Buttercream

I have been searching for the ultimate buttercream frosting.

Like an ancient hunter-gatherer, I rummaged through piles of cookbooks (I have several hundred), trawled through pages and pages of the web, left queries on notice boards, and googled 'til I was goggled eyed. I found so many, but which one was 'IT'.
A smooth mouth feel, none of the grittiness of undissolved icing sugar, able to hold up to a warm day without melting, good piping consistency, can be smoothed without cracking, hold a piped shape without being hard to bite through, gluten and dairy free, and most importantly, TASTE GOOD!

I finally came across this likely seeming recipe and with a few minor changes, it seemed to fit the bill.This is the new bit, it's cooked. I got the point, by cooking off the milk and cornflour it was lovely and thick and smooth, also stabilized. Much less likely to have a melt down. Creaming the fat and icing sugar gave the requisite fluffiness and lightened the mix. But did it taste good?..........YES!!!

Definitely yes! Not as fatty in the mouth as pure buttery frosting, and not as sweet because the ratio of sugar is down, which I see as an improvement. So still not low-fat, but really, that's not what I'm going for and anyway ,who cares?
I trialled the recipe and was impressed, but what about for those who thought frosting meant 'Betty Crocker'? Would it be foolproof enough?

My good friend Pony and I held a cupcake class last week and taught a mixture of frosted and fondant techniques, using this butter cream and all went well. I used a number 17 Loyal tip for the swirlies to get that lovely generous spiral. Don't think I'm just all about cupcakes, but they are cute, retro, yummy, and fashionable and help to pay the bills!

I've also used the buttercream on large birthday cakes. I generally pipe it between the layers and around the edges, then over the top last. I had a slight mishap with one of them, so pulled some of the buttercream out of the freezer, stuck it in the microwave for 30 secs, then whipped it briefly with my hand mixer, piped it over the boo-boo and smoothed it back down. It took seconds to set and you couldn't notice the patch at all.

So far I have beaten, frozen, microwaved, and left this frosting in the fridge for a couple of weeks and it still tasted good at every stage. I think it may be indestructible.......

Buttercream Frosting

225g of fat -( Butter or Nuttlex ) unsalted is best for flavour

1 cup of milk ( soy, rice, etc)

1 cup of pure icing sugar

2 tabs pure cornflour

1 tsp vanilla extract- not one with seeds!


1.Heat milk and cornflour on stove and whisk until mixture has thickened

2. Let cool

3. Cream sugar and fat until light and fluffy and colour has changed

4. Add milk mixture and vanilla and whip until it has the same consistency of stiffly whipped cream.

5. Taste - for quality control, of course!

Add colourings slowly during whipping, adjusting slowly as the colour will change as the air is incorporated.It doesn't go white, rather yellowy due to the colour of the fat. This will set quickly to nice and firm piping consistancy and then to set place in the fridge.

I have added passionfruit, melted chocolate, and other types of flavour bases into this frosting and have always had fantastic results. I'm actually having second thoughts about this post! Not because I'm selfish of course, but this is how I earn my (gluten free) bread and butter. But because it's you reader, I will pass it on and hope it brings you as much success as it has to me.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

The big day is here again. Yes, my baby is growing up. At my own birthday recently, littlej wrote in my card 'mum, now you're xx,(none of your business readers!) wow that's old!' BigJ tried to explain his theory of time/age relativity to her. eg that at 10, one year is only 10% of your life as a whole, and so seems to stretch out forever.(remember when the Christmas holidays seemed to last an age?) But at, say, 40, (and no, I'm not 40 yet) one 12 month period represents 1/40th of your life so far. A much smaller period of time. This explains why time seems to go quicker and quicker the older you get. Does that make sense to you?

Anyway, cupcakes are still allowed at our school for birthdays. This idea is a fun alternative to the same old, same old.

I used a basic buttercake for the base, any one will do. You could probably even get away with a packet mix- but don't tell anyone I said that!- and an Italian Meringue for the frosting. This frosting is dairy free and of course g-free. Almost toasted marshmallow tasting with a smooth luciousness.

I was a bit worried that the cake would be dry, uncovered as it would be for a couple of hours at school, so I added a small teaspoon of jam on top of each cone before piping the frosting. This may not add moisture, but it would add interest and another dimension of flavour.

If you don't have a special tin, just do regular cupcakes with this frosting on top.
This is my tried and true Italian Meringue recipe that I use every week. The eggwhite is actually cooked by the boiling syrup, not left raw, and will keep for as long as the cake will stay fresh.





Italian Meringue

this is enough for 1 or 2 dozen cupcakes depending on level of swirliness.

5 eggwhites
2 1/2 cups castor sugar
2/3 cup water
good pinch of cream of tartar

1. Place sugar and water in a saucepan- make sure there are no crystals stuck to the side as they can cause crystallization

2. Add cream of tartar and slowly bring to the boil, allowing time for the sugar to dissolve

3. Do not stir! At all! I know you're tempted!

4. Boil rapidly for about 2 minutes

5. Place eggwhites in bowl of mixer fitted with a whisk attachment

6. Whisk slightly to aerate. Not to more than loose bubble stage









7. While motor is running on low, drizzle in boiling syrup

8. Crank up motor to high and whisk until only slightly warm and very thick and creamy

9. Use immediately or outside of meringue will start to cool and form a 'skin'

10. Use a blowtorch to toast outside of meringue- go gradually so not to torch meringue. And make sure there is nothing flammable around!

I used a large star nozzle for piping as there are more edges to scorch, but a round end will be fine.
Eat and enjoy!

So readers, does time really seem to fly when you're having fun?