Chocolate Buttermilk Frosting

Remember those cupcakes I made a couple of weeks ago? And how I wound up making WAY too many? Well, rather than give them all away, I stashed a dozen in the freezer just waiting for an excuse, I mean, opportunity to come along to enjoy them. And since most of the cupcakes were wasted in the undiscriminating palates of 6 yr. olds, I wanted to make sure these were topped off well and would be completely appreciated. And surprisingly, as much as I love baking and cooking, I had never made a frosting from scratch. Why? I don't know - must have something to do with the allure of those little-plastic-easy-to-use tubs.

I still had some buttermilk left over from making the cupcakes, and knew that it would make for a very rich and creamy frosting. My friends requested chocolate, so chocolate it would be.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERMILK FROSTING
1/4 cup butter
3 1/2 Tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tbls. buttermilk
2 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Combine butter, cocoa and buttermilk in a saucepan. Bring just to the boiling point. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Slowly add 2 cups of powdered sugar while stirring well. Add remaining powdered sugar until frosting reaches desired consistency.

Lesson learned: Be sure to sift the powdered sugar or there will be little lumps in the icing, but it will still taste just as good.

And once again, one of my kids ate only the icing and one of my kids ate only the frosting. At least the adults enjoyed the cupcakes to the fullest.

P.S. - I frosted this cupcake myself. Isn't it cute?!

P.P.S. - Check out my story on honey marinades at Trib Local.