Can I rescue this baking disaster?

spend_thrift

Help! I tried making a vanilla buttercream icing last night according to a recipe in a Rachel Allen book. The recipe seemed strange, since it called for caster sugar and not icing sugar, but I've tried other recipes of hers and they have been brilliant, so I risked it.

I shouldn't have! :eek:

I tried making this icing TWICE and used up 4 eggs, half a pint of milk and almost a block of butter in the process. And I still haven't managed to ice the cake! :mad:

To add insult to injury, googling the recipe online this morning to look for advice, I find that she now recommends an icing sugar/butter recipe that I normally use to go with this cake, with no mention of the milk/egg monstrosity! :mad:

So, what I'm wondering is how I can save the runny icing, since it has so much good stuff in it? I'll post the recipe below, so you can see what I've got:

150ml milk
4 1/2 oz caster sugar
2 egg yolks
6 1/2 oz butter
1 tsp vanilla essence

She said to boil up milk and sugar, then add to beaten eggs in a jug, whisking all the time, and pour everything back into the pan and heat it until it coats the back of a spoon. Meanwhile whisk butter until very light. When custard is at room temp, pour it slowly into the butter whisking all the time, until combined. Then add vanilla.

Well the first time I tried it the eggs scrambled, so I chucked that batch and tried again. This time I didn't let the milk boil, and added the eggs from the start, as if making lemon curd (without the lemon of course! ). Everything thickened nicely, so I left it to cool. It was warm - just above room temp - when I added it to the butter, and everything went runny. No amount of whipping would thicken it up. So I put it all in the fridge overnight to see if that would help, and this morning it has the consistency of double cream - still far too runny to ice a cake.

So what can I do with this rich, oversweet, runny custard??? Can anyone think of a way to rescue it? Or another thrifty use for it? It seems a shame to just throw it away.

Woofles

Off the top of my head sounds like you made a sweet custard for a trifle. A quick look in a recipe book I had to hand mentions fruit fools if that's any help. Bananas and custard are always nice.

charliee_3

its like custard with butter in.... hmmm.... you could make a bread and butter pudding with it, but dont butter the bread, just pour it over the dry bread and fruit and bake it?

spend_thrift

That's great - both of those are things I wouldn't have thought of as I don't normally make them...

Would apples work in a fruit fool? I have a bag of Bramleys looking for a purpose...

charliee_3

you could put the apples in with the bread and butter pudding, it would be really yummy.. just check the sweetness, might need a little extra sugar... mmm.. i want some now!!

Mrs_Thrify

I would try and even the ingredience up a bit to make a sponge cake.

greenbee

Very, very strange recipe! I think the bread and butter pudding idea sounds the best use for it.

For future reference, if custard starts to split when you're making it, follow Nigella's advice and plunge the pan in a sinkful of cold water, whisking furiously (I always keep the sink filled with cold water when making custard now) and it seems to sort it out!

ubamother

could you add double cream and make icecream with it?

spend_thrift

ubamother wrote: »

could you add double cream and make icecream with it?

Another great idea! Thank you. A quick Google search on "ice cream recipe, butter" brings up this http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/butter_pecan_ice_cream/ which sounds utterly delicious - :T I'm drooling, although there's no space in my freezer for the ice cream maker bowl at the moment :rolleyes:

I think bread and butter pudding sounds the best thrifty use so far. At least if that doesn't work and I have to chuck it all out, it's only yesterday's bread and some sultanas

spend_thrift

Hello,

Just thought I'd give a quick update on this. I made a bread and butter pudding with the failed icing this evening and it turned out to be delicious!

To be honest, I was amazed. It was extremely rich from all the butter and sugar, so you'd probably only want a tiny piece, but boy was it gooooood :T

I'd even consider doing this again on purpose, although I'd probably halve the amount of butter and cut back a bit on the sugar too, if only for my health

charliee_3

mmmmm!! thanks for the update... maybe you should publish the recipe!