Flour Frosting

This frosting was part of the recipe for the Gobs. I made and tried the frosting but decided not to use it. At first I thought it was okay. It isn't sweet and kind of had a texture like thick whipped cream. But after a few minutes I decided that I didn't like it. It didn't have enough flavor and I had absolutely no desire to consume anymore of it.

Maybe you can find a use for it.

Flour Frosting (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

5 T flour

1 C milk

1/2 C shortening

1/2 C butter

1/4 t salt

2 t vanilla

1 C powdered sugar

In a small sauce pan, heat the flour and milk over medium heat until thick. Use a wisk to stir as this will prevent clumps.

Once the mixture is a bit thick, remove from the heat. Continue stirring. The bottom layer will seem very thick at first, but this will resolve itself after a few minutes. Cool this milk mixture completely. (I placed the small pan in a small bowl of ice water to speed up the process.)

Cream together the shortening, butter, salt, and vanilla.

Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined.

Slowly mix in the chilled thickened milk mixture until combined. It will look awful at this point, but have faith and patience.

Beat on a high speed for several minutes until the mixture is fluffy and resembles frosting (or thick whipped cream).

Enjoy!

Gobs

There has been some complaining lately from the people who eat what I bake for this blog. Those people were complaining about a lack of frosting. To fix that, I decided to make these "gobs" which are filled with a lot of frosting. These are basically two cupcake tops with a glob of frosting in between.

The frosting that comes with this recipe is a flour frosting. I didn't use it. It turned out fine when I made it, but it wasn't sweet and I don't think it had very much flavor. I threw the flour frosting away and then made the old Wilton recipe with 1/4 t butter flavoring added to make it a buttercream frosting. This was a good decision.

The recipe I have only makes chocolate gobs and not everyone here is a fan of chocolate. To appease the taste testers, I divided the ingredients in half and made chocolate and yellow gobs. To make the yellow gobs, just replace the cocoa with flour. You can add a bit more vanilla as well, or any other flavoring you desire. You can also use any frosting in these. They are very customizable!

Gobs (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

2 C sugar

1/2 C shortening

2 eggs

1 C sour milk

1 C boiling water

1 t vanilla

4 C flour

2 t baking soda

1 1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 C cocoa

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and cocoa. Set aside.

Cream together the sugar, shortening, and eggs.

Stir in the sour milk, boiling water, and vanilla until well combined.

Slowly mix in the flour mixture. Be sure this is well combined.

Drop spoonfuls of batter onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes. I made these a bit too large, so I had to bake them for 6 minutes.

Let cool completely. Make some frosting and then assemble!

Enjoy! 

Royal Icing

Royal icing dries hard, kind of like candy buttons. It can also taste like candy buttons. Royal icing is needed if you want to make cute little flowers or certain types of frosting decorations. This batch, however, will be used for gluing together the pieces of tiny sugar cookie houses.

When making and using royal icing, it is very important to make sure it doesn't come into contact with shortening or butter. This will make the icing turn runny and it won't set. So wash your mixing bowl and utensils with hot soapy water before starting!

Royal Icing (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
1 egg white
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1 t vanilla

First, sift the powdered sugar. This will break up any clumps in the sugar and ensure the icing is nice and smooth.

Place the egg white and vanilla in the mixing bowl. Beat until it starts to get frothy.

Add the powdered sugar and mix together on a low speed until it is combined. A high speed will result in a cloud of powdered sugar emitting from the mixing bowl. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl.

Beat on a high speed for 5 minutes.

If you are concerned about using a raw egg white, you can microwave the royal icing for 15 seconds. Be sure to move the icing to a non-metal and microwave-safe dish first!

The royal icing sets quickly. Keep it covered with a moist paper towel.

The icing takes up to 24 hours to set.

Decorator's Frosting

The most important thing involved in cake decorating is the frosting (or icing, I suppose... depending on where you live). If you are thinking, "Shouldn't the cake be the most important part?" then you have clearly never decorated a cake. The cake part of the cake decorating process is 100% optional. You can frost a styrofoam cube or even an empty box and make it look like a cake. People even have a habit of saying silly things such as, "Ooh! It looks too pretty to eat!" They are lying when they say this, however, and will go on to talk to you about the shows Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss while happily eating the beautifully frosted cake.

There is an uncountable number of decorator's frosting recipes on the internet (well, that's not true: it is clearly a countable number). I only use three different frosting recipes when decorating cakes. One is the Wilton Decorator's Frosting, another is the old version of that same recipe, and the final one is a whipped cream frosting that I'll present at a later date. I learned the Wilton recipe when I took the Wilton Cake Decorating courses. The old version is the frosting my grandma always made and learned when she took the Wilton Cake Decorating courses!

Both versions of the Wilton recipe are suitable for simple frosting and making frosting flowers. The frostings are creamy and form kind of a stiff shell when they dry.Each recipe will create a stiff frosting which is optimal for making frosting roses. To cover the cake with frosting, you will need to thin the frosting. To do this, add a tablespoon of water to the frosting and mix it in. Repeat this until you get a consistency that spreads easily.

New Wilton Decorator's Frosting (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
1 C shortening
3 T water
1 t vanilla (or any combination of flavors you want)
1 lb Confectioners Sugar
1 T meringue powder

Beat together the shortening, water, and vanilla. It won't become a creamy mixture, but you want to break up the shortening. Add the sugar and meringue powder. Mix at a low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl. Mix together at low speed for 2 minutes.

Old Wilton Decorator's Frosting (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
3/4 C shortening
2 egg whites
1 t vanilla
1/2 t cream of tartar powder
1 lb confectioners sugar

Mix together the shortening, egg whites, and vanilla for about 15 seconds. It will make a chunky looking gross mixture. Add the sugar and tartar. Mix on a medium speed for 2 minutes or until fluffy.

One of the main "rules" when making frosting to decorate cakes is to not "over beat" the icing. This will produce air bubbles in the frosting and that is not a good thing if you are making flowers. Since I don't like to make flowers very often, I extremely "over beat" the frosting every time I make it. In my opinion, this gives it a better texture.

Note: When adding flavors to the frosting, be sure to use clear flavors. For instance, if you use the brown vanilla extract your icing will end up a cream color instead of white.

2nd Note: I lied earlier when I said I only use 3 frosting recipes. I use 2 chocolate frosting recipes, but chocolate frosting isn't very standard in cake decorating.