I’m not exactly fond of “moderation.” For example, last year my family went cherry picking, and I decided that I needed at least a bucket of cherries, solely for my baking creations. That same day, I ended up making a cherry pie, sparkling cherry lemonade, cherry chocolate muffins, cherry brownies, and cherry ice cream.
I’m also that way when it comes to baking treats for birthdays. Every time it’s the birthday of a close friend or family member, I feel obligated to make them a cake, even when cookies would suffice just as well. Since today is the birthday of three [read THREE] family friends, yesterday I spent a majority of the night baking three double layered cakes. In retrospect, I probably should have simply made a bunch of cookies or cupcakes, but like I said, I have a problem with moderation.
For the majority of the time spent making the cakes, all went smoothly. Of course, the kitchen was a disaster, and I kept running out of spatulas, but I was happy with the state of the cakes.
Then, disaster struck. The last cake was a chocolate cake, filled with vanilla custard and strawberries, and drizzled with ganache, well theoretically drizzled with ganache. When I tried to pour the chocolate ganache over the cake, it all ran off and puddled. Frustrated, I tried to fix it, but then the cake started falling apart, and the custard started dripping out of the sides. I tried to cover it up, but it was hideous. By that point, it was three in the morning, and I was struggling to stay awake. I normally don’t have much of a temper, but the combination of sleep deprivation and frustration made a deadly combo, and I kinda, sorta…reached over to the cake with and smashed it…LOL Anyways, moral of the story: sleep deprivation + baking is not a good combo.
The recipe today is for the frosting from one of the 2 surviving cakes. It’s a swiss meringue buttercream, with a luxurious texture and fantastic nutella flavor. This frosting pairs well with….well, basically everything, so lather it on whatever you’re eating. 🙂
Nutella Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 egg whites
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¾ cup nutella (more or less, according to your taste buds :))
- Place a metal bowl over a pan with boiling water (make sure the bowl is NOT touching the water) and add the sugar and egg whites into the bowl. Heat until 160 degrees.
- Place the sugar and egg white mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, and with the whisk attachment, beat until stiff peaks form.
- Slowly beat in the butter, 1 tbs at a time. Continue whipping until the frosting is able to keep its shape.
- Stir in the nutella and vanilla, adding more or less nutella to taste.
- Spread over everything.
Chomps of Life 