Mike's Special Spice Cake Frosting

 

 

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who has a relative or two who cooks mostly "by feel".  My dad is like this, and he has taught me a lot about cooking through the years.  I've been cooking on my own for a long (long) time now but I still sometimes call him to ask a question about something.

Today, I did that to ask him how he makes his special frosting that he only ever makes when he makes a spice cake.  I was inspired when I was digging around in the deep freezer and found a small apple spice cake that I had apparently baked and frozen a few months ago.  I have no memory of doing this, but there it was, wrapped up tight and labeled in my handwriting.  So, I thought I'd try my hand at my Dad's magic spice cake frosting for the first time in my adult life.

It's similar to a regular American buttercream, but it has a special texture and flavor due to some added ingredients.  Legend has it that this frosting was borne of necessity when Dad was making some frosting and realized he was short on powdered sugar.  He added some brown sugar to round it out, and then some cinnamon to match the spice cake flavors. The resulting frosting is reminiscent of a penuche, without the bother of cooking sugars.  The texture is a little crunchy because the brown sugar doesnt integrate as fully. This might bother some people, but it's actually my favorite part. It reminds me of the feeling of carefully biting into an M&M to break the shell and feeling the sugar crack apart in your mouth.  

Flavorwise, the frosting is sweet and full of cinnamon, with a hint of caramel.

It was like pulling teeth to get this "recipe" from Dad.  I'm using quotation marks here because I could only get him to give me a rough estimate of the quantities. Basically, he says to start with about a tablespoon or two of softened butter, and beat it together with a couple of cups of powdered sugar, a few tablespoons of brown sugar, and a generous tablespoon of cinnamon.  Then add a small amount of milk at a time until desired consistency is achieved.  I also added a pinch of salt and a splash of maple extract (vanilla would work here too).  

It's important to note here that I am physically incapable of putting together a cake that is simultaneously pretty and delicious.  The cake in these photos is definitely not beautiful (I dropped it while trying to cut it in half to turn into a layer cake!), but it sure did taste good with this spiced frosting.  I hope you enjoy my Dad's creation. I know I do!