Icing Success!

Do you remember the icing worms? They were a disaster.


But these cupcakes! These delicious ones, made out of our family birthday cake recipe and mocha buttercream icing -- these not only tasted great, they were pretty!

What did I do differently? First, I watched a lot of videos on YouTube. I find this to be a tremendous resource when learning a new technique.


Second, I made a smoother icing that was more pipe-able.


Finally, I got the proper tools. Last time, I used a really small tip with a really thick icing. For these, I got a 1M icing tip, which is significantly larger and is even called the standard cupcake swirl tip. 


I know I'll continue to improve, but I wanted to share my progress!

Whipped Cream

I love real whipped cream. And I mean real. Not out of a can. Not out of a tub. Real, whipped-at-home-right-before-serving whipped cream.

It is ridiculously simple to make and will take any dessert (or pancake, crepe, fruit...) to the next level. So ban the can and take those extra five minutes to make it fresh. You'll thank me for it.

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 scant tsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Chill mixing bowl and beaters for at least 10 minutes
2. Pour whipping cream into mixing bowl and begin beating on high until it starts to thicken
3. Add sugar and vanilla
4. Continue beating until peaks start to form. You don't want it to be too wet, but be careful not to overbeat or you'll end up with butter. Watch closely and once it starts to get thick, go ahead and stop beating for a bit and see how the peaks are. If they flop over, continue beating, but if they stand up, it's done.

Best-Ever Brownies with Million Dollar Icing

The classics never go out of style and I believe the same can be said for a good brownie recipe. My mom cut this recipe out of a newspaper in the 1970s and its the same recipe she's been using ever since. They're moist and delicious filled with chopped walnuts, but what makes this recipe really special, is the icing. It's like silk. Decadent and smooth, it certainly takes the cake on these brownies.

One word of warning though, brownies can get dry very quickly so be sure to watch and test  after about 20 minutes.

Ingredients

Brownies

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Icing

• 1/2 cup soft butter
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp milk or cream
• 2 tbsp hot coffee

Directions

Brownies

In a large bowl, melt butter and add white sugar, brown sugar and cocoa.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.

In a separate bowl, blend flour and baking powder and fold in -- by hand -- into the butter and sugar mixture.

Add vanilla and walnuts by hand.

Bake in a buttered 9 x 13 pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Icing

In a mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar and cocoa and mix until smooth.

Add vanilla, milk/cream and hot coffee.

Mix further until like silk.

Spread over cooled brownies. It looks like it won't be enough, but it will cover the pan with a little left over to taste while icing!

Download the printable recipe for Best-Ever Brownies and Million Dollar Icing

Icing Worms

I have four cupcake cookbooks and they all make icing look so easy. So easy, in fact, that no one actually tells you how to ice. How hard could it be?

I attempted Martha Stewart's Swiss Meringue Buttercream icing for cupcakes for a potluck. All that's in this icing is five egg whites, one POUND of butter and one cup of sugar. The icing turned out ok, but when I added colour, it all went downhill. I'm told that you should always add gel paste as colouring because the colour takes better. I didn't have it, so I added regular red food colouring and the best colour I could make was like a skin tone. Gross.

Then I whipped out my new icing tip -- a Wilton 21, a nice star tip. This is what happened:

My icing didn't even cover the cupcake and it certainly didn't come out in a smooth flow like I expected it. It came out clumpy and inconsistent.

After a number of failed attempts, I switched icing tips to a Wilton 12, which is a large, round tip. It pretty much looked like there were skin coloured worms on my cupcakes.

Here, in all their glory, are my cupcakes, which will not be making it to the potluck on Thursday. Sigh.

Lessons learned:

• 
  
  gel food paste is essential for colouring icing
• 
  
  never use a pound of butter, ever
• 
  
  cupcake decorating lessons might be a good idea