Friday, March 11, 2011

Buttercream Frosting



What You'll Need:
3 cups Powdered Sugar
1 cup Salted Butter (2 sticks)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Dash of Heavy Whipping Cream (or milk, or half and half)

Start by softening your butter. A tip I learned from school: to soften butter, put it in the microwave for 5 seconds, flip it, and repeat 2-3 times until it is the desired softness. If you don't flip it in between, it will all melt in the center, and you don't want melted butter!
Throw your butter in the mixer with a whisk attachment. You can also use a hand mixer for this if you have one. Set your mixer on low for 30 seconds or so, just to break up the butter. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Once the powdered sugar is incorporated, turn your mixer on a high setting and whip the mixture for about 3 minutes. It should now be light and fluffy.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, and add the vanilla. Whip it for another minute. Taste test it for smoothness and flavor, and add a small dash of cream at this point. Whip it another minute and taste it again. 
This is the tastiest, simplest butter cream I've tried so far. It's light and fluffy and oh-so good. It's also great for decorating cakes (which is what I made it for!) I love passing along a good recipe when I find one because there's so many bad ones out there, it's hard to weed them out if you haven't tried them before.

Unfortunately, all I was able to do was taste test the frosting. We just discovered that Charlie has a milk protein allergy, and if I eat dairy, he screams. All day. Every day. It's amazing how much time can be used up holding a crying baby! I'm happy we figured out what was going on though, and he's much happier now. I'm only on day 5 of my dairy free diet, but he's already doing so much better. 
Charlie was a trooper while I made my frosting.
Snoozing in the Sleepy Wrap.
And Emma? She was good, too. And yes, she was rewarded for her good behavior, she got to lick the spoon! :)

4 comments:

  1. YUM & CUTE, your little sweeties are precious ! Thanks for sharing this recipe

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  2. Aww, poor Charlie! We only have lactose intolerance, so butter and hard cheeses dont send us into the unhappiness he gets. But we have a rice protien allergy, darn it! So, I haven't had rice, for my little girl's sake, in over 4 years. Anyways, thanks you for sharing your recipe.
    Thanks for linking up to Making It With Allie! I can't wait to see what you have for next week!
    AllieMakes.Blogspot.com

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  3. Oh, so cute! Look at that sleepy face. Mmmm...frosting...makes me want to put some on graham crackers. Yum!

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  4. You were featured today at Today's Top 20! I'd love if you stopped by!

    Amanda
    www.todaystoptwenty.blogspot.com

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