Whipped ganache is good for chocolate. Pour warm cream over chopped chocolate and let it melt and stir. Once it’s cooled, get your hand mixer and whip the heck out of it.

I don’t love American buttercream (butter, powdered sugar, flavoring) and prefer a Swiss buttercream, but that is a pain in the neck to make.

Anonymous wrote:If you’re doing a buttercream, you can use either butter or Crisco. What I do is mix 1 stick with 1 tsp to 1 tbsp of extract and 3 tbsp of water at high speed for a few minutes until it’s whipped together. Then I slowly add 1-2 lbs of confectioner’s sugar depending how much frosting I need. I add water a tsp at a time as needed to get it to the consistency that I want - which depends on how I’m decorating the cake. Once it’s at the right consistency I beat it for about five minutes.

1-2 lbs?!?

Op, are you sure your kids won't eat cream cheese frosting? It's just so much better.

Here are my go to recipes for birthday cakes and cupcakes.

Recipe for Frosting

Chocolate:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 c. Powdered Cocoa
3 c. Powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter till light and fluffy. In separate bowl sift and mix sugar and cocoa. Blend into butter, alternating with milk, beating well after each addition. Blend until smooth and blend in vanilla. Beat heavily until color lightens.

Vanilla Frosting:
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbl whipping cream

Beat butter and sugar 3 min. Add vanilla and cream and beat 1 more minute.

Anonymous wrote:3 to 1 ratio of cream cheese to butter. Powdered sugar and cocoa powder to taste. Not as sweet as buttercream and more stable.

OP specifically said not cream cheese.
Anyone can make a cream cheese / buttercream frosting.

I hate buttercream as well. And chocolate buttercream- no matter what I try it's not as chocolate fudgy as the chemical stuff you can buy.

I think there is a real gap in homemade frostings out there. It may be that we have swerved away from crisco. I remember the old lady cakes I ate in the 80s and I'm positive they had crisco.

I agree with PP that you really need a stabilized version that you boil, or a meringue with egg whites, etc. I have a betty crocker one I can post.

But there is a huge gap in NON Buttercream frostings that we can make at home that taste great!

Great thread OP

3 to 1 ratio of cream cheese to butter. Powdered sugar and cocoa powder to taste. Not as sweet as buttercream and more stable.

Melt 12 oz semisweet chocolate and let it cool
Beat 2 sticks unsalted butter with 1/2 a cup of powdered sugar and a pinch of salt for five minutes
Add the cooled chocolate and mix for 1 to two minutes.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Agree re: buttercream. I just can’t like it very much but I think that’s what the rest of the family wants. Hard icing might be more my speed but how does it work on cakes?

What do you mean by “hard icing”? Fondant? A glaze-type that you pour over that then hardens? Some boiled frostings can harden quite effectively as well. If you’re not sure yourself, share a picture or name a cake that has the kind of icing you mean and we can figure it out from there, working backward.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Agree re: buttercream. I just can’t like it very much but I think that’s what the rest of the family wants. Hard icing might be more my speed but how does it work on cakes?

Hard icing only works on like bundt or pound cakes.

Use a whipped cream version instead of buttercream

Anonymous wrote:What kind? Personally, I think buttercream frosting is gross, but I really like stabilized, home-made, flavored, whipped cream as a filling and frosting, and various types of hard icing.

+1

If you’re doing a buttercream, you can use either butter or Crisco. What I do is mix 1 stick with 1 tsp to 1 tbsp of extract and 3 tbsp of water at high speed for a few minutes until it’s whipped together. Then I slowly add 1-2 lbs of confectioner’s sugar depending how much frosting I need. I add water a tsp at a time as needed to get it to the consistency that I want - which depends on how I’m decorating the cake. Once it’s at the right consistency I beat it for about five minutes.

I don't really like buttercream but I had coolwhip frosting at a birthday party recently and liked it.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/8465/cool-whipped-frosting/

OP here. Agree re: buttercream. I just can’t like it very much but I think that’s what the rest of the family wants. Hard icing might be more my speed but how does it work on cakes?

What kind? Personally, I think buttercream frosting is gross, but I really like stabilized, home-made, flavored, whipped cream as a filling and frosting, and various types of hard icing.

I posted a few months back about meatballs. I was having trouble making them how I wanted and you guys came to the rescue with some solid recipes.

Now, frosting. I’ve made frosting in a variety of different ways and just haven’t hit on something that really works. Also, making frosting annoys me for some reason but going to the store annoys me more so I’d much rather make it.

If you have a good frosting technique, vanilla and chocolate, please share. No cream cheese frosting. The kids can’t with that.