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Chocolate Frosting III
2 squares chocolate 1 teaspoon butter 5 tablespoons hot water Confectioners' sugar 1/4 teaspoon vanilla Melt chocolate over boiling water, add butter and hot water. Cool, and add sugar to make of right consistency to spread. Flavor with vanilla.
A quick uncooked chocolate glaze: melted chocolate loosened with hot water, then stiffened with confectioners' sugar to whatever thickness you want. The one thing that matters is letting the chocolate mixture cool before the sugar goes in.
- "2 squares chocolate"A square is one ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate, so 2 oz total. Since all the sweetness here comes from the confectioners' sugar, unsweetened is what the recipe assumes; semisweet will give a thinner, much sweeter result.
- How much sugarThe original deliberately leaves it open. Expect roughly 1 1/2 to 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar for 2 oz chocolate and 5 tablespoons water. Add it in half-cup increments and stop when the frosting mounds on the spoon but still falls smoothly.
- Cool it firstThe recipe is explicit: cool the chocolate-butter-water mixture before the sugar goes in. Added hot, the mixture is looser and will swallow more sugar before it reaches spreading consistency. Let it come down to barely warm, then beat the sugar in.
- Melting"Over boiling water" means a double boiler or a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, off direct heat. Keep water out of the chocolate itself until you add the measured hot water, and stir it in briskly so the mixture comes back together smooth rather than seizing.
- Sift the sugarBoxed confectioners' sugar packs and lumps. Sifting is the difference between a glossy frosting and a gritty one, since only the small amount of hot water is available to dissolve the crystals.
- YieldRoughly enough to cover the top, and probably the sides, of one 8- or 9-inch layer, or the top of a sheet cake baked in a 9x13 pan. Double it if you want to fill and frost a two-layer cake.
- Working timeThis sets as it dries rather than by cooking, so spread it while it is still soft and level it quickly. If it stiffens in the bowl, beat in hot water half a teaspoon at a time.