The following recipe is from Epicurous.com It is wonderful, but doesn't hold up very well. It is too soft. If any of you have an idea of how to make it thicker or hold up and not melting, I would greatly appreciate the suggestions.
When I made this, the consistency was hard to pipe a basketweave, and was mushy a little. Technical word there, mushy. Surely you know what I mean. It will not hold peaks in piping, it isn't very firm. Adding more cream cheese, or adding more chocolate really doesn't seem to help. I've done both.
Curious, if I wanted a buttercream or frosting to be smoother, I would add glycerin, what do I put in it to take OUT moisuture? Not cornstarch or arrowroot? What would help here? Also, I have made it WITHOUT the Cointreau (so that eliminated 1 cup of liquid.... still no help.)
Thanks.
........
36 ounces good-quality white chocolate (such as Baker's or Lindt,),
chopped
5 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups (6 sticks)unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur
Stir 18 ounces white chocolate in top of double boiler set over barely simmering water until melted and smooth (do not let top pan touch water). Remove from over water; cool to barely lukewarm. Using electric mixer, beat 2 1/2 packages cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add melted white chocolate, beating to blend well. Add 1/2 cup liqueur in 4 additions, beating to blend after each. Reserve remaining ingredients for second batch of frosting.
Other Comments about this can be found at
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/re...ews/views/2985
and
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/re...ews/views/2248
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I have never tried a recipe like this. All I can really offer for advise is to thorouly chill the icing before trying to pip it, keep an ice pack at your side for "hot hands" and use an aluminum pan that has been in the freezer for a while as a cooler. I have heard on here to make up 2 bags and use one till it starts to soften then stash it into the fridge. Give that a try and see. Otherwise, I can't help. Sorry.
skylightsky,
from looking at the recipe, it looks like the 1 cup cointreau is what's making your frosting so liquidy. If you want an orange flavor, I would either take out the liqueur completely, and replace with orange zest and orange oil, or add in about 3-4 Tbsp with orange zest and oil. 1 cup seems like a lot. I couldn't read the comments from Epicurious because the links don't work. I think that would help. Also, I think adding the melted chocolate at the coolest temperature possible will also keep it thick, since it'll melt less cream cheese. hopefully that helps...sounds like a great recipe.
Ami
mendhigurl,
Thank you for your suggestions. I actually made the recipe once using NO liquid... no liquer at all, so the consistency is still a problem even with no added liquid.
The problem isn't so much the piping as it is that the stuff just MELTS.
I mean it melts like BUTTER...
Yes, I have put the bags in the refrigerator, kept my hands as cold as ice, the whole works... come on there HAS to be a way to give this wonderful icing some strength! The taste is quite wonderful.
Here are the comments in case the links don't work for everyone...
( [email protected] ) from Boston, MA on 06/27/03
mmm. i adore white chocolate. For the cream cheese I substituted 16 oz of it with strawberry cream cheese. Definitely I agree with others that it's not as easy to spread as other icings. The consistency is just very thin. Chilling slightly fixes that.
A Cook from Topeka, KS on 06/25/02
This is a good frosting. I agree with the previous reviewer, it has to be chill for a while before using in a pastry bag.
Stephen from Sacramento on 06/11/02
Piping was a problem the first time out. I very finely chopped the cool white chocolate with a food processor before melting it the second try, and used room-temperature cream cheese. I whipped until very smooth. It then needs to either be cooled to appropriate consistency - which can take a while; or you could let it completely cool in the refrigerator, then bring it up to spreading/piping consistency. The taste is clearly worth the trouble! I give this 4 forks for taste, because the directions don't yield a good consistency.
Another User on 04/26/02
Was prepared for the frosting to be a little less than perfect, but thought, oh maybe the others didn't really follow the recipe, or they were in a hurry, or used too much liquor. Well, am here to say the texture came to about like "Cool Whip". The Cake, the Ganache attached to this recipe are all great forks in rating. Made the cake last night, as well as the ganache. It is holding up GREAT! Made two different bataches of frosting: One with by the Recipe, another with less liquid and more chocolate, cream cheese, and butter. Will let you know how everyone likes it.
A Cook from Brooklyn, NY on 04/25/02
Such an easy icing. I didn't bother with piping because I wanted to decorate the cake by adding things to the icing (flowers, etc.) It is quite rich. I used the orange oil and received compliments on the flavor of the icing.
A Cook from Seattle, WA on 11/22/99
This frosting was difficult for me to pipe on the cake. Make certain that it is perfectly smooooth before spreading. It is tricky, I had a problem because the frosting clumped up. Very messy, I was trying to decorate my own cake until 2am the night before my wedding. It was a glorious cake in the end.
Cathy from Fairport, NY on 07/27/99
This was an easy recipe to prepare and tastes delicious. It received many praises as not being sugary sweet. It does however not like to be left out while decorating, takes a long time to chill to work in a pastry bag.
that's really interesting, beacuse after reading the comments, it looks like everyone has a problem with it after using a pastry bag. Let me look this over again at work, and maybe I can help you out a little more.
~Ami
I was also told to try out KRAFT.com
Their White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting had some problems too.
HOWEVER, Kraft include confectioner's sugar in their recipe.
I think I'll add a cup of confectioner's sugar about 1/3 cup at a time to see what occurs.
Here are some of the comments from Kraft (Their results were a challenge as well.)
5/23/2006
If you decorate cakes, this was a difficult icing to work with. It was good, but I could barely taste the white chocolate.
supergirl44 on 5/8/2006
The frosting was very light, almost transparent. It did not look like the picture at all. I reccomend using maybe just a white store bought frosting and adding white chocolate chips like I did. Overall....the cake was great!! Thank you!!
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