We hope you enjoyed Part 1 of yesterday’s Rich Chocolate Cake recipe.  Today we will focus on our latest custom frosting recipe, Simple Vanilla Buttercream.  It’s a rich buttercream frosting which consists of three basic ingredients; powdered sugar, vanilla extract and butter.   Indeed this is the exact same recipe we used to coat our Rich Chocolate Cake.

Our original decorating plan was to replicate  Martha Stewart’s “Ruffled Ribbon” affect.  This technique is one of the most elegant and chic cake designs I have seen.  After I piped three stacks of ribbon frosting, I realized that our frosting was too soft.   It was only because we left our frosting out on the counter 35 minutes prior to piping.  We had to be at the restaurant within 45 minutes and had no time for nonsense.   If that wasn’t the case we would have popped it back in the refrigerator and everything would be hunky-dory.    We scraped off all the ruffled ribbons and decorated it using techniques we were more comfortable with.   If you decide to try this technique, we encourage you to watch this great tutorial on Your Tube by Sweet and Saucy Shop.

We  decorated our chocolate cake with our gorgeous soft pink tinted Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.  We achieved this shade of pink by using 5 drops of Americolor’s Soft Pink Gel Dye.  We piped atleast a dozen swirls around the border on top of the cake. We garnished the crevices between each ruffle with the same valrhona chocolate pearls we bought from Ginger Elizabeth’s Chocolates.    We decorated the sides of the cake with a triangular cake decorating comb.  We love how this cake turned out.  It reminded me of a sweet little girl’s birthday cake.

The frosting tasted fantastic.  All three flavors of the ingredients complimented one another.  The combination of  dense chocolate cake with Vanilla Buttercream was ever so rich and delightful.  It was a definite crowd pleaser.  Trust me, this will not be the last time we make this.

PS. Have we told you that we each have 2 pugs of our own?!   My parents have two pugs named Wrinkle & Elvis (pictured below).  My husband and I have 2 pugs named China Maria & Otis Meringue.  Have a fun Father’s Day weekend!

XOXO, Melissa & Nancy

BFFF’s Simple Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Yields enough frosting for 36 cupcakes / a generous portion to frost & decorate a whole cake

Ingredients:

3 cups of salted butter, at room temperature
11 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Using the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.

2. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla, mixing until incorporated. Whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.

You can store any unused buttercream in the refrigerator in an airtight container; let it come to room temperature and then give it a quick whip in the mixer before using.