Burnt Sugar Icing
Enjoy these 'old time' burnt sugar icing recipes. Just be careful of the heat - I would stay on low heat especially for step one - use a good pan and take it off the fire a minute or so before it turns light brown,as the residual heat in the pan will finish the cooking.
Burnt Sugar Icing #1
INGREDIENTS
* 2 cups white sugar
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1/4 cup boiling water
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
1. Over a low heat, pour 1/2 cup sugar into a heavy pan. Stir constantly
with a wooden spoon for 8 to 10 minutes; or until it is caramelized (light
brown colored).
2. Pour the boiling water into the caramelized sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the butter, milk, salt and remaining sugar. Boil the mixture until it reaches soft ball stage, approximately 236 degrees F (115 degrees C). Cool the mixture to room temperature. When the mixture has cooled, stir in the vanilla extract.
3. With an electric mixer, beat the mixture until it is thick and creamy. Spread on cake.
Burnt Sugar Cake
Hi, Rita--I must've missed your "first" mention of burnt sugar frosting, but I have one, plus the cake (which was my favorite), from my mother's wedding present cookbook.
She was married in l924, so I think the cookbook was the Boston Cookbook (?). The recipe sounds a little old-fashioned as I typed it directly from the clipping in her cookbook.
BURNT SUGAR CAKE
l/2 cupful of shortening
l l/2 cupfuls of sugar
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cupful of milk
2 cupfuls of cake flour
l/4 cupful burnt sugar sirup
l t vanilla
l/2 cupful of flour
2 l/2 teaspoonfuls of any baking powder
l/4 teaspoonful of salt
Cream the shortening and sugar together. Add the beaten eggs and mix until smooth. Add the milk or water alternately with the flour. Add the burnt sugar and vanilla, then the l/2 cupful of flour sifted with the baking powder and salt.
Bake in 2 layers or in a shallow loaf pan in a moderate oven (350 to 375 degrees) for 30 minutes. Cool and frost. (to burn the sugar, put l/4 cupful of sugar in an iron skillet, over a slow fire. Stir constantly until the sugar is melted and deep-amber in color.) Add l/4 cupful of boiling water and cook to a thin sirup.
BURNT SUGAR FROSTING #2
Sugar, l cup
Water, 2 tablespoons
Egg whites, 2
Browned sugar sirup, 2 tablespoons (saved from cake)
Salt, l/8 teaspoon
Vanilla, l/2 teaspoon
Combine sugar, water, egg whites, sirup and salt in top of double boiler. Place over boiling water and beat constantly with rotary beater or electric mixer for 7 minutes until frosting is thick enough to stand in peaks. Remove from boiling water, add vanilla and continue beating until frosting is thick enough to spread.
Burnt Sugar Frosting #3 - From Reader Amy Veil
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C boiling water
1 C butter, softened
2 egg yolks
4 C powdered sugar
Spread sugar in large, heavy skillet. Heat very slowly until sugar melts and starts to turn a deep golden color. Add boiling water SLOWLY, stirring constantly. Continue heating until melted sugar dissolves completely in the water. Boil syrup rapidly until only 3/4 C remains. (This is usually at about the same time that the sugar is completely dissolved.) Cool completely.
Beat butter until smooth. Add egg yolks and blend well. Add syrup alternately with powdered sugar to the butter mixture. Beat until smooth. This recipe is very sweet and we like it best on top of a Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake.
