BattinburgCakes.com

BattinburgCakes.com

We launched our desserts website today (www.BattinburgCakes.com) and received our first online order!!!  We have been baking and catering for about 8 years now…and decided it was time.

Getting my arms around all of the busyness of this online world is quite hectic to be sure!  It’s very time consuming to figure out tags and how to attach pictures and videos…the prodigy of course has already got it all nailed…who do you think built the website??? How did prodigy today get so incredibly computer savvy?  Didn’t our generation invent computers?  I know I didn’t invent them, but I did spend hours and hours playing pong and Dungeons and Dragons.  I remember when the first “floppy disks” came out…they were actually floppy.  They were the size of a half sheet of notebook paper and we spent so much time worried that we would crease them – because then our game was destroyed!  My first “hard” drive was REALLY EXPENSIVE and consisted of a whopping 10K of space…you read that right – not 10 mb – 10K of space.  That was HUGE back then – and it was hard, didn’t bend, and I felt so very secure because of it!! It was a very extravagant purchase (and I was quite the envy of all of my friends and roommates). Ah; the 1980s. Except for the hair (and the clothes and the music and the movies) – good times!

But I digress…

The goal of this blog is to work in conjunction with the new BattinburgCakes.com website so that I can share what I know, what I learn, and thank those other people who have been awesome enough to help me along my way.  Yes…I want to share with my prodigy (so they can race past me again, no doubt, and then beat me at my own game!!!), but mostly I want to share with you, my friends.

So share I shall…Evidently, a good baker never gives up her secret special recipe…it’s kind of like Coke not coughing up their ingredients list for Pepsi to steal – I don’t drink that stuff anymore, so it mattereth not whither Coke & Pepsi goeth.  As I pondered what to share first, prodigy and I decided to share one of our best secrets – THE MOST AWESOME BUTTERCREAM RECIPE EVER!!!

Okay – that’s not a completely true statement.  What this recipe makes isn’t really a “buttercream frosting” at all. Technically speaking, its an old-fashioned butter and confectioners’ sugar icing that’s been around for a loooonnngggg time…we just tweaked it a bit to make it work every time perfectly.  At any rate, we think this is the tastiest, creamiest frosting we have ever tasted.  We use it on many of our cakes and cupcakes.  It crusts well, pipes well, and holds it’s shape well…just not in high humidity or high heat. The only thing we don’t use this frosting for is to pipe figures…it’s just not quite stiff enough for that and to stiffen it would wreck it.  So, we enjoy it as it is.  One bit of advice when making this…to achieve the desired creamy texture…be absolutely sure that you beat the frosting for the amount of time called for in the recipe.

BattinburgCakes Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups 10XX sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cut the butter into chucks and place into a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the 10xx sugar; then add the milk and vanilla straight away. On medium speed with an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes each), until the icing is thick and has a spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the 10xx sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly.

This frosting will set if chilled (which is perfect if you have to ship it), so use it and store it at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Try it.  I know you will love it.

Oh…before I forget…please check out our website http://www.BattinburgCakes.com.  Like us; Twitter us (or whatever that’s called! I think “tweet” sounds stupid and I refuse to use it).  BattinburgCakes.com has a beautiful pictorial of our latest and greatest confections.  You can also find BattinburgCakes on Pinterest and Facebook, too.

Now…go forth, smear buttercream frosting on everything except the cat, enjoy the rest of your day and, as always,

Vicki