Chocolate Buttercream Icing

 

I was honoured to be the person who got to bake the cake for Oma’s 100th birthday party.  I believe a birthday cake should be chocolate, so that’s what I made, and I wanted a fantastic buttery icing to go on it, so here it is.  Buttery and chocolatey – who could ask for anything more!

 

This recipe is from Elinor Klivans’ Chocolate Cakes: 50 Great Cakes for Every Occassion.  I omitted 1 teaspoon of coffee granules, which would be added to the whipping cream until the coffee granules dissolve.

 

What you need:

 

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

 

4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

 

1/3 cup whipping cream, at room temperature

 

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

 

2 & 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted

 

1/8 teaspoon salt

 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

What you do:

1. Place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler or a bowl on top of a pot of hot water to melt the chocolate.  Let this cool slightly before mixing in.

2.  In a large bowl beat the butter until creamy, then add the icing sugar and slat and beat again until creamy.  I found this easier to accomplish by adding a little of the cream.

3.  Beat in the chocolate, cream and vanilla, then continue beating until the icing begins to lighten in colour.

4.  Use the icing right away.  There’s lots of it for a two-layer cake, so don’t worry about slathering lots between the layers.

I like to serve it cold so the icing is a bit hard, but do as you wish!