After several failed recipes, I cannot for the life of me find a recipe for a frosting/filling that turns out like the frosting that comes in a can (Duncan Hines). I'm talking sweet and fudgy ladies, steering away from the chocolate buttercream or ganache routes! The last recipe I tried involved getting sugar, water, and some other stuff to the soft ball stage, then letting it cool and beating with a wooden spoon. The mixture came out TOTALLY grainy. YUCK!


Thanks

This is probalby what you would consider a chocolate buttercream but I think it is very comperable to canned fudge icing. I think the key is all butter, no crisco and the dark cocoa. I have tried the Wilton recipe and never liked it much. If you can't find hershey's dark cocoa, I am sure any dark cocoa would work. It is almost black in color.

I have a cake in my photos made with it if you want to see the color. I also made a cake recently with half dark and half regular cocoa and it turned out really good too.

Hope that helps!

"Graininess" with sugar recipes is the result of crystallization, an error on the bakers behalf. It happens to the best of them.

If you did like the recipe I would try it again. Don't move the pan around or stir it too much when it's cooking. You can also brush the sides with a damp pastry brush.

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What chocolate are you using with your ganache? That can make a world of difference.

Im using Bakers unsweetened chocolate. I had my candy thermomoeter in there and it took forever to get to the soft ball stage. I'm pretty sure this recipe is the one I need to get the type of frosting i'm loking for. I bought a can of frosting yesterday and read the ingredient label. Its pretty much the same as the recipe: Water, sugar, cornsyrup, butter, unsweetened cocoa powder and evaporated milk. The frosting is very shiny, almost glassy looking, and dark. What other types of chocolate are there for me to use. Could I use semisweet?

I think my icing made with dutch process cocoa powder (same as special dark) and high ratio shortening give a close enough flavor AND consistency to canned frosting, only better

I have the recipe for you:

I think it was Mohara that posted it but it is in the Recipe Section on this site and I printed it up and I have made it dozens of times. Delicious and reminds me of a better can frosting. My husband will eat it straight from the bowl ~ no cake needed.

You can find a printer friendly version of this under recipes ~ just look it up by the following title.

Chocolate Syrup Frosting

Serves/Yields: frosts 24 cupcakes, generously
Prep. Time: 15-20 minutes
Cook Time:
Category: Frostings
Difficulty: Easy


This recipe is from the Cake Mix Doctor's Cupcake book. It is absolutely fabulous. It is smooth, rich and creamy. I was trying to find a delicious chocolate frosting and I was referred to this one. After I tried it, all I could say was "WOW!" This is the best chocolate frosting I have ever had!!! I can't say enough about it - it is sooo good!

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate syrup
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted (measure out 3 cups first and then sift)
1 tablespoon milk (whole or 2% preferred)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place the butter, cocoa powder, and chocolate syrup in a large mixing bowl. Blend on low speed until just combined. Add the sifted sugar, milk and vanilla and blend on low until the sugar is combined. Increase the mixer to medium-high speed and blend 1 minute longer, until smooth and spreadable. Add a little more milk or sugar if needed.

I don't know if one of the cake supply stores near you carries fudge supreme but it's really good. It's horrible by itself like as if you ate bitter chocolate but you take a spoonful (or as much as you want) and drop it in your mixer as you are making your regular bc and it makes it chocolate bc and it's sooooo good. And so easy too!

bjfranco~

Is this a "shiny" icing? I'm going to make a Valentine's cake for my husband who LOVES chocolate, but I want the icing to look shiny, not dull - silly, I know, lol!

Thanks,
Tracey

Yes, very shiny. Looks wet almost. Here's a pic of some swirls done with this recipe.

bj

Looks perfect! Thank you SO much!!!

Tracey

Your welcome. My husband saw me putting the pic up and he asked me to make a cake so I just made a double batch. I made the birthday cake recipe from The CMD CupCake Book. The one using a yellow butter cake mix and cream cheese. It called for this Choco. Syrup Frosting. Waiting for it to cool now. I have to say the cake came out perfectly flat on top and is cooling flat too. check out the pic!

bj

Beautiful! Do you measure how much batter you put in each pan? I always just eyeball it, but my cakes never come out flat!

Tracey

Measure?? What's that? I just eye ball it. Mine never come out flat ~ never. That's why I was so amazed at this recipe. Flat as a board and cooled that way too. I would bake every day all day long if each cake came out of the oven like this one. No carving off the top, no crumbs to deal with, no crispy edges. I slapped some frosting on in about 15 minutes and my husband ate a huge slab of it last night. It was delicious. This is my new yellow cake recipe. CMD called it Birthday Cake but it still was a yellow cake.

Strongly recommend this recipe / frosting combo.

bj

for those of us w/out the book to see the cake recipe:

any links to it?

could you post it?

thanks

It's from the CMD's Cupcake Book page 138:

The Best Birthday Cupcakes

24 paper liners for cupcakes
1 package (18.5 ounces) plain butter recipe golden cake mix
1 package (8 ounces) reduced fat cream cheese ~ she states to let the cream cheese come to room temperature.
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

She said to preheat oven to 350. I preheated to 325 and it took probably 45 minutes to cook (and it was moist)

Mix cake mix, cream cheese, sugar, water, oil, eggs and vanilla for 30 seconds on low. Scrape down sides. Mix on medium for 1/2 to 2 minutes mores.

She says that it will make between 22 & 24 cupcakes filling each cup with 1/4 cup batter. I made two 8" round cakes and they came out PERFECT.

She recommends the Chocolate Syrup Frosting which is above and also on this website under recipes. She also recommends a Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting but I have not made that one yet. She also said that this recipe was a pound-like cake. Did not find that at all. Very moist and light and fluffy ~ I also used regular cream cheese~ not the low fat because that is all I had on hand.

bj

I actually have a really good frosting recipe I got from my cousin.....

No-Cook Fudge Frosting

4- 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine powdered sugar and cocoa powder, add butter water and vanilla. Beat with electric mixer on low till combined. Beat for 1 min on med speed. Cool for 20-30 min or till mixture reaches spreading consistency.

This frosts the tops and sides of two 8 or 9 inch cake layers

I also have this recipe, also from my cousin, which is really yummy too

Truffle Frosting

1-1/2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup light-colored corn syrup
1 12-oz pkg (2 cups) semisweet choc chips
1 teaspoon vanilla

In heavy saucepan bring whipping cream and corn syrup to simmer. Remove from heat and mix in choc chips and vanilla. Let stand 2 min. Whisk until smooth and melted. Cover and chill about 1-1/2 hrs or till reaches spreading consistency, stirring occasionally. Beat with elec mixer till fluffy. This also frosts tops and sides of two 8 or 9 inch layers

Hope this helps!
Melissa

Thank you for all these recipes....I've been looking for a good chocolate icing recipe!