If you need enough frosting for top and sides of a layer cake, this recipe can be doubled. But the quantity in this brown sugar frosting recipe is perfect for a tube pan cake such as Brown Sugar Pound Cake. Actually there should be plenty of frosting leftover to munch on or share with your kids.
Notice that you really have to have a hand mixer for this recipe, because you are beating the ingredients inside the saucepan as it cooks. You’ll see it all coming together in the saucepan, and it’s beautiful.
Description
%% Pour some sugar on me! %%
Ingredients
- 1 pound light brown sugar (16-ounce package or about 2-1/4 cups plus 2 teaspoons
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 1 5-ounce can of evaporated milk
- dash of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a heavy saucepan, bring to a boil the brown sugar, butter, milk and salt, stirring frequently (see Note, below). Once you have a full, rolling boil, cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in the baking powder and vanilla.
- Beat, right in the saucepan, with a portable electric mixer, for 6 or 7 minutes, or until frosting begins to thicken.
- Working quickly, drizzle the frosting over the cake.
- Makes about 2-1/2 cups.
Notes
This frosting recipe presents the cooking issue regarding sugar crystals forming on the side of the pan, playing potential havoc with the icing. You must scrape the sides of the pan so that all the sugar is dissolved. An old cook’s trick is to clamp a tight-fitting lid on the pan for about 20 seconds (after the mixture gets hot, but before it boils) to “wash down” the crystals. Or, you can butter the sides of the pan so the sugar crystals cannot cling to it. This works with candy making, too.
Kitchen Tools You’ll Need
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