Icing Recipe?

March 26, 2005 4:40 PM

I'm in dire need of a chocolate icing recipe. I know the basic ingredients but need the ratios. 2 cakes await!

My wife found one that was amazing from the back of a Hodgson Mills gluten free yellow cake mix (which was the texture of good cornbread with yellow cake flavor.. yummy). The recipe had unsweetened chocolate, confectioners sugar, butter and milk or heavy cream..
But we lost the recipe.
Most of the recipes we've tried are too heavy, flavorless, shortening and sugar, or simply gross..
Suggestions?
Hodgson Mills doesn't have an icing recipe on their webpage.

posted by Lord_Pall to food & drink (8 comments total)

This is the best chocolate ganache that will amaze you and your friends by its sheer simplicity... 2 parts chocolate to 1 part heavy cream. This works with any kind of chocolate that you might have on hand... (dark, semi-sweet, milk, etc.)

First, scald the cream, and add the chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then, let cool until frosting consistency. Note that you can also refrigerate, and it will harden to a truffle-filling consistency.

That's it. Really.
posted by jimmereeno at 4:58 PM on March 26, 2005

So that's ganache, and not necessarily icing.. It's just lighter chocolate..
The chocolates i've got on hand are all fairly low sugar/high cocoa content (to the point that they probably should be sweetened).

What i'm looking for is the typical yellow cake/chocolate icing combo. It's a suprisingly difficult childhood flavor to recreate if you don't want to use betty crocker icing :(
posted by Lord_Pall at 5:02 PM on March 26, 2005

Here's the recipe my Mom and I always use when chocolate frosting is needed.

Mix together
1/4 cup shortening
3.5 cup powdered sugar
1.5 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt (optional - I usually omit)
1/3 cup milk

It's rich, kinda fudgy, and goes great with yellow or chocolate cake. This is enough for a two, maybe three, layer round cake. Definitely more than in one of those containers you buy at the store.

Enjoy!
posted by onhazier at 5:10 PM on March 26, 2005

I just used the following on a sour cream chocolate cake and it came out quite nicely - I refrigerated the leftovers and it's hardened into a nice fudge-like food.

1 1/4 sticks of unsalted butter, softened (equals 3/4 cup)
1 cup whipped cream cheese
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Beat together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (using electric mixer). Add remaining ingredients and beat until combined well. It spreads on really smoothly and nicely. I found the frosting not cloyingly sweet (but then, I only had a thin slice).
posted by cajo at 5:16 PM on March 26, 2005

I would try The Cake Bible. My copy is several states away, so I don't have a specific recipe. I am a big fan of ganache, but usually for filling, not for topping. I can't remember for sure, but I am relatively certain that Beranbaum has a recipe for icing. I assume you want icing and not frosting, something that will drip and glaze, not somthing that needs to be spread. Actually, now that I look at the toc, I remember that she is more into buttercream frosting than icing. She has a section on "meringue icing" but that doesn't sound promising.
posted by noether at 6:22 PM on March 26, 2005

Here's what you do with the ganache:

Add 1/3 cup of light corn syrup to it and stick it into the fridge for about 60-90 minutes. It will firm up and be spreadable like conventional icing and it tastes so much better than greasy shortening-based icings.
posted by briank at 7:00 PM on March 26, 2005

This is my favorite chocolate frosting recipe for cupcakes or cake. It might not be exactly right for you because it's made with semisweet chocolate chips, but you may like it.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Melt chocolate and the butter together. Let cool and blend in the sour cream, vanilla, and salt. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar until the frosting is of spreading consistency, beat well.
posted by palegirl at 8:24 PM on March 26, 2005

Ooh.. This one looks good..

We ended up making a variant of all of the ones listed.. melted butter, melted unsweetened chocolate, whole milk, confectioners sugar, vanilla and salt.

I used sharffenberger and wish i hadn't. The more I use it, the more i dislike the sour flavor it brings to the table. But it was still tasty frosted cake which was promptly consumed.

Pale, the one you've listed sounds like a good comprimise between the ones listed above. i've been trying to figure out what to cut the chocolate with beyond milk and/or butter. Sour cream is a prime idea.

If anything it gives me an excuse to use up all of our older chocolates before they go bad.. heh
posted by Lord_Pall at 8:01 AM on March 27, 2005