Frostings and Fillings I

I'm on to the next section of the Basics chapter, the frostings and fillings.  Some of them are easy and take five minutes to make, others are a little more complicated and require much more time.  I'm trying to type this up before I head out to golf, so let's make this quick!  I started with the White or Royal Frosting on page 36.

As you can see, it's just three ingredients, and takes very little time to prepare.  Measure and sift the confectioner's sugar (125 grams is 1 cup), add the egg and a few drops of lemon juice.

When the mixture forms ribbons, your are done!  The first recipe was in the books!

The second recipe proved to be much more of a pain...the Fondant Frosting on page 36.

The recipe called for glucose.  Ever try to find this stuff?  Friends suggested pharmacies, but they only had flavored glucose tablets for diabetics.  This morning I went on a wild goose chase, traveling to Kroger, Meijer, Fresh Market, Whole Foods, Sur La Table, a bakery shop in Reading, and finally back down to Fantasy in Frosting in Newport, Kentucky where I finally found it.  

I got home and looked at the back label.  Check out the ingredients.  AAARRRRGGGHHH!

When boiling sugar, there are many steps it goes through along the way.  It has names like small ball, big thread, small pearl, large crack, etc.  I needed the stage that was between 228 and 230 degrees.  The book suggests using a candy thermometer, but to save money I decided to use another trick I learned from Alton Brown, using my digital probe and a clip.

Now I had a digital candy thermometer!

BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  The sugar mixture was ready.

You have to pour this mixture onto a marble slab or cookie sheet to cool.  Yes, there IS a marble slab under the cutting board, but I had images of this boiling sugar mixture running off the island and onto the kitchen floor where I would STILL be cleaning it up.  So I went with a cookie sheet that had walls (I think that's called a jelly roll pan).

Once it cools, you begin spreading it with a wooden spoon until it turns opaque.  Add the flavoring agents, knead, and you are done.

There you go...homemade fondant!

Back to an easy recipe, the Water Frosting on page 37.  It is literally just confectioner's sugar and a little water.

I measured it out, and then added the water.

Less than a minute of whisking later, I was complete.

 

The next recipe was the Kirsch Frosting on page 37.  The only difference between this and the previous recipe is that you use kirsch instead of water.

Alcohol reacts with confectioner's sugar a little differently than water, and the final results is much firmer.  I liked this much better.

It was time to get back to a slightly more involved recipe, the Chocolate Frosting on page 37.

I had to set up a double boiler to melt the chocolate and butter together.

It will melt much faster than you might think.  Watch carefully and stir!

The eggs get separated, with the yolks going into the chocolate mixture and the whites being whisked until soft peaks are formed.

The chocolate mixture and egg whites are folded together and you are done.  This, by the way, was the only sugarless frosting.  I didn't like it.

It was time for the last one of the day (plenty more in this section to go), the Cocoa Frosting on page 37.

Nothing too fancy here, just mix everything together.  This was the better of the two chocolate frostings so far.  Then again, it had sugar.

Nothing here was terribly difficult.  I got a lot of satisfaction out of making my own fondant.  That stuff is HARD to make, which is why so many people just purchase pre-made fondant at the store.  Okay, no more write-ups, it's time for golf!

Sixteen more frostings and fillings to go!