Making the Frosting

Vanilla Frosting

Frosting is a key element to cupcakes and other baked good like cupcakes. I am most comfortable using store bought frosting, one reason because its much easier than whipping some up. But on my journey through the baking world, I have realized how important frosting really is, so I decided to use a recipe and make some homemade frosting. The recipe, on the side bar of page 210 in the book "The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book, the Essential Recipe Collection for Today's Home Baker", requires:

• 1 cup of milk
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I whisked the milk into the flour in a small bowl until it turned smooth, so that it'll thicken. While I was doing this, I missed a key step. "Heat and stir until it boils and thickens" (210). Because of this, my frosting did not turn out as intended, but I continued on. I beat the butter and added in the milk mixture and continued to beat it in. This is when my mistake is clearly represented. I was not able to reach my goal and my outcome showed it. Because the milk was not mixing in with the butter mixture, I drained it and added 6 tbsp of flour and sugar, and managed to get it to stick together. 


In the end, I learned that patience and attention is a key factor in baking, because of the severe consequences it could lead to if you miss a single step. 

Have you ever missed a step while cooking and ended up with a bad outcome? What approach did you take to solve it, or did you start over?