I always thought I loved that white bakery icing. Seriously loved it. Of course, I would rarely allow myself to have it, because the sweetness sent my blood sugar into overdrive. But I think I’m over it…really over it, as in don’t care if I ever eat any again. Reason? I took a cake decorating class. For four weeks I played with the sweet icing, putting it on a practice board and then cookies, cupcakes and finally cakes.

Each week I had to:
make a gigantic batch of the shortening icing,
divide icing into containers of different colors and thickness,
load the 6-8 containers into a suitcase,
load the rest of the equipment, towels, apron, paper towels, tape, glue stick, scissors, and bits of waxed paper.

Finally, I would bake the practice cake or cupcakes and then haul it all into a store. For two hours I would be covered in sticky icing and then I’d load it all back into the suitcase and head for home. Once home I had to clean dozens of tiny tips, couplers, piping bags and other sundry supplies. What a production!

For the last class, I decided to frost the cake with my favorite fudge frosting, instead of the standard “butter cream icing” which has no butter in it. At least I knew I would enjoy part of the cake that way. In our final class we learned how to make a ribbon rose, only mine became a “cabbage rose.” And we were to learn how to “write with frosting.” My normal handwriting looks like that of a serial killers; writing in frosting was about the same.

But here’s what I really learned – this is not my thing, and I’m OK with that. There were other women in the class who dreamed up exotic designs and handled their piping bags with panache. I was so happy for them. But I took my cake home, ate a tiny (well, ok, small. no, medium-sized) piece and divided it up and gave the rest away. The best part was my fudge frosting, which I’m sharing.
Fudge Frosting Ingredients
1 cup sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
¼ cup butter
½ cup milk
2 TBS light corn syrup
1 ½ – 2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Mix the sugar and cocoa in a saucepan.
Add the butter, milk and corn syrup and bring to a boil.
Boil for two minutes, stirring often.
Remove from heat and set the pan in cold water.
When you can hold your hand on the bottom of the pan, the syrup is cool enough.
Use a small mixer to blend in the vanilla and powdered sugar until the frosting is thick enough to spread. If it’s too thin, add more sugar. If it’s too thick, add milk, a tablespoon at a time.
The frosting should hold its’ shape, but still be creamy enough to spread.

And I guess that means you could put this frosting into a piping bag, if you want to practice shells,roses and stars. Perhaps someday this will come in handy, if I can stand the sticky mess.