Chocolate Fudge Icing
Just as the candyknown as fudge was cooked slowly on the stove, a cake icing based on fudge wascooked much the same way before it was spread warm onto cake. Thisold-fashioned recipe was a simple way of using pantry staples in the daysbefore tubs of premade frosting. This was my mother’s recipe. She got it from agood friend named Dot Wallman. As children my sisters and I were drawn to thedelicious scent of this chocolate icing cooking on the stove.
Ingredients
Makes: 2 To 2 ½ Cups; Enough To Frost The Center And Top Of A 2-Layer Cake And Let Frosting Run Partially Down The Sides, Or Spoon Over 20 To 24 Cupcakes, Or A 13″ × 9″ Cake
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup 1 stick lightly salted butter
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the sugar, cocoa, milk, butter, and salt in a medium-size heavy saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth, 2 to 3 minutes.
- When the mixture comes to a full and rapid boil, start timing it.
- This needs to boil for 2 minutes, while you are gently stirring but not scraping the sides of the pan.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Let the pan cool for 15 minutes.
- Place the saucepan in a large bowl with ice and beat with a wooden spoon for several minutes or until thickened enough to spread.
- Or pour the icing into a heatproof bowl and place the bowl in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes so it cools and thickens.
- Remove the bowl from the refrigerator, and stir with the wooden spoon until smooth.
- Frost the center and top of a layer cake.
- If the frosting cools too quickly, reheat it gently in the microwave or on the top of the stove until it has reached spreading consistency.