Buttercream Frosting

Sponge Cake
Originally uploaded by sobameshi.

I was watching a cooking show on PBS today and they were making layer cakes. The cakes were simple - two 9 inch round sponge cakes, with raspberry jam and buttercream frosting between them and some nice dabs of frosting placed with a homemade parchment cornet . There were individual fresh raspberries strategically placed around the top.

I have to get to the main point of interest though - which was the recipe for buttercream frosting. (I don't know why I torture myself watching these shows...)

They made the buttercream frosting by combining:

3 sticks of unsalted butter

and

1 box of powdered sugar

Homer
Originally uploaded by Plukas.

Holy moly, that's pure sugar and fat - ummmmmm sugar and fat. It's pretty amazing to think about the crappy frosting you get on some bakery cakes - you could be eating 3 sticks of Crisco or some type of partially hydrogenated (trans-fats) vegetable oil on your cake. That's the bad frosting that leaves a weird residue sticking to your mouth and arteries. At least butter melts in your mouth.

I think I figured out the purpose of the cake.

It's a fat and sugar delivery device. Think about it - you couldn't get that much butter and sugar on a pancake. But by combining butter and sugar into a "frosting" you can layer it on baby. The chef who was making this cake reminded me of a plasterer or stucco mason. She made a first layer of mortar (buttercream) then refrigerated the cake and added another layer to get it nice and smooth and fill in all the chinks. She had some nice tools to work the frosting with.


_______________________________________

Making Decorating Cones with Parchment Triangles

ZPi | Cake Decorating Of Yesteryear

Visit the Food Network Store to stock up on your favorite cookbooks, DVDs, and kitchen essentials!