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| Cupcakes With Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting |
1. Butter Cream with melted unsweetened chocolate added
2. Texas cake icing, made in a saucepan with cocoa for the chocolate flavor.
Perpetual efforts to avoid sugar/weight gain keep me from making cake very often, even to the point of usually buying birthday cakes from the store, but it was the evening before my husband's birthday and I had some complications to my day and didn't get out and shop, so I decided to make cupcakes with a french vanilla cake mix I had in the pantry. I didn't have a can of frosting because I don't like canned frosting, not even a little bit, and they don't put enough in the can to fully frost a cake, and frosting is easy to make and so much tastier, I would rather do my own.
However, I was out of unsweetened chocolate, and I wanted a butter cream texture to pile on to the cupcakes, so I looked for something I could make with chocolate chips, which I make sure to never run out of. (Is there a Chocoholics anonymous?) Even though I wasn't sure about a saucepan frosting being thick enough, I decided to take a chance on this recipe from the red and white 1981 Better Homes and Gardens cook book. It turned out fantastic!
When I make butter cream I often use yogurt in place of cream because I like the play of the sweetness and chocolate with the little bit of sour cream type taste the yogurt adds. This frosting has the same delicious combination of flavors.
This recipe says it frosts two 8 or 9 inch layers. It was perfect for 24 cupcakes, but I might increase it by a third for a layer cake. I will provide those variations since I did make the batch larger just in case and ended up having some left over. It was after midnight when I made it and only the late hour and my dedication to my weight loss coaching group kept me from sitting down with a spoon and eating the leftovers.... Hubby had to have one immediately-after all it had officially been his birthday for 20 whole minutes, and he seemed to like it OK....
Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting-original recipe
Frosting becomes stiffer when refrigerated
One 6 ounce package (1 cup) semisweet chocolate pieces.
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup dairy sour cream
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
In a sauce pan melt chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring frequently. Cool about 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream, vanilla, and salt. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating by hand till smooth and of spreading consistency. Store in refrigerator
Variations and Tips
To make a larger batch:
8 oz chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter (I don't use margarine-butter tastes and keeps better)
3/4 cup sour cream (My favorite sour cream is Tllamook natural, which has less additives)
3-3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, adding the extra gradually to get the texture you want.
-I was a little short on the sour cream and filled in with Plain Greek Yogurt. Yogurt will lower the fat content and Greek yogurt has less water in it, so it is closer to the texture of sour cream. You might be able to experiment with using all Greek yogurt in this recipe. I don't like most Greek yogurt and am not sure how different brands would affect the taste, so I recommend Tillamook brand which is much milder and more pleasant tasting.
-If you are cutting fat you cold also try using lower fat sour cream
-I used a two quart saucepan and beat in the sugar with a good wire whisk. You could put it all in a mixer, but that would make more dishes to wash. Hand whisking was easy and the frosting turned out perfect! Just be sure to get around the edges of the bottom of the pan so it is all mixed evenly. I'm sure you cold mix with a spoon too, but I think the whisk gets out lumps better and also you then have the frosting covered wires that need licking...
-I didn't sift the sugar and the wire whisk created a smooth, lump free texture with very little extra effort.
-I like to take a bowl or pan that needs that kind of stirring to my kitchen table because the height is more comfortable and the beating is more effective and efficient when the mixture is lower to my body than counter height, so my elbows aren't very bent, so experiment to see what height works best for you! I'd say the whole beating part took less than two minutes. I was able to make the frosting start to finish in about 15-20 minutes.
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