My blog has been woefully neglected this week... I’ve been battling a pretty nasty cold/sore throat and just haven’t had the energy to cook/bake much. That’s a sure sign I’m really sick! But I’ve finally started feeling better and hopefully posting will resume as usual!
About 2 months ago, I bought this really neat mechanical pastry bag at Williams-Sonoma. I hadn’t had an occasion to use it but had really been wanting to. So, the other night I was looking through our cupboard and came across a box of cake mix. Perfect! I haven’t made a cake out of a box in forever, but I definitely wasn’t feeling up to making both the cake and frosting from scratch. This would allow me to make the frosting and play with my mechanical pastry bag without having to also make the cupcakes!
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I loved using the pastry bag! It was so easy to use and there are so many interchangeable tips to try! I only tried 3 of them but I know I’ll try the others soon now that I know how much fun it is! The only problem I ran into was that it was a warm night when I made these and the kitchen was so hot it was making the frosting too warm. Next time I’ll have to be sure to keep the frosting cool enough so it’s not melting.
Oh, and the taste of this frosting was great! I generally find buttercream to taste a bit too much like butter, but this one was tasty and definitely not as rich as some others I’ve tried!
By Tracey
Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
from Annie’s Eats
Ingredients:
- 20 tbsp. (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp. heavy cream
Directions:
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds. Scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds. Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.
