Butter Love

Is there anything more sensuous than watching a buttercream come together in your mixing bowl? If there is I haven’t seen it. First it’s the yolks mingling and mingling…then the hot sugar syrup in a steady stream…followed by glistening chunks of room-temperature butter, one after another after another, until the mass suddenly unites in a bursting, silken crescendo!

Oh my, I’m all a-twitter…

Adding melted chocolate at this point is almost a sin. But then chocolate has never really been my thing frosting-wise (fruit and nut flavors are a far better match to sweet butter in my book). But if the chocolate is really good, all the extra cocoa butter will give the buttercream an even more luxurious luster, and that’s a nice thing for the presentation. Anyway, the wife, daughter and birthday party revelers will surely love it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to grab my spatula and assemble the cake. Icing cakes is something I prefer to do in private.