Hold up, I'm about to whisper some blasphemy for people in the baking world... I am not a fan of frosting. ... Have you had your moment to digest that? Alright, hear me out, I just don't like things too sweet. I feel like a cake or cupcake should be flavorful and delicious enough to not need a heaping load of frosting on top. BUT! There is something to be said about being able to decorate your baked goodies with deliciously light and fluffy frosting. So thanks for hearing me out on this frosting debate.
I recently made a pumpkin spice cupcake for my coworkers in celebration of Halloween. It was delicious, but I wanted something photo-worthy. So I swung by Target and grabbed these little edible Halloween themed knives. They were adorable. But I couldn't decide on what frosting to top it off with for the decorations. I really didn't want a heavy cream cheese frosting. They were mini-cupcakes and with the amount of frosting I'd need to hold the knives in place, it be like eating a loaded dessert bagel. And I was too lazy to bain-marie (double boil) for any of European buttercreams. Alas! I found a whipped brown sugar frosting that I Heart Eating invented. Delicious! I did place the frosting in piping bags in the fridge prior to frosting them because it was a little too soft and melted for my frosting desires. Definitely would recommend having the frosting cool in the fridge while your cupcakes are cooling. But seriously, ready yourselves for light, sweet, clouds of brown sugar deliciousness!
INGREDIENTS:
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups salted butter (at cool room temperature)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar (packed)
Dash of salt
INSTRUCTIONS:
In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It will be the consistency of a thick paste.
Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
Stir vanilla into the cooled milk mixture.
While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter, sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy on medium high, about 3 minutes.
Then add the completely cooled milk mixture into the butter mixture.
Beat it for about 5 minutes on medium-high to high until it looks like whipped cream. If you can still taste the sugar granules, keep beating it until all those sugar granules disappear.
Allow to cool prior to frosting.