Chocolate Frosting/icing?

[Mike Nolan]

What are your favorite chocolate frostings and icings?

I really like the fudge-like taste of the buttermilk chocolate frosting that goes on a Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake, but I don't think it goes as well with other types of cakes.

I have yet to find a recipe for chocolate frosting that tastes like the stuff they use in a donut shop.

I'm convinced (and so are several food historians) that the original icing that went on a Boston Cream Pie was a fairly stiff frosting made with confectioner's fondant (not the stuff used for decorating cakes), but these days everyone expects a poured on semi-sweet-to-bittersweet ganache on Boston Cream Pie.

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• This topic was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[LauraVA]

I had a reply typed out, went to check something, and somehow deleted whatever I'd typed here!...duh.

Anyway, the Boston Cream Pie I remember vividly from childhood, (one of my Dad's favorite desserts) was sponge cake, custard/pastry cream, and a fondant based chocolate icing, which set up thickly, almost stiff.

Here is a link to an article by Greg Patent, what he describes is exactly what I recall...:

http://www.thebakingwizard.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/BostonCreamPieByGregPatent.pdf

My personal favorite chocolate icings/frostings are whipped ganache, and what's sometimes termed 'German Buttercream', a flour roux based icing, butter/sugar/flavoring, and the roux, base is usually vanilla flavored, for chocolate I add a few ounces of melted dark or milk chocolate depending upon the cake base. It is very light, and mousse-like in texture.

[Mike Nolan]

I'd hate to guess the number times I've hit the wrong key and wiped out a post I was writing. I've taken to writing them in stages, saving them every paragraph or two. That's one of the reasons why I allow posts to be edited for several days.

I have exchanged several emails with Greg on the subject of Boston Cream Pie, he's one of the experts I was referring to. He and I also had a lengthy email discussion on Hawaiian white pineapple, which is, sadly, becoming hard to find, even in Hawaii.

Here's another good article on the history of Boston Cream Pie.

I've made my own confectioner's fondant several times, and a couple of years ago I made at least six Boston Cream Pies over a two month period to test various types of cakes, pastry creams and toppings. The fondant-topped ones actually got the poorest scores from my testers, I think it's because at least around here a thin ganache coating is what everyone expects.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[LauraVA]

I subscribe to Tori Avey, marvelous information. I really enjoy reading anything Patent writes about. I recall a BC discussion about this subject, and you were in the midst of working on several different versions of this lovely dessert. I was making one for my mother, at that point.

One of the weirdest requests we have had at the bakery, was for a 'double layer' Boston Cream Pie. Double everything, including the glaze.

I've made fondant, but not as a component for this icing, but as centers for chocolates. Pretty cool stuff, sugar is.

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