I made this as the frosting for a cake I made recently for a friend who can't do gluten or cow dairy. It's a pretty straightforward no-egg, no-cook buttercream. The goat butter, interestingly enough, has a really light flavor that doesn't actually taste at all of goat. If it wasn't so damn expensive ($5.99 for 8 ounces at the local store) I'd use it for all my buttercream.
It's also nearly white, something cow butter from the supermarket isn't. Close enough that I think you could reasonably do white buttercream. (Which I don't, as it means either lots of titanium dioxide or crisco. Either way, ewww)
8 oz goat butter
4C powdered sugar
3 oz chocolate, melted and cooled
1T vanilla
3-4T liquid (water or milk of some sort)
Melt the chocolate and let it cool. It should be liquid, but only barely warm. (Otherwise it'll melt the butter when you add it, which is no good) I find a minute or two in the microwave, in 20 second intervals, works pretty well.
Beat the butter until it's light and fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar a cup at a time. (Or more, if you like the whole 'exploding cloud' effect) Beat in the vanilla, and the melted chocolate.
The frosting'll be a bit grainy, so add in the liquid a tablespoon at a time until the consistency is what you want it to be. Water works fine, as does milk from any handy mammal. Soy 'milk' or coconut milk work too, though I find they've each got a distinctive flavor they add to the frosting, so check to see if they match what you want.
This is enough frosting for the outside of a 9" cake. If you've got a 10" cake, or want to do between the layers of the cake with it (Why? Use a good jam instead. Raspberry, strawberry, and cranberry all work, and it's easy to cook up a quick fresh batch) then increase the amounts by 50%.
Posted by Dan at May 20, 2009 08:54 PM