Hello my friends,

I have not been here for a while, and am so glad to come back! I only wish I didn’t have a favor to ask.

I have a potential wholesale client that wants to taste layer cakes for their restaurant. I love classic layer cakes and this is potentially a great account! They want to taste a classic chocolate cake, a non-chocolate cake, as well as a cheesecake. However, one real tricky thing is that they want to keep the cakes refrigerated at all times, and serve directly from the cold case.

In my mind, that immediately eliminates all-butter cakes (too firm when cold), most ganache frostings and all buttercreams because they will be unappealing to bite into, way too firm and in the case of a buttercream , like a stick of butter. Not surprisingly, they have gotten complaints about the buttercream on their current chocolate cake (which I know is a ganache and likely way too firm and possibly separating from the cake when served cold).

My first instinct is to present them with oil or oil/butter cakes with cream cheese based frosting (for the non-chocolate cake) and I have already noted the caked in RHC that are good refrigerator cakes (Banana Refrigerator Cake, Carrot Cake of course!, German Chocolate Cake, Red Velvet, etc.)

However, I am stumped when it comes to a classic chocolate frosting that is good when chilled. If I cannot come up with something, I will just tell them I don’t have something that would work well for this purpose. I thought about a chocolate cream cheese frosting but haven’t made one yet. The frosting doesn’t have to be glassy smooth.

Do any of you fabulous bakers have any thoughts or suggestions?

It may be more of a stretch that I am comfortable with, and that’s OK, in that case I will let them know and they can find another baker/supplier.

Rachel

Hi, Rachel!

I often make a ‘regular’ buttercream (whatever you like) and then add 1 c. milk thickened with 4T. flour for every about 4 cups of frosting.  Boil the flour & milk, stirring, like you’re making gravy until VERY thick, then COMPLETELY cool it or it will melt the butter.  Then just beat it into your frosting.  This both lightens the frosting and keeps it from getting super-firm.  They have the illusion of super-lightness, too, even though they’re nearly as rich.  I made one last weekend that tasted like mildly sweetened whipped cream, even though it had a pound of butter and a cup of pistachio butter, but that flour/milk just fluffs it right up!

Try just a little and see what you think!

—ak

ak, that is awesome to know! I actually am familiar with the thickened flour type of frosting, but assumed that it would still be too firm from the fridge. I will try it out!

Hi, Rachel!

As an FYI, I don’t make an actual recipe of that kind of frosting itself—I add the thickened flour to an already existing frosting, thereby softening it (and unsweetening it a bit).  This way, you take a normal frosting and make it softer, whereas the recipe for an actual flour frosting might be as thick as any other frosting. 

If you don’t want to unsweeten your existing frosting, when you add the thickened milk to the frosting, also add some liquid sugar like golden syrup or honey, which will also work to keep it soft (rather than stiff, like powdered sugar).

—ak

I bet it wouldn’t take too long to come up with a chocolate frosting by blooming cocoa in boiling water, adding sugar to taste and either eggs or flour to thicken it, then mixing that with cream cheese for a dense, buttercream sort of frosting.  Brown sugar or caramelized sugar might be good in it. 

For a light and fluffy chocolate frosting, consider blooming cocoa in a little hot cream, adding sugar, then making stabilized chocolate whipped cream out of it (with gelatin, cornstarch, or tapioca starch).

I thought of cocoa instead of chocolate because of the lower cocoa butter content (cocoa butter is rock hard at cool temps).

Another thought for a refrigerated chocolate cake is a white frosting:  Italian meringue or Rose’s white ganache (which is really whipped cream stabilized with a minimum of white chocolate) come to mind.

Dont forget the Miette’s tomboy or the lemon version of the orange chiffon layer (flavor and leavening adjustments over on the blog) in your quest for refrigerator cakes. 

Another thought:  perhaps they need to be told to get a cake dome so they can serve desserts at room temp!

Oooo, and another:  I forget what the texture of light whipped ganache is like straight from the fridge, but it might work and is a real crowd pleaser.

One from left field:  the strawberry maria from the cake bible

I would go with a whipped cream frosting if it is chilled, or a very light ganache. Or you could also suggest that they turn the temperature up on the cooler some! LOL!