if Morgan is at the age where she'd appreciate a gingerbread house. Probably not quite yet.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh yah, hard to get easier than buttercream. And if you start to screw it up, you can just put in more of whatever you don't have enough of, go team. Of course, then you end up with a ton of frosting, but many people find they can cope.

[brooksmoses]

Yup. Though that wouldn't have worked yesterday; I looked at the quantities of powdered sugar and cocoa powder we had, and the cake I needed to frost, and guessed that I should probably start by dumping all of both of them into the bowl and hoping it was enough. It turned out to actually be a little more than I needed, but part of why it was more than I needed was that it ended up going on a bit thinner than ideal, so. But it was tasty and pretty, and people were quite pleased with it, which is what counts.

[kiya]

I do a buttercream-style frosting with vegetable shortening, as is the way of my ancestors.

I find actual buttercream unpalatably rich.

[brooksmoses]

I haven't actually been making actual buttercream, because I've been making cakes for Cathy, and she is allergic to milk. I should perhaps try a small sample to see what it's like! But the margarine-and-coconut-milk variant seems to work well.

I generally find most frosting too sweet and goopy, so it's possible that I'd actually prefer a "real" very-rich buttercream frosting that's spread on thinly enough not to be too rich.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

The only buttercream I've ever tried to make was this one (http://www.rubiesandradishes.com/2013/08/16/babyfriendlycake/) and while I would not describe it as difficult there were multiple stages in the process where I was SURE I had ruined it and then at the end it magically came together and became fluffy deliciousness. Things the recipe does not tell you that made me think I ruined it:
1) Maple syrup hits the smoke point right around 240F. Or maybe that is just because I used grade B. But it's for baking - that should always involve grade B!
2) Said syrup behaves more like boiling lava at that temperature, it is impossible to "slowly pour syrup down the side of the bowl in a slow, steady stream" - it will bubble and gloop and bits of it will hit the mixer paddle and be flung against the sides of the bowl and instantly harden into something resembling burnt caramel candy.
3) When you add the butter the whipped egg-whites will appear to lose all of their fluff and the entire thing will look like lumpy brown sludge that could never possibly turn into something resembling frosting.
...and then you add the cream and magic happens and it all becomes smooth and creamy and delicious.

It's not a very sweet frosting - even with my low-carb diet and having cut way back on sugar I still would have liked a little more sweetness so if I made it again I would increase the syrup or add some sugar somehow (the worry about more syrup is that I wouldn't want to make it more liquid. OTOH once it is brought to 240F the syrup doesn't really have much water left so it might be fine to just use more of that).