Recipe "Doctoring"

[skylightsky]

The following recipe is from Epicurous.com It is wonderful, but doesn't hold up very well. It is too soft. If any of you have an idea of how to make it thicker or hold up and not melting, I would greatly appreciate the suggestions.

When I made this, the consistency was hard to pipe a basketweave, and was mushy a little. Technical word there, mushy. Surely you know what I mean. It will not hold peaks in piping, it isn't very firm. Adding more cream cheese, or adding more chocolate really doesn't seem to help. I've done both.

Curious, if I wanted a buttercream or frosting to be smoother, I would add glycerin, what do I put it to take OUT moisuture? Not cornstarch or arrowroot? What would help here? Also, I have made it WITHOUT the Cointreau (so that eliminated 1 cup of liquid.... still no help.)

Thanks.

........
36 ounces good-quality white chocolate (such as Baker's or Lindt,),
chopped
5 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups (6 sticks)unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur

Stir 18 ounces white chocolate in top of double boiler set over barely simmering water until melted and smooth (do not let top pan touch water). Remove from over water; cool to barely lukewarm. Using electric mixer, beat 2 1/2 packages cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add melted white chocolate, beating to blend well. Add 1/2 cup liqueur in 4 additions, beating to blend after each. Reserve remaining ingredients for second batch of frosting.

Other Comments about this can be found at
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/re...ews/views/2985
and
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/re...ews/views/2248

[panini]

to tighten just chill it a little the butter will set it. I might use Grand Manier

[Erik]

I'd make sure you were beating the cream cheese at a lower speed. Cream cheese likes to break down a bit if you beat it too hard.

[skylightsky]

Cooling the frosting provides only temporary solution.

This is a recipe that simply doesn't like to be left out of the refridgerator. I thought some professionals might have an idea to modify the ingredients to aid in a solution.

Here are some other comments. I am not the only one who has attempted to use temperature (putting it back in the fridge, keeping hands in ice cold water, etc.) or reduction of liquid (leaving out the Contreau, etc.) as a solution. The recipe tastes great but needs "fixin'" It must be able to be left out of the refridgerator and not begin to "melt."

( frankiedemarco@hotmail.com ) from Boston, MA on 06/27/03

mmm. i adore white chocolate. For the cream cheese I substituted 16 oz of it with strawberry cream cheese. Definitely I agree with others that it's not as easy to spread as other icings. The consistency is just very thin. Chilling slightly fixes that.

A Cook from Topeka, KS on 06/25/02

This is a good frosting. I agree with the previous reviewer, it has to be chill for a while before using in a pastry bag.

Stephen from Sacramento on 06/11/02

Piping was a problem the first time out. I very finely chopped the cool white chocolate with a food processor before melting it the second try, and used room-temperature cream cheese. I whipped until very smooth. It then needs to either be cooled to appropriate consistency - which can take a while; or you could let it completely cool in the refrigerator, then bring it up to spreading/piping consistency. The taste is clearly worth the trouble! I give this 4 forks for taste, because the directions don't yield a good consistency.


Psears from Memphis, TN on 04/26/02

Was prepared for the frosting to be a little less than perfect, but thought, oh maybe the others didn't really follow the recipe, or they were in a hurry, or used too much liquor. Well, am here to say the texture came to about like "Cool Whip". The Cake, the Ganache attached to this recipe are all great forks in rating. Made the cake last night, as well as the ganache. It is holding up GREAT! Made two different bataches of frosting: One with by the Recipe, another with less liquid and more chocolate, cream cheese, and butter. Will let you know how everyone likes it.


A Cook from Brooklyn, NY on 04/25/02

Such an easy icing. I didn't bother with piping because I wanted to decorate the cake by adding things to the icing (flowers, etc.) It is quite rich. I used the orange oil and received compliments on the flavor of the icing.


A Cook from Seattle, WA on 11/22/99

This frosting was difficult for me to pipe on the cake. Make certain that it is perfectly smooooth before spreading. It is tricky, I had a problem because the frosting clumped up. Very messy, I was trying to decorate my own cake until 2am the night before my wedding. It was a glorious cake in the end.


Cathy from Fairport, NY on 07/27/99

This was an easy recipe to prepare and tastes delicious. It received many praises as not being sugary sweet. It does however not like to be left out while decorating, takes a long time to chill to work in a pastry bag.

[cakerookie]

Go to www.kraftfoods.com and type in icings there is a cream cheese icing there that works great and will withstand the heat. I would post it here but I forgot the recipe. I have used it many times and got rave reviews by people who have tried it. Have left it out as long as 4 hours with no ill effects what so ever.

Best Regards Cakerookie...aka Rook

Oh, one more thing you might try adding about a 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar to the recipe. Just a thought since you seem to be having humidity issues with it. The cream of Tartar will act has a moisture inhibitor its also used in some recipes has a leavening agent....

[skylightsky]

Confectioners sugar.

Of course... :-)


Thank you Cakerookie. :-)

Even they continue to have "challenges" with the frosting posted there.... but I will add the confectioner sugar.

some of their comments on the Kraft Site include..

5/23/2006
If you decorate cakes, this was a difficult icing to work with. It was good, but I could barely taste the white chocolate.


supergirl44 on 5/8/2006
The frosting was very light, almost transparent. It did not look like the picture at all. I reccomend using maybe just a white store bought frosting and adding white chocolate chips like I did. Overall....the cake was great!! Thank you!!

[cakerookie]

You should not judge the recipe on what others say.What happens when you make it is what counts. You nave to remember that cooking under normal home conditions is one thing but a controlled enviroment with professional recipe testing is another thing. Testers have to follow the recipe to the letter, they cannot add, take away or substitue any ingredient without justifiable cause and if they do they have to explain their reasons in detail as to why they did it. So when you make a recipe follow it as closely as possible if it won't work as written note why in detail in a notebook and then you will have a reference next time you make it.

[skylightsky]

Thank you Cakerookie,

I'll keep that notation. That sounds like a journal I should keep. What a great idea. THanks!@

[ruben]

i often have had trouble with things being too runny or soft thank god for viagra.
but seriously try melting 1 or 2 tablets of gelatin with the cointreau this will help you set up the recipe. yes soften them first in water let me know how it works

[momoreg]

If you add another pound of butter to the recipe, and about 6-10 oz. less white chocolate, things should firm up a bit. If you choose to add confectioner's sugar, add it slowly, and taste it frquently, or you may find it too sweet.

Make sure the butter that you use is not so soft that it's runny, and your icing will be ready to use as soon as it's mixed.

Also, cream of tartar won't help you in this case (sorry rook), but it does help when boiling sugar.