My favorite icing/frosting is _____
Baking season is here! I want to know what your favorite icing/frosting is. I don't care if it's for a cake, pie, cookie, or cupcakes...I want to hear/read about it! I am looking for some new ideas. And I know my friends here at Serious Eats can help me out. Who knows-you are probably helping someone else out in the process. (I'm also looking for a killer cream cheese icing if anyone can help.) Thanks!! :-D
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32 Comments:
Freshly Whipped Cream with All-Natural Vanilla Extract
Créme fraishe with Hazelnut liquer and espresso powder
Nice and light; not too heavy. Very versatile :)
hungrychristel at 4:04PM on 10/23/08
Ganash if chocolate is appropriate
Whipped cream if it doesn't have to last
Cream cheese frosting
dbcurrie at 4:08PM on 10/23/08
I was going to say ganache, cream cheese, whipped cream, or seven-minute, but.....YOWZA! @hungrychristel -- that sounds like HEAVEN!
Brownie at 5:14PM on 10/23/08
Nothing beats a real buttercream -- not the stuff made with confectioner's sugar and butter but the real thing. Flavor it however you like.
kjgibson at 6:30PM on 10/23/08
cream cheese frosting for me. i don't like icings and frosting that are puckeringly sweet, like store-bought sheet cakes etc.
megannesta at 6:35PM on 10/23/08
If it's too sweet, I can't eat. Most of my cakes have a light sprinkle of confectioner's sugar or whipped cream (must try yours honeychristel). I've done ganache which is heavenly. I'd love to have a couple of great recipes for cream cheese frosting and buttercream frosting that aren't sickenly sweet.
PerkyMac at 6:41PM on 10/23/08
sickeningly - I missed a whole syllable. ;(
PerkyMac at 6:50PM on 10/23/08
I like that light whipped chocolate kind. I don't like whipped cream, I'm not sure how to describe it--it's like a chocolate mousse/icing.
And I like cream cheese icing. And buttercream, and...ah. I can't eat too much of it because it makes me feel ill, but still, there is a reason for that expression 'the icing on the cake!'
HeartofGlass at 7:02PM on 10/23/08
I love cream cheese icing. It's stable, easy to make and use and freakin' tasty.
I do love a well-made buttercream and a well made thick ganache.
@HeartofGlass - you're referring to a whipped ganache which I generally just call Chocolate Whipped Cream.
If we're allowed to get creative...I love a good meringue topping on pies.
therealchiffonade at 7:09PM on 10/23/08
mmmmmm...buttercreeeaaaaaammmmmmm......
Pavlov at 7:14PM on 10/23/08
^thanks chiff--I saw it on ATK recently or Cook's and said 'that's it! that's what I mean!' but they didn't really give it a name.
To get really anal about preferences, for me the pleasure of eating cake is all about the layers, and the different textures and flavors throughout so I tend to like having a different flavor (like fruit or something) in the middle layer, and things on top of the icing like shaved chocolate, nuts, or something like that.
HeartofGlass at 7:16PM on 10/23/08
Mmmm...Italian Meringue Buttercream all the way. No powdered sugar nastiness, just fluffy and creamy. Best when chocolate or hazelnut imho.
Also love whipped chocolate ganache (dark) like was mentioned, and sweetened creme fraiche/whipped cream, with brandied raspberry coulis folded in. Yum.
I agree with Heart too, like different flavors/texture by layer...especially fruits, mousses and bavarians.
I have to say my very favorite topping for cake though is to powder some brittle candy (homemade is best) in a food processor, then layer on the top of the cake (pre-icing the sides/filling etc.) Set under a hot broiler for a minute or two to re-melt. Frost and fill cake center and sides and you have a shiny hard coating on the top. Decorate with more shards of brittle, chocolate etc. Crack with a spoon before cutting.
sadiepix at 7:55PM on 10/23/08
not
LoCo at 8:01PM on 10/23/08
Well... okay... on those rare occasions when I do resist the urge to scrape off all the icing/frosting, and decide to nibble a little bit of it, on purpose, then it's the cream cheese variety that's usually going to tempt me.
But generally, I like to eat my cake naked.
Wait.
Oh, nevermind.
LoCo at 8:08PM on 10/23/08
Look for lemon icings or frostings.....I know that's more summerish, but still try it. They are so bright and very tasty. I'm pretty much over chocolate, buttercreams and such.....please no whipped cream pies in my direction... lol
lochaven at 8:45PM on 10/23/08
@LoCo--it's much safer than frying bacon naked.
