Thursday, October 27, 2011

Royal Frosting and Cocoa Filling

I believe this is the last week for Louise's cookbook contest, wherein you make something from a cookbook, and submit it to her. Of course, I couldn't let the week go by without participating at least once, could I?

Ryan's forever howling that I need to do something interesting with my
cakes. Jeepers. I thought that desert every night should be interesting enough. The boy might be spoiled. Anyway, the other night I made a chocolate cake as requested by Mark, in layers. I don't like making layer cakes; the frosting is more complicated, and I can't handle much more complication in my life. Still and all, Mark having recruited his brothers to chime in for layer cake, I acquiesced. Then my old friend Fannie Farmer gave me an idea as to what to do with it. So, today, you get two recipes for the price of one!

COCOA CREAM FILLING

1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp confectioner's sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Stir all 4 ingredients until well combined, and refrigerate for at least an hour (I d
id this right after putting the cake in the oven). When the cake is cooled, beat this mixture until it's fluffy and stiff, spread on the bottom layer, and put the top layer in place. My beloved commented that this was a little bitter for his taste, so I'd probably go with 3 tbsp of sugar next time.

ROYAL FROSTING

1 egg white
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup boiling water.

Put all ingredients into your bowl, and beat until it stands up. Note that this will take 8 to 10 minutes. The delightful Mrs. Farmer says that stopping during the beating process will not adversely affect your outcome, but I just used my stand mixer. I do have to say that for the first few minutes, this mixture looked rather brown and dull, and I was pretty certain I'd be starting over with standard buttercream frosting. Not to worry, however, as this was arguably the prettiest cake I've ever made!

Flavor results for this frosting were rather mixed. My dearly beloved said it had no flavor. Ryan thought it rather marshmallow-y in flavor, and Dan thought it tasted some
what similar to meringue. Maybe with strawberry extract, which would be a more vivid color and flavor, it would be greeted more enthusiastically. I might just have to try that with a white cake. I think that this frosting on a white cake might be considered diet cake. Almost. Hmmm. It's worth thinking about.

So, Louise, I submit this for your Dessert month category!

14 comments:

Pam said...

Your boys (and girls) are so lucky to have you for a mom... my kids would be thrilled if I made dessert every night.

The cake looks delicious and pretty too!

~~louise~~ said...

Now this is what I call down home classical chocolate cake with all the trimmings!!! I have a feeling I would agree with Ryan. Marshmallow-y is a good thing! But please, no strawberry this time.

I'm tempted not to enter it at all, Marjie. I want it all to myself!!!

Thank you so much for sharing & joining. I can't believe how fast the party is coming to an end:(

STELLA and RORY from Down Under said...

Now Marjie, please. Its early a.m. here and now I am thinking about cake. Possible for morning tea? Lunch? Dinner? It looks yummy. Thanks for the recipe. No worries, and love, Carol (and Stella and Rory)

Linda said...

It looks yummy! You have quite the bunch of food critics.....I'm sure you'd do well in an upscale market like New York.

Mary said...

You've now motivated me to triple the number of children in my life. I think if there were more of us, I might justify dessert every night. :P As it is, I eat far too much of it myself! ha ha

Sorry the frosting didn't turn out to be tastier. As far as frostings go, both recipes are really light on the sugar! It looks tempting though. I love a soft frosting like that.

SissySees said...

Okay. So I don't GENERALLY care for chocolate cake. I think I'd make an exception for this...

Claire S. said...

A tempting picture !

Mom used to make chocolate cake with boiled frosting - it looked somewhat like this and was a funny texture (I can taste it now - but can't describe it LOL). It did taste a lot like marshmallow, was very smooth on day one but became a sugary texture after the 2nd day or so. Be hard to test that feature in your house I imagine ! :-)

It was my favorite (well, one of my 2 favorites) and she didn't have a recipe written down and none of us can copy it. I may just try yours to see how close it is to my memory.

Two French Bulldogs said...

Oh my dawg....we need some cake
Benny & Lily

Laura said...

ohhh I love a good cake, is there really such a thing as a diet cake?

Mickle in NZ said...

What a great looking and economical frosting. Drooling from afar, Michelle

The Blonde Duck said...

It's so fluffy!

grace said...

primo! the frosting is a nice balance to that rich, luscious filling. :)

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

I love that you can't say no to your children, especially when it comes to dessert! Gorgeous cake Marjie, you have me thinking about baking a cake when I get home from work this evening.

peruci said...

I like this recipe a lot, it is one of my favourites. I`ve tried it this morning and it was very good, thanks for sharing.