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"Oh No! I'm Out of Powdered Sugar" Frosting

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

"Oh no! I'm out of powdered sugar." Have you ever said that? I've said it way too many times. I've turned my pantry upside down searching for powdered sugar but didn't find any. So I go downstairs thinking there must be more powdered sugar down there. Nope, no powdered sugar anywhere... I'm completely out. Ugh! I knew I should have picked up a few more bags while I was at the store!

Several years ago, I  ran across a frosting recipe that uses granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar. It's a great "fudge type" chocolate frosting that's very easy to make. As a matter of fact I've never had a problem with this recipe, it's always turned out great... unlike other fudge type recipes I've tried. This frosting's good on cakes, but it's especially tasty on brownies or cookies. 
*** ADDED TIPS!  Please read what I wrote below.

One Minute Fudgy Frosting
2 C granulated sugar                   4 oz. bitter baking chocolate
6 Tbls. milk or cream                    4 Tbls. butter
1 egg                                            2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

Put sugar, milk, salt, and egg into a saucepan. Stir together until well blended.
Add the chopped chocolate.
Melt ingredients over medium heat.
Stirring constantly, bring to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. (* or cook to a soft ball stage)
Remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl. Add butter and vanilla.
Mix on low until the butter melts and it's well combined.
Beat on medium high until it thickens and looses it's gloss. (You could also a wire whip attachment instead of the paddle.)
Frost your cake, eat, and enjoy!
*** I've had some recent comments from readers who say their frosting wouldn't set up. I'm sorry this recipe didn't worked for you. I've added some tips that should help with some of your problems:

1. Make sure your frosting comes to a full rolling boil before you start timing.
2. If you find your frosting doesn't set up after beating it for several minutes, then put it back into a clean saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil once again. Cook it to a soft ball stage. (I always check for soft ball stage by using the "cold water test".) After reaching soft ball stage, put the frosting back into the mixer and beat it again. This time it should thicken up nicely.
3. A couple of readers said they could taste an egg flavor in the finished product. The size of the eggs you used could cause this to happen. Have you ever noticed the difference in size between eggs that are all labeled as large? The original recipe I posted called for 2 eggs. So I decided to go back and do some testing. I've found that using one egg instead of 2 works wonderfully... is that even a word???? So I changed the recipe above to use only 1 egg.

Following the recipe exactly, measurements, altitude, humidity, and the weather are just a few of the things that can affect cooking. I hope these tips help those of you who were having problems with the Fudgy Frosting recipe. (Sometime, however, I swear there are little cooking demons hiding under the sink that come along just in time to ruin our sweet treats!) LOL 

Good Luck!!!!






Cake Central Magazine... again!!!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010


Lightening does strike twice after all. Oh happy day! Cake Central published another one of my cakes in their magazine. This time the theme was Chandelier Cakes. "Wow!" I thought, what a great theme. This would be the perfect time to make a very elaborate detailed cake. So I got my thinking cap on and gave it a go.

My first idea was to make a hanging cake... like a real chandelier. Yeah right, how on earth am I going to do that? So the practical person inside me let that silly idea go... but the creative me kept going back to it. With the help of my wonderful husband, (Thank goodness he's more left brained than I am.) we actually figured out how to make the cake hang. It's really quite fun to go to Lowe's & Home Depot and shop for cake decorating supplies. ;)


Working on the flowers. Don't mind that ugly towel hanging in the window. I was trying to block any light coming from behind. Sooo professional!






Gotta love those Granny glasses...


This picture shows the size of my roses. They were huge!
Notice I had to set each layer on top of a can so I
 could attach everything that hung down.









 I loved the detail on the middle tier.
















While hanging the bottom tier, I was a nervous wreck. I worried the cake might fall before we could take any pictures. Luckily, it never fell. ;D






 



Touching up the final details.














I loved the shot from this angle.



A lot of blood sweat and tears that went into this cake... it must have taken a couple years off my life. I'm very happy with the way it turned out! So in the end, I guess a couple of years is worth it.....

Easy Peasy Roses

Monday, August 9, 2010

Have you ever been completely frustrated with cake decorating? How about trying to make a simple flower? Sometimes we look at the amazing talents of professional cake decorators and feel completely overwhelmed. You don't need to feel that way! Sure, some of the things they make are extremely complicated... but others are not.

Here's a tutorial for making very easy roses. Someone told me this rose was made by Duff Goldman on his TV show "Ace of Cakes". I hate to admit it but... I've never seen "Ace of Cakes". (Gasp!) I know I know... it's shocking news but we don't have cable TV, so I can't watch his show. However, I want to make sure and give credit where credit is due.

You'll need a rolling pin, a circle cutter, a sharp knife, and either gum paste or fondant.





Roll your fondant out and cut 3 circles.





Lay the circles down so they overlap each other.



Starting at one end, roll up all three circles together.





You should end up with something like this.

Take your knife and cut the roll in half. Try not to smash it too much.



You should end up with two pieces or 2 roses.



Turn each piece so the cut edge is on the bottom.

Using your finger, carefully spread the petals out until it looks more realistic.




Voila! A beautiful rose.  :)


You can make the same flower by using 5 circles instead of just 3.



This rose has more petals so it looks a little more realistic.










Gorgeous! Now pat yourself on the back and go impress someone with your amazing talent! (No one ever needs to know how simple it was to make...)

Wedding Gown

Monday, August 2, 2010

Here's a wedding gown cake I made for a recent bridal shower...

I used the Wilton Wonder Mold pan and a 9" round pan.

Crumb coated and ready for decorating.

I made the black torso form several days in advance on a long wooden skewer. I pushed the skewer down into the top of the fondant covered skirt. Then I began decorating the top of the dress. Here's the finished cake.

Close up of front details.

Back of dress.

Close up of back details.

This was the first "dress" cake I'd made, and I was very happy with the way it turned out. Here comes the bride....

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