Chocolate Frosting for Cakes

Now that I have made this cake quite a few times, I thought it needs some icing and frosting to make it look as good (if not better) as it tastes. I decided to try out my most favourite source: the internet. I really shouldn't have. They don't look so frightening when I am polishing off the cream from my birthday cake. They are all – sweet! What I didn't realise was, there were so many! With egg, without egg, with butter, without butter they're all out there and I was, of course, clueless what to choose to suit my needs. I chose the one with the butter, but without the eggs because mousse cakes already have a lot of eggs in them.

However, I was becoming braver and ... lazier! I thought about the Chocolate Mousse Cake recipe I had posted earlier. Before adding the eggs ... now that was a good start. Except of course, for the fact that whole thing was a little too runny to go as a cake icing. But I swear it tasted like heaven.

So, the brainstorming started. I am not really comfortable with simply going on with something that comes up in my mind until I turn it over inside my head what seems like the hundredth time and it tweak this or that to fit my mental image along with what-I'd-like-to-call-my-mental-taste-buds. And then when I find that I cannot innovate any further I hit the ... er, kitchen counter , for my first prototype. This recipe is the result of my second attempt. Also, I am really into thick icing layers so bear with me or make lesser, proportionally.

Ingredients

For the size of the Chocolate Mousse Cake

• Unsalted butter – 50g
• Heavy cream – 1 tablespoon
• Powdered sugar – 50g (see tip)
• Melted unsweetened chocolate/cocoa powder – 2 tablespoons (see tip)
• salt – ½ teaspoon

Method

1. Sift the sugar thoroughly to get rid of any lumps.
2. Beat the butter using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer.
3. Mix the salt in the chocolate after melting it (melting technique is available at here) or into a very little of melted butter.
4. Slowly add it to the beaten butter and beat further.
5. Add the sugar slowly, perhaps one tablespoon at a time (the slower, the better) and make sure each addition of sugar is melting into the butter before adding the next.
6. Beat the butter well and then slowly start adding the cream. Add drop by drop for better mixing.
7. Whisk a little more until you've reached your desired texture (see tip).

Start using already. Just make sure the cake is cooled to the room temperature or the frosting will start melting as soon as you apply and go all runny.

Tip

1. Taste your frosting when you have added the last bit of sugar and make sure you don't need any more. Often my brother complains I am a miser with sugar, but really, that much is exactly how I like it.
2. I used cocoa powder. My brother reckons that's the reason the sugar seemed less. If you're using cocoa powder you might need more sugar for a person with a sweet-tooth like my brother.
3. You can use any other flavour, but just stick to natural essences or you'll have that stupid, synthetic smell. Not really cool. And as long as you are not using chocolate/cocoa, feel free to play with food colouring.
4. You might feel that the frosting is a little too thick to work with, or you simply want it a little too runny. Keep adding whole milk by a teaspoon at a time, whisk well and repeat if you need to. Don't forget to check the sweetness if you add too much milk to it.