Day 92

Another day in cakeland. I iced my first REAL cake with REAL icing and by "REAL" I mean the icing did not come out of a plastic container and the cake mix did not come out of a box.  We iced the spice chiffon cake that we made yesterday with a delicious Italian buttercream icing (recipe below) and we  made a bittersweet chocolate cake that we will finish putting together next class. 

We filled our spice chiffon cakes with a layer of lemon curd before covering them with the Italian buttercream icing. Most of the class dyed their icing a pastel shade of yellow but not me. I opted for a sort of neon mossy color. 

Italian Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

1 lb sugar 

4 oz water

8 oz egg whites

1 lb butter 

1 tsp lemon juice

1.5 t vanilla 

Dash of Grand Marnier (optional)

Method 

1. bring water and sugar to a boil until temperature reaches 238 degrees F (soft-ball stage)

2. Meanwhile, place egg whites in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat on low speed until foamy. Add lemon juice, and beat on medium-high speed until stiff but not dry; do not overbeat.

3. When syrup reaches 240 degrees pour 1/4 cup of syrup into egg white mixture. With mixer running, add syrup to whites in a stream, beating on high speed until no longer steaming, about 3 minutes. Add rest of syrup slowly and beat for 8-12 min., or till cool, so butter will not melt.

4.  Add room temperature butter bit by bit, beating until spreadable, 3 to 5 minutes; beat in vanilla and Grand Marnier. If icing curdles, keep beating until smooth, may still be too warm. Use Immediately.