Tag Archives: icing

heavenly icing

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This is currently my favourite icing. It’s CRAZY good. And all you need is eggs, water and brown sugar. It’s light yet creamy, sweet but not cloying, and it holds it’s volume/shape. There is no butter or cream in it! It’s crazy good. Yup I said it twice!

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perfect for cake layers

The recipe came from a client of mine – we were chatting about her Easter weekend and she mentioned that she made a chocolate cake with boiled icing. I had to stop her and ask, what is boiled icing?! She said it was a recipe that was given to her from a sister in law’s mother in law (thank you, whoever you are!). As she described it (boiling sugar with water, adding it to stiff peak egg whites) – I just couldn’t quite imagine it! So I had to try it; and boy am I glad I did. I made it for my brother’s 30th birthday and it was loved by all. My mom usually scrapes off the icing when she eats cake but she didn’t this time! It has a pillowy marshmallow like texture and is very spreadable and holds it’s form really well. I left it out at room temperature for the whole day on the cake before serving! And it was fine the next day too. I used to make buttercream icing all the time for cupcakes and cakes, but I am definitely going to be using this one more often now because it’s not as heavy and tastes heavenly.

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on vanilla cake

You might be concerned about the egg whites being raw…I thought about this too. However, the sugar is really really hot when you add it to the egg whites. I think the heat must cook them and stabilize them, because it really doesn’t lose volume at all.

what you need:

  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 egg whites

what to do:

  1. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
  2. In a pot on medium heat, boil sugar and water until it is thickened and “threads”. Not quite as thick as caramel but just before it turns to that. Use a wooden spoon to spoon the sugar mixture – it is ready when it isn’t running off the spoon quickly. This will take about 12 minutes but keep an eye on it so that your sugar doesn’t burn.
  3. Slowly add the hot sugar (be careful it’s super hot!) to the eggs whites while continuously beating them on medium speed. Beat for another 5 minutes or so, until the mixture is firm enough to spread. Enjoy!
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    hot sugar drizzling into egg whites

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    ready to spread

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    layered

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    the best part!

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basic buttercream icing

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Need a good buttercream icing for your cupcakes? This one is my go to – it’s 4 ingredients, easy to pipe on, and tastes great. You can easily give your icing some colour with food colouring paste; but there’s something very pure and classic with just the buttery white colour too though!

The key to a really good buttercream icing is patience – make sure you take the time to whip the butter until it turns fluffy and lighter in colour, and add the sifted icing sugar 1-2 cups at time.  Take your butter out the night before you want to make this; the butter HAS to be at room temperature – melting it in the microwave often doesn’t work because you’ll likely melt it too much!

prep:  15 min   yield: enough to ice about 24 cupcakes

what you need:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, must be at room temperature
  • 5 cups icing sugar (sifted)
  • 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • a splash of milk

what to do:

  1. In a stand mixer with whisk attachment (best) or with a hand mixer – beat butter until smooth and white and fluffy – you will need to scrape down the bowl a few times to get all the butter whipped – should take a good 5 minutes or so.
  2. Add 1 cup of icing sugar and beat well again – then add another cup of icing sugar and beat well again, making sure after each addition the butter comes back to a fluffy and light consistency.
  3. Add vanilla extract and beat again.
  4. Add another 1-2 cups of icing sugar – beat well – then add 1 tbsp of milk. Beat well and then check consistency.  It should be soft and light. Add the last cup of icing sugar a little bit at a time – if you find the icing is too hard or firm, add another little bit of milk to loosen it up. You want it soft and fluffy to be able to spread or pipe it easily onto your cake.
  5. ENJOY!
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chocolate buttercream icing…                  will post soon:)