Best Buttercream Frosting April 21, 2013

Yield

About 2 Cups of Frosting, plenty for a standard size cake recipe

Preparation Time

Start this before you start the cake. Your total time will be from before you bake the cake until the cake is cooled and ready to be iced. However, most of that time will be waiting time.

Introduction

I had made this years ago, and then couldn’t figure out how I’d made it, but it was the BEST frosting ever. Recently, I found a recipe, but it kept coming out gritty. I’ve perfected it with patience. This frosting is a very pale buttery color. Use clear vanilla extract to make it even lighter. Goes perfect with the recipe.

Special Tools

• Wire Whisk
  
• Mixer
  

Ingredients

• 1 Cup milk
  
• 4 Tablespoons Flour, heaping
  
• 1 Cup Sugar, regular white granulated
  
• 1 Cup Butter, 2 sticks, soft but not melted
  
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  

Directions

Do NOT turn the burner on yet. Put the milk in a small saucepan. Put the flour in. Whisk the flour into the milk for a minute or so. Don’t expect it to become smooth yet. Turn the burner on between medium and medium-high. Whisk the mixture gently but constantly, and I mean constantly, getting less gentle as it thickens, until the mixture looks as thick as icing. You don’t want any lumps. Turn off the burner, and continue whisking while you remove the saucepan from the stove to be sure it’s not still thickening on the bottom. Let sit to cool to room temperature. It may get a dry skin layer on it as it cools, but I have found no problems with it.

Beat the butter with a mixer on high speed for a couple of minutes. Add the sugar, and keep beating  for several minutes. Pour in the flour/milk mixture and the vanilla extract, and beat some more. Continue to beat the frosting, several minutes each time, until it’s time to frost the cake. The idea is to make the granules of sugar dissolve into the icing. It can take quite some time–several hours and several beatings–and it’s worth every moment. At first, the granules can be felt with the tongue, later with the teeth, and finally you won’t feel the granules at all.

Spread this icing on top of this chocolate cake.