Enjoy the eye-rolling deliciousness that only real butter can bring to icing! Vegan and cream cheese options are available at the bottom of the recipe.
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 layer cake
Source: My momma
Ingredients:
- 3 Sticks salted real butter (at room temperature)
- 1 lb powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla, or whatever flavor you'd like, lemon, etc. (do NOT use imitation flavoring of any kind. Cakes/cupcakes are special things that you do not make often. Don't be cheap with special things.) The flavoring is actually optional, so if you have a but
- 1 Tbsp milk or half and half
Steps:
- Start off by beating the soft butter with your mixer until it is really creamy.
- Sift in 1/2 pound of sugar, little by little, beating it in in small doses.
- Mix in the vanilla and milk If you want a colored icing, drip in a few drops of the desired color here too.
- Taste it. It's good, right? Yes, but right now it has too much butter and not enough sugar. Sift in remaining powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, tasting after each 1/2 cup is added. When it reaches the texture and taste that you like, stop adding the sugar. you will probably not use the whole pound, unless you really have a sweet tooth! More like 1/2- 3/4 of it.
- Ice your cake when it is truly cool. Maybe pop into your fridge for a few minutes to get it really cool (you can also stick your icing in the fridge for a bit before you ice with it to make it firmer if it seems too soft).
TIP: If you want a cream cheese icing, replace one stick of butter with room temp cream cheese, an 8 ounce brick.
I think, for vegans ONLY, you could use 1.5 cups of Earth Balance and almond or soy milk. Maybe a little more vanilla flavor in that case, but be careful, most genuine extracts are made with booze (the technical term), so if you use too much, you will taste only the alcohol. Add in little dribs at a time. I salute you for your dedication to animals. For the rest of you, I don't care about your cholesterol or your weight, honey. You use butter like I told you, and you make some heaven on earth. And if you don't, I'll know!
