Recipe: Fabulous frosting has just four ingredients

Oops. I needed a last-minute take-along dessert for a party recently.

The night before the sudden shindig, I scrounged in my kitchen cupboard for something quick to bake. Finding a Red Velvet Cake mix, I proceeded to make it for this special event. I poured the cake batter into my prepared pan (using a crown-shaped Bundt pan to make it a little more festive than the standard sheet cake or double-layer cake options). And I tossed it into my preheated oven.

While the red velvet cake was baking, I started lining up my ingredients to make a fluffy white frosting.

Then reality hit.

I had plenty of confectioner’s sugar. I had a stick of butter. I had vanilla extract. But we were out of milk.

Now what?

I had a small carton of half-and-half cream. Pressed for time, I decided to sub that in for the milk and see what happened.

The result was a very pleasant surprise.

My basic vanilla frosting turned out creamier and tastier than ever.

The next day, everyone at the party had at least one slice of my red velvet bundt cake. And several people asked me for the frosting recipe. So here it is.

Frothy vanilla frosting

The ingredient list is simple, with just four ingredients.

• 3 cups of confectioner’s sugar
• 1/4 cup of regular butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 4 Tablespoons of half-and-half cream

Blend the confectioner’s sugar, butter, and vanilla extract in a big bowl.  Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. (I used my KitchenAid countertop stand mixer, but an electric hand mixer works well too.) Add the half-and-half cream, one Tablespoon at a time, and continue beating to make the frosting fluffy and light.

Chill the frosting until you’re ready to use it. For the red velvet Bundt cake, I scooped my frosting into a quart-sized zippered plastic bag and stuck it into the refrigerator till the cake cooled. Then I snipped off one corner of the bag and squirted the frosting onto my cake to create my desired effect.

Because this frosting contains cream, I made sure to chill the cake before serving. There were no leftovers, or I would have chilled those as well.

NOTE: Many bakers choose to frost red velvet cake with a sour cream frosting. That is also quite delicious, but I preferred a basic vanilla version this time around.

Image/s:

Adapted by this user

from public domain image

 


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