Butter Cream Decorator Frosting

My friend, Tasha, made me promise to post this recipe  

so Tasha

  this is for YOU!

I found this recipe in my America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.  They call it, Quick and Rich Vanilla Frosting.  I like my title better because, not only is this frosting very light and delicious tasting, it is also a dream to decorate with.

Ingredients:


3 Tbs. Heavy Cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temp*
3 Cups Confectioners' Sugar

Stir the cream, vanilla, and salt together in a small bowl until the salt dissolves.  Beat the butter with an electric mixer on med-high speed until smooth, 30-60 seconds.  Reduce the speed to med-low, slowly add the confectioners' sugar, and beat until smooth, 2-5 minutes.  Beat in the cream mixture. Increase the speed to med-high and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, 4 to 8 minutes.

*  I usually keep salted and unsalted butter on hand.  I prefer to skip the salt in the recipe and use 1 1/2 stick salted butter and 1 1/2 stick unsalted.  You can actually make this with all salted butter, too.  It tastes very nice, just a little on the saltier side - which is really yummy on some flavors of cupcakes like banana nut, carrot cake, or caramel.

You can make this frosting ahead of time, just tightly seal and refrigerate.  Let it return to room temperature then briskly whisk to re-fluff before filling a decorator bag.  It is a great frosting for piling a generous amount on top of a cupcake for a professional look.  Even if you are intimidated at the thought of decorating cakes, I hope you will try this - at least on cupcakes.  I think you will be surprised at the lovely results even if you are a beginner.

Thanks for stopping by,

Ellie