My Mama's Buttercream Icing
(circa 1950)
1 stick butter (room temperature)
1-1/2 cups Crisco TM shortening (High-Ratio wasn't available then but works well and makes a smoother icing.)
1 teaspoon clear vanilla
3 boxes 10X Powdered Sugar (Sugar now comes in plastic bags. A box held 1 pound or 4 cups so figure 12 cups confectioner sugar.)
1/2 to 3/4 cup of water to achieve consistency needed for your particular project
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Place room temperature butter and shortening in stand mixer and blend completely until soft and creamy. Use medium to low speed on your mixer. You don't want to beat a lot of air into the frosting. Add the vanilla. Sift and add confectioner sugar a little at a time. Mama would have done a box at a time, so I start with 4 cups at a time. Beat slowly so you don't have sugar dust all over your kitchen. Add 1/4 cup of water and continue to blend at low speed. Add 4 more cups of sifted confectioner sugar to the mixer and 1/4 cup water. Continue to blend at low speed. Add final 4 cups sifted confectioner sugar and blend. Add as much of the final 1/4 cup of water as needed for consistency. If icing a cake, you may want to add a little more water to make the thin consistency needed to ice cake. I find that it generally finishes at a medium consistency.
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This recipe makes a lot (5-6 cups) of icing. Mama decorated birthday, wedding and anniversary cakes and other special occasion cakes so she used a lot of icing. It stores nicely in the refrigerator and it can be frozen. Be sure to take it out of the refrigerator or freezer to allow ample time to come to room temperature. She always put it in the mixer for a few minutes to bring it back to life and to check the consistency.
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Best Sugar Cookie Ever from Angie's Southern Kitchen
2 sticks butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1/4 cup sour cream or heavy cream
3 tablespoon cornstarch
3 cups all purpose unbleached flour
In a standing mixer cream butter, sugar, salt and baking powder until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg beat well until blended. Add half the flour and cream mix in, then the rest of the cream and flour, mix until well incorporated. Divide into 2 round disk wrap and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Heat oven to 350. Roll cookies out on a floured surface. Bake cookies on a parchment paper lined baking dish. I roll the cookies rather thick I like them about 1/8 inch thick.
I bake the cookies for 10-14 minutes. Let cookies cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
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Icing
2 1/4 cups confection sugar ~ sifted
2 tablespoon light corn syrup
3 tablespoon whole milk
food color ~ I use powder or gel
In a large flat bowl mix until all the lumps are gone and well mixed. I let this sit a while to let the bubbles work their way to the top other wise you tend to get lots of bubbles in your icing later. Like 10 minutes. Make sure your bowl is large enough to dip your cookie in.
Dip cookie, let it drain, letting excess drip into icing bowl. I then place on a rack on a cookie sheet to cut down on the mess. I let these dry for at least one day other wise they will stick to one another. This one batch of cookies made all these. It did take 2 batches of the icing.
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** I have used Angie's Icing but more often than not, I use royal icing on my cookies. Her cookies are the best for iced cookies. They are strong and hold up well.
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Best Cake Mix Ever
1 Duncan Hines TM Cake Mix
1 box instant pudding mix
1 stick softened butter
4 eggs
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
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Combine the pudding mix and cake mix. Sift into a separate bowl. In mixing bowl beat butter on medium speed until light. Add oil and continue to beat on medium speed. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and then add one at a time to the butter and oil mixture. Add milk and vanilla. Combine until batter is smooth and even and at the consistency of pudding (about 2 minutes). Pour into the well greased pans of your choice and bake according to the directions on the box. Remove from oven to cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove carefully from pans to cool completely.
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*Makes a nice textured cake. The additional items stretch the cake mix to make two 8 inch layers or one good sized 9 x 13 cake. This recipe is not one I created. I found it on a number of websites but it is tried and true.
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**You can vary your flavors by combining different mixes- lemon cake mix with lemon pudding, yellow cake mix with vanilla or banana pudding, The flavors are up to the bakers creativity.
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Royal Icing
3 Tablespoons meringue powder
1 pound powdered sugar (approx. 4 cups)
5-6 Tablespoons lukewarm water
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First and foremost, keep all bowls and utensils grease free for proper icing consistency. Sift meringue powder and powdered sugar in mixing bowl. Add lukewarm water and beat on low speed until icing forms peaks, this takes 7-10 minutes with a stand mixer and 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand held mixer. For stiff icing start with 1 Tablespoon less water.
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My Wedding Cake (1980) created by my Mama
