Chocolate frosting can be a tricky thing (or rather, used to be). Up until very recently, I thought there were two versions, both flawed. Version #1: chocolate frosting made with cocoa powder and softened butter. This makes a light, fluffy frosting that tastes like cocoa powder. My brain wants to put eating cocoa powder in the same category as eating sawdust and instant coffee granules (i.e., not good). Version #2: chocolate frosting made with cocoa powder and melted butter. This makes a really delicious, fudgey chocolate frosting, but as the melted butter cools and starts to re-solidify, the frosting hardens and turns into fudge. It tastes great, but you have to be lightening quick to use it before it hardens. Not very forgiving stuff!
A few weeks ago, when I was making my 4 year-old's birthday cake, I wanted a chocolate frosting that combined the fluffiness of frosting made with softened butter and the rich chocolate taste of one made with melted butter. The answer is melted chocolate! Somehow, the melted chocolate and softened butter combine to make a chocolate frosting that is both rich and fudgey AND light and fluffy. We've made this frosting twice in the past 3 weeks, and I tell you it has changed lives! That's what we're all about here on Lulu the Baker: changing lives, one chocolate frosting recipe at a time.
Instant Fudge Frosting
slightly adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne
You have to make this in a food processor. You just have to!
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted (yes, that box of Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate)
3 cups powdered sugar
12 Tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
3 Tablespoons half-and-half
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until well-combined. If you don't like the consistency (but you will!), you can add more powdered sugar or half-and-half and continue to pulse until the frosting is just the way you like it.
I'll definitely try this and post it on my baby of a blog
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Thanks!
This looks so light and delicious!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely adore chocolate frosting and yours looks absolutely amazing! I would love to try some.
ReplyDeletean old fashioned frosting we used to make is combining the butter chocolate while heating them in a sauce pan. once they combine, making a smooth mixture, add the powdered sugar and keep it on the heat while whisking constantly. add a few tablespoons of strong brewed coffee and whisk, whisk, whisk until smooth and glossy. it's a dark, lustrous and delicious frosting. my mother used to frost killer brownies with this frosting...so very good!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a really yummy frosting! I might have to give it a whirl soon!
DeleteThank you so much for this recipe! I will put it to good use! ;)
ReplyDeleteNo problem Jinna. We put it to good use once a week or so!
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ReplyDeleteI know this seems odd, but I do not have a processor. Should I just throw away the recipe for the time being? Thank you. Tammy
ReplyDeleteHi Tammy! I actually didn't always have a food processor, but now I wonder how I managed without it! I would think you could make this with a good mixer as long as the butter is nice and soft and you mix it really well. I wouldn't use a stand mixer since they are notoriously bad at getting everything mixed in. I would use a hand-mixer.
DeleteWith the frosting being made with half and half and butter I take it that the cake should be stored in the refigerator after the cake has been frosted. Am I right on this?
ReplyDeleteHi there! I'm pretty sure I've left my frosted cakes out on the counter instead of putting them in the fridge. They never stick around for very long, so I don't think there's much danger of the frosting on them going bad. But I do store the unused frosting in the fridge.
DeleteHi please can you tell me what half and half is, we dont have that in our country, or if we do it goes under another name. LOVE your Blog and recipes, thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi there! Half and half is basically light cream mixed with milk, so it has a butterfat content somewhere between the two. You can easily use a mixture of cream and milk in place of the half and half. And thank you!!
DeleteI've always used soft margarine, coco powder and icing sugar. Depending on the cake the coco powder is substituted with something else (ie carrot cake: cream cheese). Unsweetened chocolate is super expensive in my country and, we'll I don't have a food processor. But I'll put this recipe away just in case I'm ever able to use it! ;)
ReplyDeletesomber-spider, my mom has always made chocolate frosting with melted butter, cocoa powder, and icing sugar. It is delicious. It just sets up very quickly! This one tastes very similar, it just stays soft longer.
DeleteOH my GOSH Lady!! This is SO GOOD I can't even tell you! My kids were like, "What is that??!!". Not because it was bad but because it was SO good they wanted to know what it was! I told them it's the best icing I've ever had. Thank you SO, SO, SO, much for sharing. You're awesome!!!
ReplyDeletediplobrisco, my husband likes to eat it right out of the bowl! I always try to make extra so we can put it on graham crackers.
DeleteHi:) Love your blog! Just wondering is this icing can be piped. Thanks!
ReplyDeletePatriciaErin, yep, it can be piped! You might have to decrease the amount of half-and-half. I'd start with 1 Tablespoon and work up from there until it's piping consistency.
Deletewhat if you don't have a food processer??? Can i just use my kitchen aid?
ReplyDeleteSarah-Jane, I'm sure it will work with a regular mixer. Just make sure you beat it really well!
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