Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Adventure

I was too young to fully understand the dessert in my hand. This was decades ago, in early Before Times, when an aptly-named bakery called Patisserie used to occupy a prime spot on Main Street in my hometown. Sometimes, after elementary school let out, Mom and I would walk over.

My favorite dessert from the case was kind of insane: two meringue discs bonded together with rich chocolate buttercream, and then a coating of the same buttercream along the edge rolled in chocolate sprinkles. Oh, yes.

Patisserie is long gone, but that particular sweet stuck in my memory. Despite visiting bakeries all over, I’d never found anything exactly like that meringue concoction. Now, this girl is no stranger to chocolate buttercream. Yet none of it recalled that delightful dessert of yore until a serendipitous recipe tweak.

Deb Perelman’s cookbook “Smitten Kitchen Every Day” has a section called “the party cake builder,” where you can mix and match cake bases and frosting types. One is the 8-inch square “been too long since you’ve had cake cake.” Instead of making one of her buttery cake recipes, however, I opted for my fast and trusty chocolate wacky cake, which uses pantry ingredients and vegetable oil instead of butter or shortening. Less guilt about putting a stick of butter on top.

The first time I made Deb’s chocolate buttercream, boy oh boy was it spatula-licking good. Who cared that there was powdered sugar everywhere? After that, I did a wacky cake without the espresso powder, throwing in a tablespoon of amaretto instead. A little almond extract went into the frosting, too. Tasting that version of the buttercream, suddenly I was back in elementary school, biting into the sacred dessert. So that was Patisserie’s secret.

Not that this frosting was a breeze in the beginning. Failing to sift the powdered sugar gave it a gritty texture. I inadvertently generated powdered sugar clouds with the mixer. And chocolate quality matters. This was an annoying discovery since resources remain tight and many baking ingredients are still hard to find.

After using up the last piece of a Guittard baking chocolate bar bought on sale last year, I substituted cheap unsweetened baking chocolate. Guillaume said the frosting reminded him of cakes he’d had as a kid — and not in a good way. We had better luck with Ghirardelli bars, both unsweetened and a cacao percentage higher than 70%.

I know it seems weird to be fixated on frosting during the apocalyptic hellscape that is 2020. At the same time, the pandemic makes any reason for celebration feel that much more precious. You deserve a sweet reward for making it this far. We all do.

Chocolate Buttercream
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Makes enough to frost a single 8-inch square or 9-inch round cake

1 stick (8 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened
1½ C. (180g) powdered sugar
2 oz. (55g) unsweetened chocolate, best quality
Pinch of table salt
1 Tbsp. whole milk or half-and-half
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. almond extract

Note: This frosting can be made using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or an electric hand mixer. Have a clean, dry cloth kitchen towel or tea towel ready.

Melt the chocolate gently in a small glass mixing bowl set over a small pan with about a half-inch of simmering water. As soon as the chocolate is melted, use potholders to lift up the mixing bowl — carefully because the steam will be hot — and set it aside to cool slightly.

Make sure the butter is soft but not melted.

Ideally using a kitchen scale, sift the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl or the bowl for a stand mixer. Add the butter and salt to the bowl. Get the mixer ready and place the kitchen towel over the setup so that powdered sugar doesn’t fly everywhere.

Beat until it’s fluffy, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. There shouldn’t be any clumps or streaks left.

Pour in the warm chocolate, cream or milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Set a timer and beat the frosting for 1 minute or until it’s completely combined and a smooth texture. Uh, maybe you should taste some to make sure.

Once you’ve split the cake in half horizontally, use a spoon, regular spatula, or offset spatula to spread roughly half the buttercream evenly across the bottom layer. Place the top layer the cake over that. Spread the rest of the buttercream over the cake top, making nice swirls with the back of a spoon, if desired.

Refrigerate any leftover frosted cake. To serve again, remove the cake from the fridge and allow it to soften at room temperature for a little while first.