This has been my go-to icing since I can remember making cakes. It may take some practice to make sure you don’t cook the egg yolks at the beginning, but I promise it is so worth it. And it doesn’t even take long to make! But the one extra step really adds volume and depth to the frosting, so I really recommend this. If you’re looking for a quicker chocolate frosting, try the Chocolate Ganache Frosting (coming soon) recipe, which only requires heavy cream and chocolate! And for a simple chocolate glaze, try the Simple Chocolate Icing.
Total time: 40 minutes (including cooling). Covers one 3-layer cake, or about two dozen cupcakes (depending on how much icing you like).
Materials: Small mixing bowl; electric beater; pot or double-boiler; whisk. Missing materials or ingredients? Look here.
Ingredients:
- ⅔ cup milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 stick butter
- 10 oz chocolate*
*I think of this like it depends on the cake. If I want deep chocolate icing, I use 8 oz bittersweet/2oz unsweetened. If I want lighter chocolate, I use 6oz milk chocolate/6oz bittersweet. If I want milk chocolate, I use 10 oz milk chocolate. If I want white chocolate, I use all white chocolate. Etc.
Instructions:
- On the stove in a pot (if you reeeeally pay attention, under very low heat) or in a double boiler, whisk together the milk, egg yolks, flour, and ⅓ cups of confectioners sugar. Whisk until the mixture thickens, but no further. Then quickly transfer into a cool bowl and beat with an electric beater.
- Add the remaining confectioners sugar, the vanilla, and ½ stick of butter. Continue beating to help the custard mixture cool.
- Melt the remaining ½ stick of butter with the chocolates to a smooth consistency. I do this in the microwave in 30-second increments until there are a few chunks left that melt as I stir.
- Add the chocolate to the cooled custard and beat for a minute or so. Then transfer the frosting to the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Remove the frosting from the fridge and beat again. Continue cooling and beating until you have the desired spreading consistency.
- Frosting can be spread onto cake immediately or refrigerated. If refrigerating, it may have to warm a bit to soften so you can give it another quick whip right before spreading.