I love whipped chocolate ganache and cream cheese frosting. Buttercream is good but not my favorite. Where does everyone stand on fondant? The pre-made stuff is kinda gummy, but a friend of mine has a recipe that makes a very tasty one.
buffy at 9:10PM on 10/23/08
@buffy... were you participating on SE back when I told about the scar on my belly? The one caused by frying bacon in a crop top?
LoCo at 9:24PM on 10/23/08
Now that you mention it, I do remember that thread. I didn't remember that was you, though... it's like we have ESPN or something!!
buffy at 12:33AM on 10/24/08
I would love to have a recipe for cream cheese frosting! Could anyone help me??
Love the ideas!! Keep 'em coming. :)
Butrflygirly at 9:08AM on 10/24/08
My almost 8 year old daughter really dislikes butter-based frostings, so for her birthday cakes, I make either an Italian meringue frosting or a seven-minute frosting (sort of a shiny marshmallow cream). I use the recipes in the Fannie Farmer cookbook, which is one of my cooking bibles. Both recipes involve the use of beaten, then cooked, egg whites.
LadyMarmalade at 9:22AM on 10/24/08
My fav is cream cheese....
@butrflygirly - I take 1 stick butter, 1 8oz pkg cream cheese softened - mix together, add about 1/4 c milk, 1 T. vanilla, and then just start adding confectioners sugar in small amounts until it reaches the consistency you want. I've never really used a set recipe....but it usually takes almost a full 1 lb bag of sugar. I've also flavored this with some grade b maple syrup....that's out of this world!
mepolo at 10:28AM on 10/24/08
I love chocolate anything, and any chocolate ganache or icing is my favorite. I really like icing in general, but seem to be a in the serious minority in that I strongly dislike cream cheese frosting. I just think its tang is kinda icky. Am I alone here?
jlbrach at 1:49PM on 10/24/08
@kjgibson, how then precisely does one make buttercream without butter and sugar? I'm quite perplexed.
DCraver at 1:50PM on 10/24/08
I love well made icing/frosting of every kind (IE real butter, sugar, cream cheese, and high quality chocolate please)- cream cheese and butter cream are my favorites. I could eat chocolate ganache and mousse with a spoon.
I have an insatiable sweettooth so icing is pure heaven for me. Things are almost never too sweet for me.
KtMc24 at 4:33PM on 10/24/08
I hated cream cheese as a little kid, but I've always loved cream cheese icing. I also love glazes and whipped chocolate anything.
nightowl at 6:17PM on 10/24/08
definitely cream cheese!
mayoxqueen at 10:28PM on 10/24/08
me too, cream cheese! with some grated tangerine peel. or vanilla swiss meringue.
cybercita at 11:38PM on 10/24/08
@butrflygirly - hi sister! I know I'm late to the party, but I just don't seem to be able to make up my mind! Seeing as my birthday is coming, I should be more decisive about this particular matter, shouldn't I?:-) Yet, I've been thinking about it for two days and I'm still not quite sure. The thing is, in general I prefer mousse cakes to "cake" cakes, and there's no icing on mousse, normally. But if I were to think of a "cake" cake, I'm not particularly fond of anything too sweet or too buttery, so I reckon I'm going to join all the chocolate ganache/whipped chocolate ganache (thin layer please!) lovers out there. I would probably like meringue icing as well. Not sure about the cream cheese one - I once had an amazing spice cake with a very thin layer of marvelous cream cheese icing, but other times it has left a lot to be desired. Hmmm...mousse cake it is, no icing needed!
brooke29 at 12:14AM on 10/25/08
My absolute favorite is Italian Meringue Buttercream (from the Cake Bible) flavored with Kahlua but a close second choice would be the Fool-Proof Chocolate Frosting from Cooks Illustrated......that is the BEST chocolate frosting I have ever tasted......smooth, not to sweet, incredibly chocolate-ly....I use it for both cakes and cupcakes!
elderberry44 at 1:01AM on 10/25/08
Real buttercream - preferably coconut
NuJoi at 7:29AM on 10/25/08
i have to agree with LoCo I like my cakes naked too. but if i need to make icing a regular choc icing with espresso is good and i might even eat some if you add cinnamon or ceyanne pepper to it.
huneybumper at 9:18AM on 10/25/08
@Brooke: When is your birthday? I hope you make/get the cake you want! I don't like icing/frosting too sweet either which is seems to be more often then not on many peoples cakes and such. I usually wind up taking it off and just eating the cake. :) But I still don''t mind doing that.
@mepolo: Thanks! I am definitely going to be making that soon. :)
Butrflygirly at 10:38AM on 10/27/08