Tangzhong icing

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As you can see, I'm no cake decorator, but I've always loved cake with loads of creamy frosting. This recipe was popular...I was going to say awhile back...but it's been about 45 yrs since I first tasted it. It is soft, creamy and NOT sweet (unless more sugar is added). 

 

It does, indeed, contain tangzhong. The effect is just as good as in bread dough.

 

This recipe makes more than enough for a 2- layer cake and requires a fairly large mixer bowl. 

 

1.5 cups milk

10 Tbsps flour

 

Whisk a portion of the milk into the flour until smooth. Add rest of milk. Heat on stovetop or in microwave until very thick, stirring often. I've never used the stovetop, but the microwave is tricky. The paste is very thick and wants to clump. Stop & stir frequently. 

Cover with plastic and let cool.

Paste

 

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup shortening   (all shortening or all butter can be used, but taste changes)

1.5 cups GRANULATED sugar

vanilla      cocoa powder can be added for chocolate, increase sugar a bit

Cream fats, add sugar & vanilla, and beat until creamy and sugar is dissolved. Add cool paste and beat like crazy on high speed for a few minutes. 

 

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This icing reminds me of what's in a Jos Louis (sorry non-Canadians). 

Similar to Ermine frosting, but the proportions are a little different and yours looks more marshmallowy than Ermine. This reminds me of the filling in a Ding-Dong, and there is nothing wrong with that!

Thank you for sharing it :)

My Aunt and Mom passed on their old cookbooks. I remember that recipe. “ cooked “ frosting. I’ll have to look it up tomorrow. Love its creamy fluffy rich texture!

Tip: cook in a double boiler. I do almost everything in one. Cooked cereal, grits, polenta, lemon curd. You name it life is so much easier with a double boiler. 

Fanny Farmer cookbook and there’s nothing with the flour/milk base.When Googled all that comes up is Ermine. I’ve always heard it called Swiss Meringue not Italian. It’s amazing and unlike other frosting recipes it keeps perfectly on the cake without hardening or separating etc. It’s perfect on wedding cakes for its stability. 

That recipe uses powdered sugar which was increased from 1 to 2 cups. Even at 1 cup, wouldn't it be much sweeter than granulated? Just looked it up. Whadda ya know, granulated is sweeter than powdered.

Except for less flour, it does have the same proportions as my recipe: 1:1:1 milk:butter:sugar.

The notes are mine. I added more powdered sugar because it wasn't sweet enough for the cake I was pairing it with. Powdered sugar is a lot more air than granulated. This much American buttercream generally has a whole pound, which is 4 cups or so.

I add salt because back in this recipe's day salted butter was the default and I use unsalted now. It is pretty flexible, I've subbed buttermilk for sweet milk and that was a nice variation. Other liquids could be used, or sourdough discard with a little math.

I looked at each recipe just to be sure. There are SO MANY clippings tucked in the pages and it’s so fragile it’s all I can do to open it❤️

If I had looked up Ermine when DW mentioned it, I would have realized that is the recipe, more or less.  As she said, the proportions are a bit different--the KA version has more milk, less flour and all butter. Butter is for flavour, but I think the shortening helps the structure. The newspaper recipe I cut out years ago calls for all shortening (it's a chocolate icing with cocoa powder).  Anyway, It's a guaranteed artery-clogger. 😊

I was just looking through my grandmas hand written recipe book, and found a strikingly similar recipe.  I was wondering about the cooked flour and keen to try it.  Now I will, with better ingredients list thanks to you.  Grandma had a tendency to leave the units off her recipes...1 flour, 1 sugar etc. It's like a puzzle figuring them out!

Moe, I loved Joe Louis as a kid, your cake does remind me of them.

The tangzhong is in the cake right, not the frosting?

Benny

No, the tangzhong is in the icing. It's a milk and flour paste. I just called it "tangzhong" because of the bread tie-in. 

I still love Jos Louis and Flakies.