We had a really lovely trip to my parents' last weekend. On Sunday afternoon, we had a bbq and celebrated all of the extended fam spring birthdays. I made these journals as gifts for the girl cousins in my life, using up some of my leftover Amy Butler paper. 
Last week at the store I treated myself to a set of cake decorating tips so I could pipe frosting onto the cupcakes I'd promised to contribute. After 2 failed batches of chocolate butter cream, I ended up reverting to a delicious tub of fudgy Betty Crocker frosting! (The first batch was the right consistency, but didn't taste chocolaty enough. The second had the right taste, but was too dry...) Oh well, cute paper flags cover a multitude of mistakes. Does anyone know of the ultimate chocolate butter cream recipe? Please do share.
4.20.2010
weekending
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Those journals are gorgeous! You've got talent, that's for sure!
i always make buttercream w/o measuring a single thing. i usually start with about a half stick of soft butter if it's a batch of cupcakes (more if it's a whole cake). then i "eye" about how much powdered sugar i'll need, throw that in, then add a teeny bit of vanilla, then splashes of milk one at a time. blend, and it will become obvious very quickly what you need more of. too dry? no problem- throw in another splash of milk. too wet? obviously pour in more powdered sugar. you can't mess it up, just keep adding little by little what you need to fix it. the worst that can happen is you'll make too much and have extra buttercream on your hands to save for something else. :)
when making flavored buttercreams, i first get the plain consistency right and then add the flavor. put in at least a 1/4 cup of cocoa for a batch of buttercream, blend, and taste. if you end up using a lot of cocoa powder to get it really chocolatey, you may just need to add a teensy TINY splash of milk to smooth it out.
i think buttercreams, once mastered, are about the simplest thing to possibly make. practice a little and you will NEVER buy another plastic cansiter of icing again! :)
MMMMM Butter cream! I think Mama B has it right, just make sure to not use too much butter and not have enough powdered sugar on hand. lol that happened to me the last time. OOPS! We were at Seabrook and I couldn't get it right without more P.Sugar. Ahh well. I am sure you will get it right.
You can also use Chocolate chips melted, but you will need to use less butter and milk. It will make it very rich like the bottled stuff.
I am going to look through all of your posts.... I have heard that there was quite the adorable birthday party for a certain darling ONE year old! YAY
Loves,
Aminta
Love the journals!
those cupcakes are impressive.
I have a couple of good chocolate frosting recipes, but not near the computer at the moment. I'll have to email them to you. :)
What I really want to know is how to make the flag??? I really wanted some for Olivia's b'day party this past weekend, but I didn't have the time (or energy) to put in a through search and then make them. lol Any tips?
My family owns a baker but I can't give you that recipe. :) But this is about the best one I've ever made at home. It's fantastic . . . so is this cake. Check it out here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe/index.html
my family owns a bakery . . . not a baker. :)
Post a Comment