Tuesday, February 10, 2009

what's cooking wednesday - chocolate buttercream frosting

First off I am very excited to tell you that I finally got to meet The Mommy Project's Lily-Pie. What a sweet baby. I seriously could have held her all night, but the kids and the husband and dinner and all that racket. So I had to give her back to her Mommy and take my brood home. What she doesn't know is I am totally coming back next week. Before we left the house I asked Mike if he thought I should bring the camera, his reply... I can't believe you're even asking me. So I took the camera and Michael was nice enough to snap a couple of shots of Lily-Pie and I. And a couple of Abby, the baby and I. Then he started pressing buttons.

Let me tell you about Michael... technology, not really his thing. He tries, God love him, but often fails miserably. So the new camera (which I triple love) he hates. Largely because he's left handed, I think, and it's definitely a right handed person's camera. So in trying to show Abby the pictures he had already taken he was deleting them. So they're all gone. Except for....

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and one other one of.... you guessed it Michael and the baby. Luckily The Mommy Project snapped a few with her camera that she can hook up to her brand new laptop and then upload to the internet with her fancy high speed. Why yes I am totally jealous, why do you ask?

Now I could go on and on about the baby, did I mention she's cute? Because she totally is. Oh the pain in my ovaries..... it is killing me. But I know you're here because it's What's Cooking Wednesday and right now you're four paragraphs in wondering where the damn food is already. Since I'm a people pleaser..... here's what you came for.

chocolate buttercream


Chocolate Buttercream frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled
3 - 4 tbsp milk

Mix powdered sugar and butter in a medium bowl with a spoon or electric mixer on low speed. Stir in vanilla and chocolate.

Gradually beat in just enough milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. Frosts a 13x9 inch cake or a 8 or 9 inch two-layer cake.

Recipe Notes: Very easy to make, especially with that fancy new mixer of mine. Mike liked it better than the canned stuff since it wasn't overly sweet. I made it to go with an orange cake which was a hit with Grandma Linda, Abby and Maya. Not so much with Mike or I and I don't think I ever got Papa's vote on the issue. I loved being able to get my tips out and play around a little. That is the best thing about making my own frosting, working on my skillz.




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret. Much to Kaffy's chagrin, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday.

8 comments:

Michelle | Bleeding Espresso said...

Such a gorgeous cake and baby! What a visually stunning post :)

Mommy Project said...

OMG! That is the CUTEST baby I have ever seen!! What a dolly! Oh, ya, she is mine. Do you think I am biased? ;-)

I was so glad to have you here yesterday to ~finally~ meet the baby (now that everyone is feeling a bit better) and I have to say "Thank-you" again for all the *beautiful* clothes. She is getting spoiled already.

I'll get my photos to you today. <3

Chantal said...

That's one snazzy looking cake, and the baby looks good enough to eat too! ;)

I love decorating cakes! I will use the recipe for sure. Thanks!

JillEBean said...

What an amazing cake!!! I could only hope mine turns out that well!

Leah said...

My kids were all funky looking that new (don't get me wrong, I thought they were beautiful and loved them more than anything, but they were funky looking...LOL) That baby is ADORABLE.

and the buttercream frosting?? totally can't wait to try it out!

Mommy Project said...

(Just wanted to pop back in and say a big Thank-you to all the Fairy Blogmother's friends for the sweet comments on my little Lily-Pie).

:)

Shan said...

Michelle - thanks I think so too. I can only take credit for one though :)

Normie - oh totally the cutest baby ever. So glad I finally got over too. Such sacrifice for my family. And I am totally serious about coming back next week.

Chantal - thanks.. let me know how you like to frosting.

Jill - thanks!!

Leah - I know what you mean. Maya keep leaning over her and asking me "is she pretty Mama?" Oh yes she is!

Leah said...

Shan, I made this frosting tonight. Mine's not as dark, so I guess I didn't quite use 3oz chocolate (I was guessing at how much 3oz would be in a measurement of chocolate chips...LOL) but it's YUM! I used the frosting on top of Deceptively Delicious' chocolate cake which uses beet puree. Gotta say, beet puree is about the NASTIEST smelling stuff you could think of to put in a cake you planned to eat, but the end result is truly pretty YUM! Thanks for the frosting recipe!