Vanilla Frosting for Cupcakes
I've been going through a cupcake phase, and I'm trying to find the perfect vanilla frosting.
I don't like a really buttery buttercream, and I'm not sure that that's what I'm looking for anyway. I like a fluffier frosting, one that doesn't leave a sort of greasy film in your mouth.
I'm looking for something along the lines of Podunk's or Sugar Sweet Sunshine's in NYC, if that helps. Not along the lines of Crumbs.
Let me know if you need more info...I'm still a bit of a novice with baking so I don't know all of the frosting/icing names :-(
Thanks for your help!
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
8 Comments:
Have you thought about an Italian or Swiss meringue buttercream? Both are very light and fluffy, though if chilled the butter does harden and you don't want that. Best taste out there also in my opinion. Does not use powdered sugar so also less sweet.
I am not familiar with the NYC bakeries (sorry...middle country here) but I do love my frosting!
There are some out there also that are egg white based but do have some powdered sugar, rather than the cooked syrup in the meringue icings. Those hold up very well, yet are fluffy and hold flavors nicely. Better (again just my opinion) than the powdered sugar/butter or shortening/milk frostings, which to me are too cloyingly sweet and oily.
Whipped white chocolate ganache is also pretty good, but heavier.
There are some marshmallow based icings out there too, but you would certainly have the marshmallow flavor in with the vanilla.
French Buttercream is another worth looking at, though I like it less.
sadiepix at 1:10PM on 02/18/09
KateRuby, you have to swing by Butter Lane on Seventh Street in the East Village. They make French buttercream, with pure cane sugar and egg whites, and American buttercream, made with confectioner’s sugar, and both are made with fresh vanilla bean. When I was there, they had small tastings so you could compare the frostings before ordering. And the cupcakes are amazing.
Sweet Freak at 3:13PM on 02/18/09
Wilton's website had amazing and free recipes.
Keight at 5:48PM on 02/18/09
How about the much ignored Butter roux frosting that's traditional with red velvet cupcakes? I tried it recently for the first time and was quite impressed.
ag3208 at 9:28PM on 02/18/09
@Keight - What a great site! I'd never heard of Wilton's...thanks so much!
@ag - Butter roux, eh....sounds delish!
KateRuby at 9:45PM on 02/18/09
Have you thought of a simple royal icing. It contains no fat, so there is no greasy residue on your palate, and it can range from very fluffy to birthday cake hard. Here's how you make:
Estimated Time-10 minutes
Makes about 2 cups of icing
2 egg whites
1 pound confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-Beat egg whites until foamy. Then, slowly add sugar in 1/2 cup increments until incorporated fully.
-Add milk and extract, and beat until the mixture is stiff, maintaining it's shape.
-Use immediately or store in fridge.
I hope this helps, good luck with your baking experiments!
gouchermaxms at 10:32PM on 02/18/09
I second the butter-roux style icing also, that stuff is really quite good. I always forget about it though I love it.
Royal icing can work, but does harden, from semi-hard to rock hard so you would want to do a thin layer, not a big poof of it on top of the cupcake. Think of the icing used on cookies that hardens--you would not want a big glob of that to try to bite through.
Try out some of the cake websites out there, like CakeCentral.com for more recipes and ideas than you can shake a stick at.
sadiepix at 1:00AM on 02/19/09
It's true that you only want a thin layer of icing on top, as sadiepix said, it will harden pretty dramatically, though you could use 1 tsp glycerin for every pound of sugar used. Another solution could be vanilla cream cheese frosting. Just beat together a ratio of 1:1 (by weight) butter and cream cheese, beat in 2x (by weight) the amount of confectioners sugar, as well as vanilla extract to taste and a pinch of salt. Again, I hope this clears things up, and that it helps you on your way to find your perfect frosting.
gouchermaxms at 9:23AM on 02/19/09