How much icing for that cake?
We have friends coming to town this weekend to enjoy Roanoke’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities. Last night, on a whim, I decided to bake a quick cake for their visit. I had a chocolate boxed cake mix on hand, so I cheated and used that to bake a two-layer cake.
But I wanted to do something special for the icing, so I decided to do homemade buttercream icing with a little peppermint extract. And since I baked all of those naturally green things last week for this week’s column, I threw caution to the wind and used Wilton’s food coloring in leaf green. I like Wilton’s coloring because it’s a gel/paste consistency and won’t throw off any recipes with extra liquid.
What I turned out was a grasshopper cake with a very pale green, minty, buttery icing. Howard said the icing tasted like butter mints to him, which was a perfect comparison. The main question I always have when I make homemade icing is: How much am I going to need for this cake? I hate it when I don’t have quite enough frosting, but I don’t want a bunch left over, either.
Unless a recipe calls specifically for a Bundt pan or a 9×13 or something, I usually like to make layer cakes. I think they look beautiful in my glass cake stand and look so nice when you slice into them and see that layer of frosting in the center. I went looking for advice on how much icing I would need and I found this interesting chart posted on a Yahoo forum:
Pan size…. Icing needed
6″…..1 1/2 cups
7″…..1 1/2 cups
8″……2 cups
9″……2 1/2 cups
10″….4 cups
12″….5 cups
14″….6 1/2 cups
16″…..8 cups
13″ x 9″……..2 cups
9″ x 5″ x 3″ loaf…1 cup
12 cupcakes….3/4 to 1 cup
Judging by this chart, since I used two 8-inch round pans, I’d need about 4 cups of icing to ice my cake. That seems like a lot so I’m guessing this chart was made by an icing lover. I decided to go with 3 cups, so I made a 1 1/2 batch of the buttercream icing in the recipe below and the amount was PERFECT. I had plenty of icing without it being too much, and no stretching to cover that dark chocolate cake underneath. The only ingredient I kept the same was 1 tsp. of peppermint extract, because I think peppermint extract tastes a little stronger in a recipe than vanilla. But to each his or her own. I will post a picture of my cake after we cut it open [posted].
Experiment with this chart a bit and see how it works for you. And check out this buttercream frosting recipe if you don’t have one you already love. It has 5 stars and 288 reviews on Foodnetwork.com. It’s a keeper.
I hope everybody has a great weekend!
Buttercream Frosting
Makes about 2 cups
This is a delicious and fairly easy recipe. If using a stand mixer, scrape down the sides occasionally and knock some of the butter out of the whisk. Don’t work too slowly if you are in a warm space because you don’t want the butter to get too soft.
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup butter, slightly softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract (or desired flavor)
1 to 2 Tbsp. whipping cream (or heavy cream, or milk would probably work but start with a small amount)
1. In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes, or until creamy.
2. Add extract and 1 Tbsp. of the cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.
Source: Foodnetwork.com
March 16, 2012 - 11:31 AM
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There is NEVER too much icing on a cake for my liking!! You can’t go wrong with a little more than a little less. I prefer it REALLY thick in the center.
Lindsey – this buttercream icing covers a MULTITUDE of sins. I made a couple dozen vanilla-lemon cupcakes for a St. Pat’s event and the cake turned out a little on the dry side. The husband was Unimpressed. Then I added a bit of this buttercream, with a mix of vanilla, almond and mint (tinted light green, of course). “I’m full,” the husband sighed, as I handed him the cupcake. Thirty seconds later he handed me back the empty wrapper, with a very hopeful look on his face.
THANK YOU!
PS: Only a dozen have to go to the event, which leaves him a few to snack on.
I’m so glad you liked it!
My cake turned out to be a-maz-ing. The buttery mint icing with the chocolate cake is sinfully delicious. The amount of icing was perfect, too. So about 3 cups for a double-layer. I will be using this recipe over and over again.
I made a cake last night and made the avocado lemon icing. The icing was so easy to make. However, I have discovered I am not the best cake maker. My husband told me I should stick to pies.
My cakes tend to fall apart, so I have to put gobs of icing on them to keep them together. It might not look beautiful, but it’ll taste good.
I also made a cake (I kept it in the glass dish) and put fudge icing on it, but my cake didn’t bake even so most of the icing is on one side. But that’s ok right? Perfect for people who love icing and also for those who don’t like it as much.
If it were me, I’d make the 4 cups.
Looks and sounds like your cake turned out delicious! As a professional cake decorator, it is common for folks who are not in this business to misread charts. The chart presumes you have a two-layer cake creating one measurement: You made two rounds to create one 8″ cake… icing should not be doubled as you did. Since you halved what you doubled, it came out to the original required amount of 2 cups. See?