Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Basic Buttercream Icing


A few years ago my friend, Amy, and I took a cake decorating class at Michael's. It was something fun to do together and I never really expected to use the skills I learned. The buttercream icing recipe I use is the Wilton's Buttercream Icing. I do not use shortening when making it though. I hate the taste and greasiness of the shortening. My basics are butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. I have found that I only like the flavor of the CH powdered sugar and what brand butter you use makes a difference too. 

My Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipe



Chocolate Cake

I don't use a box mix for my chocolate cake except on rare occasions. So most of the time I use this recipe that I found on bigoven.com with a few modifications.

Ingredients
2 cups Sugar
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups All purpose flour
2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
I never measure my vanilla and always use at least double what the recipe calls for.
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
I use half Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa and half Hershey's Cocoa
1 cup hot coffee Freshly brewed
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 large Eggs
1 cup milk
If I have half and half or even better heavy whipping cream I use that instead.
1 stick Butter or margarine unsalted recommended
2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
3 cups Powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
If I have half and half or even better heavy whipping cream I use that instead.
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
I never measure my vanilla and always use at least double what the recipe calls for.

Preparation Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray two 9 inch round baking pans with non stick cooking spray. I refuse to use cooking spray on my cake pans. Always, always use Crisco and for this cake I dust the pans with cocoa Combine first 6 dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in the hot coffee and mix well with a spoon (batter will be thin). Pour batter into pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and then remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely before frosting. Frosting: Melt the butter and stir in the cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistancy. Add more milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.