The Real Deal Holyfield...

Sooooo, Hi. Sara T here. Remember me? Blond hair blue eyed baker... living it up in the land I love, Missouri. It's been a minute (or months) and for that I apologize. I've been... busy? Negligent? Reclusive? All of the above truthfully, and a little discouraged too. I faithfully read the food blogs of all my blogging crushes. I get recipes, ideas, inspiration, and often sincere feelings of inadequacy. Hey, I'm quirky. I'm fun. I cook like nobodies business... I need to step up my game!! I just wish this little blog of mine could be so much more. Well, I have a few things in the works, so look forward to that... because I definitely am!!
So what have I been doing? Sheesh. It seems as though every weekend I am playing hostess.

Do NOT get it twisted. I love and adore having visitors.
I love that my boyfriend throws the greatest parties on the planet that attract great friends from all over the country. I adore living in a college town that never ages.

(oh p.s. check out my talented and (ridiculously good looking) friends blog, it's amazing and where a lot of these photos come from)

So yeah, that's a bit about what I've been doing... What have you been doing?! Let me know!

But now, real talk. This post is all about French Buttercream. Do NOT get it confused with American Buttercream...filled with shortening and powdered sugar. Don't get me wrong... I've yet to meet a frosting I wouldn't eat, but this is... the Chanel of frosting. Yep, that's serious. This is the real deal. It spreads WAY smoother than American buttercream, and it's so super rich. Also, at work we make a crazy giant batch at the start of the week and flavor it as needed. You can make a huge batch of this (this recipe is not huge) and throw fresh fruit in it, espresso, chocolate, anything and it flavors super nicely. It stores best if you just wrap it up in little plastic wrap packets. It'll get super hard and then you just throw it back in your mixer (it'll look gross and watery and broken as it re-mixes, but will come back immaculately after it's beaten for a while on a high speed).

French Buttercream, from Professional Baking Fifth Edition.

8 oz Sugar
2 oz Water
3 oz Egg Yolks
10 oz Butter, softened
.12 oz (3/4 tsp) Vanilla extract

1. Combine the sugar and water in a heavy bottom saucepan. Bring to a boil while stirring to dissolve the sugar.

2. Continue to boil until the syrup reaches a temperature of 240 F. (This is NOT a typo. I am actually directing you to boil sugar and water until 240 F. Please I beg of you, try not to burn the fingerprints off your fingers... unless you are planning on embarking on a mass crime spree and want to go undetected, then just dunk those fingers right in!!).

3. While the syrup is boiling, beat the yolks with a wire whip or the whip attachment of a mixer until they are thick and light.

4. As soon as the syrup reaches 240 F pour it very slowly into the beaten yolks while whipping constantly.

5. Continue to beat until the mixture is completely cool and the yolks are very thick and light.

6. Whip in the butter a little at a time. Add it just as fast as it can be absorbed by the mixture.

7. Beat in the vanilla. If the icing is too soft, refrigerate it until it is firm enough to spread.

Then get a spoon (after licking the mixing bowl clean of course) and dive in. Close your eyes, name your dog Pierre, and thank God that even though Americans are way tougher and 1000 times cooler than the French will ever be (sarcasm, learn it love it embrace it), and rejoice in the fact that they have perfected both the art of pastry and making Americans fatter. I guess you could also bake a cake, and put the Buttercream on that, but only if you are going to trick your friends into eating it too.

Check this out, I put forth a very...half assed attempt to make a "ruffled cake", because Melody of the epically fabulous My Sweet and Saucy put up this stellar video of how to do so. It's SUPER simple and looks ultra fancy. Give it a whirl!!