Icing is Incredibly easy to make and once you make your own, you'll never go back to those pasty tubs that you find in the grocery store. Just try this Amazing Caramel Icing recipe and you will be a convert forever.
Amazing Caramel Icing
You'll need
1 stick butter
2 cups (packed) of brown sugar, light or dark.
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
a bag of powdered sugar
To make it:
1. In a heavy saucepan, melt the stick of butter.
2. Add the brown sugar, milk, and vanilla to the butter and mix well.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil over Medium High heat. Stir continuously while mixture is at a boil for 3 - 5 minutes (for those of you that are candy makers, you do not want to take the caramel to the soft ball stage, but just below it.)
4. Take caramel off of heat. Let it cool for a minute or so, it will be very hot. (Resist the temptation to lick the spoon unless you'd like to eradicate your taste buds).
5. In this stage I can't be incredibly exact. I generally start with 2 cups of powdered sugar and using a low hand mixer add it to the caramel. The mixture will be very runny, but remember, it's still hot. Give it around an hour to cool and check it again. I've had to add upwards or 5 total cups of powdered sugar to the caramel to give the icing the consistency I want. I suppose you could also halve the caramel ingredients, but I'd rather have too much icing than too little.
6. Let the icing cool almost completely. Ice your Totally cool cake (if you put this on a hot cake, the butter will separate from the sugar and cause a big mess).
7. Cut yourself a Little Piece of cake - this icing is RICH!
Interestingly enough, my mom told me that my great grandmother Margery used to make this same cake as a signature cake which was what I was thinking of doing with mine. Good taste must run in the family! Enjoy!
