I wanted to share this wonderful frosting recipe because I am terrible at making frosting and this recipe is very good and extremely forgiving. Let me explain.
This recipe uses Crisco as the base. I know, I know... but once in a while, we should indulge. It calls for one cup of Crisco. I had purchased the Crisco in stick form. What I didn't realize is that I used two cups of Crisco! Somehow I equated two sticks of Crisco as to how two sticks of butter equal one cup. (Crisco sticks are one cup each.) Could have been a huge disaster, but it wasn't. Needless to say, I didn't' realize my mistake until I was making the frosting for another party and I happen to look down at the Crisco label. Yikes! But you know what, it didn't matter, the frosting recipe is so forgiving. It still tasted light and fluffy and delicious with the extra shortening. I think this recipe should be called Foolproof Frosting Recipe!
And the main secret I discovered when making frosting.... drum-roll.... water! yep, that's it folks, water! After you start whipping the frosting, you can add water a tablespoon at a time (sometimes even more than what's on the recipe, but not too much). What this does is get rid of the griddy-ness of the sugar and makes the frosting light and fluffy. No kidding. I am guessing this would work in buttercream frostings too. The griddy-ness has always been an issue for me no matter how much I whipped the frosting, it would never be totally smooth. In this case, after I started adding the water, the frosting started becoming fluffy! Now you know my secret.
I wonder if you add whipping cream instead of water if you will get fluffy whipped frosting? That's another project and we don't always have whipping cream in the house.
These cupcakes were for my daughter Natasha's 6th birthday party. By her request, yummy chocolate all the way and a little purple thrown in for good measure!
I also used a cake box mix (shame, shame) to make the cupcakes with a few adjustments from the Cake Doctor. What can I say, I love the Cake Doctor. She makes my life easier!
Yummy Chocolate Frosting
1-2 cups Crisco (2 sticks)
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
2-4 tablespoons warm water
1 pound sifted powdered sugar (16 oz)2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons meringue powder (to stabilize the frosting)
Cream the shortening for a few minutes. Add the water and flavoring and mix another minute to combine. Mix the sifted powdered sugar, cocoa powder and meringue powder and add slowly to the shortening. I used Hershey's Dark Chocolate Coca Powder. You can add more cocoa powder if you like it more chocolate-y.
Whip it in your Kitchen Aid on high for about 5 minutes. Add more water a tablespoon at a time for more fluffy frosting. Taste test and continue adding a little more water or put in a piping bag and pipe away.
I used a 1M Wilton decorating tip for the piping and edible glitter for decorations. The edible glitter can be found at Michael's at a great price if you use a coupon.
Does not need to be refrigerated because there is no butter in the recipe.
(The original recipe is from the lovely blog Cooking with Carrie.)
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Chocolate Cake Cupcakes courtesy of the Cake Doctor
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