Vanilla Frosting Recipe

Vanilla Frosting Recipe

This recipe is a take on a Hummingbird bakery vanilla frosting, which I have adapted to get the best consistency. I have doubled the book's quantities and I use Sugarflair Claret.

Some people don't sieve their icing sugar as they believe that it doesn't make a difference. I tried this and it does! The finer the sugar (American's refer to it as confectioner's sugar)

The longer you whisk frosting, the fluffier it gets. I've invested in a good handheld mixer by Breville but i've burnt out three in my time! A larger mixer with paddle attachment will work well on high speed but remember to use a rubber spatula to encorporate all the butter from the base of the dish.

The recipe suggests unsalted butter. Some lightly salted butters are a suitable alternative, as you may have bought this for your cake recipe. The end result will not be bitter due to the ratio of sugar to butter. Always use room temperature butter and never margarine. Your frosting would be greasy and will not hold any shapes which you pipe.

Invest in a good bottle of Vanilla extract. I use extract instead of essence. This gives you a deeper flavour and is made from natural ingredients.

If you have made my chocolate cupcakes from my blog, you will have enough frosting from this recipe for these and enough to keep for emergencies. Do as Nigella does and keep it in the fridge for a sweet hit at nighttime, or freeze in an airtight container with cling film under the lid for up to a month. Defrost and re-whisk for a few minutes to get a perfect consistency.

500g Icing sugar, sifted.

160g butter, at room temperature (this is important)

50ml Whole milk (semi-skimmed works if that's all you have)

A couple of drops of vanilla extract

Put the icing sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl.
Use the back of a wooden spoon to work the sugar into the butter. This will take around five minutes.
Add the vanilla extract to the milk and add a few tablespoons to the icing sugar and butter mixture.
Once the mixture all comes together, use an electric whisk to get a smooth consistency.
If using supermarket bought colouring, add your food colouring now, before the rest of the milk mixture until you are happy with the colour. If using Sugarflair colour, add a small amount with the end of a toothpick until you are happy with the colour.
Add the milk mixture a splash at a time until it reaches a soft peak consistency, taking into account the amount of colouring you used. This will avoid a runny mixture.