Test Kitchen part two

My header seems to be fixed?  and I have no idea why...........

so onto Test Kitchen part two:

The frosting.  Again from one of my favorite cooking sites  http://www.ourbestbites.com/.   It came out yummy, but just wasn't the exact frosting I was thinking of......  I do like the fact that I have all these ingredients in my kitchen.  That gives it definite + points.   But I found it REALLY thick and had a hard time squeezing it out of the pastry bag.  I probably need a bigger tip.  I also need to work on perfecting the blue color a bit too.  At first it came out grayish-so I added some green and ended up with more of a teal.  Olivia pointed out that it did not match the blue marker she was using as a benchmark.  Check minus for mommy.

My sister in law gave me a Fluff frosting recipe.  We will be testing that next.

I wish I could tell you that the kids did the frosting of the cupcakes.  But that was me and I stink at it!  We all had a good laugh over that.

Perfect Cupcake Frosting and Filling

3 T Flour
1/2 C milk (whole milk is best, but I used non-fat when it's all I have and it's actually fine)
1/2 C real butter
1/2 C sugar (that's granulated sugar, not powdered sugar)
1 t vanilla extract, or other flavor if you wish.

Whisk together the flour and the milk. Heat in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. I think this is the critical point for any of you who have had problems with this recipe. I have a feeling people are under-cooking this part. Let it cook, while stirring, until it looks like pudding (you should be able to see the bottom of the pan when you stir it). Even though it's thick, you can still it through a mesh strainer (just whisk the mixture in the strainer to push the thick stuff through) and then let it cool completely to room temp. or chill it in the fridge. It needs to be cooled completely. If you don't let it cool completely, it will melt the butter and you'll have runny frosting.

It an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. You'll want to use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, not the flat paddle. Then while beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the vanilla. Beat on the highest speed you can get to without it spraying all over the place for 7 minutes. Yes, 7 whole minutes, maybe even 8 or 9. I know that seems like a long time, but that's when the magic happens!

You will be scared because it will look like a weird goopy mess at first and you'll wonder what on earth you did wrong. Keep beating and something amazing happens. It goes from that goopy mess to something thick, velvety smooth, and perfectly fluffy.  One batch makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes .