The Great Frosting Challenge

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Despite all the great food we had over our nice, relaxing Thanksgiving, Faith and I felt the need today to bake a cake. And since we didn't have any store-bought frosting, I decided it would be so much fun to make our own homemade frosting. I looked on the Internet for a simple recipe and found the perfect one, or so I thought.

After Faith and I popped our cake into the oven, we prepared to make the frosting. I asked her what color the frosting should be.

"BLUE!"

The cream cheese frosting recipe called for three cups of sugar. The problems began when I tried to mix the sugar with the cream cheese, water and vanilla extract the recipe had also called for. No matter how much stirring or mixing I did, it didn't turn creamy like it was supposed to. Instead, it looked like a big lump of mashed potatoes with lots and lots of sugar.
 
My very first attempt at homemade frosting

Faith soon got bored and decided she would like to do something else. I ran to the Internet to try to figure out what I was doing wrong. I realized the recipe called for confectioner's sugar which unbeknownst to me was not the same as granulated sugar, as I had used.

Since I had no confectioner's sugar or powdered sugar lying around, I found another frosting recipe that didn't need confectioner's sugar. As I read the reviews of the frosting from people who had made it, a few complained it turned out lumpy and a few had trouble with the consistency. I was bound and determined to get this cake frosted by the end of the night so I decided to go for it.

I asked Faith if she wanted to make some different frosting but I think she had had enough baking for the day. This buttercream frosting as it was called, was a little tricky as you had to cook part of it then mix it in with the creamed butter and sugar. It was a little on the lumpy side and it wasn't as thick as I would have liked but it still tasted okay so I added the blue food coloring and frosted the cake anyway.

If you haven't already guessed, I am not a baker. I'd much rather cook! But someday, if and when I ever have confectioner's sugar, I'd like to take another shot at the cream cheese frosting just to see if I can do it. And if it still doesn't turn out, I'll stick to store-bought frosting! In the meantime, all you inexperienced bakers, please beware that confectioner's sugar is not the same as regular sugar!

Our little cake topped with blue buttercream frosting

By the way, Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law, Don! If you were here, you could have a piece of our beautiful blue cake with our homemade buttercream frosting!

Comments

  1. Danaus ClarusNovember 29, 2010 at 9:17 PM

    I always have a hard time finding icing recipes. I went on a huge cooking spree last year. Most of them turned out to gritty, with too much sugar. I probably wasn't suppose to use regular sugar. It sounds like you two are having fun. I always love to hear your stories that you post about the two of you.
    I added something to my site that I thought you might enjoy. To the right of my posts, at the top, there's an application with a youtube video on it. It's a story I wrote last year, and I wanted to share it with some people. I thought you might like it. Your welcome to check it out, I hope you find the time to.

    God bless,
    DanausClarus

    ReplyDelete

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