Seven-Minute Frosting
And now the banana cake layers come to rest. Or come to frosting. Or come to being eaten. (If you want to see the layers themselves, they're here.)
A good Southern boy, I grew up on seven-minute frosting: marshmallowy, light, creamy. On cupcakes, on sheet cakes, on fingers. I remember my grandmother beating up bowls of it at the stove--and I remember licking out the remnants of it in those bowls until my pancreas hurt.
I didn't know until much later in life that it's actually a modified Italian meringue, a cooked meringue (as opposed to a Swiss meringue that is not cooked before being topped onto, say, a lemon meringue pie). The "seven-minute" name allegedly comes from the fact that you beat it for 7 minutes in a double boiler over the heat--provided 1) you're at sea level, 2) the humidity is somewhere around 0%, and 3) the frosting gods are with you. Otherwise, you just beat it until it looks right.
OK, first things first. Those cake layers. You have to trim them. The best way? With kitchen shears. Trim off the slightly hard, crusty rim at the top of each, just to make a perfect round so there's not a little lip that will keep the frosting from adhering evenly to the sides of the cake.
Some people also slice off the top of each layer, thereby making each perfectly flat. However, these cooks often do so because they've added too much leavening to the batter, causing it to mound in the oven--or they've used an improper oven temperature, slightly higher than necessary, so the top firms up before the inside sets, allowing internal gasses to be trapped underneath and thereby dome the cake layer a bit. Yes, if you've got a pitched roof on your layers, you should slice those tops off with a long, thin knife so the layers appear flat. But beyond that, if you're making a homemade layer cake, it should look homemade. No, you don't want it tipping this way and that off the cake plate. But a little imperfection is utterly necessary. Just like in a spouse. (More on that another day.)
To make the seven-minute frosting for those layers, first place 3 large egg whites (at room temperature, naturally), 2 1/4 cups granulated white sugar, 1/2 cup water, 2 teaspoons light corn syrup, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large, heat-safe mixing bowl that will eventually fit over a medium saucepan of simmering water, sort of a make-do double boiler. Yes, you can use a real double boiler itself, but you need a super-duper big one for the heaping mound of frosting to come. Better to be safe and just work with a big mixing bowl.
Now bring about two inches of water to a full simmer in a medium saucepan over high heat--a saucepan that can hold the bowl on top, almost like a lid. How much water exactly? No real telling. The bubbling water just mustn't touch the bottom of the bowl.
Set the bowl in place, reduce the heat to low so the water simmers softly, and beat at medium speed until the sugar dissolves and the egg whites get foamy.
Then raise the beater speed to high and continue beating over the simmering water until the mixture is about the consistency of marshmallow fluff, maybe 7 minutes (if those frosting gods so will it).
At the right moment, the frosting will turn dense, much more so than properly beaten egg whites but still able to form little peaks when the beaters are turned off and raised from the mixture. By the end, the mixer may be struggling a bit. All along as you're beating the frosting, scrape the inside of the bowl with a heat-safe rubber spatula so you can keep the frosting mixture from superheating against the bowl's hot sides. At the end, you should feel no grainy bits of sugar when you rub a little icing between your fingers.
And now to frost the cake. First, line the cake plate with squares of wax paper. OK, we ran out. So we used aluminum foil. You go with what you got. These will keep the cake plate clean as you frost the cake. Later, you can just pull them out and leave the cake pristine on its plate.
Lay a cake layer in the middle of the plate, then give it a generous mound of seven-minute frosting. Spread it around with an off-set spatula, creating about 1/2 inch of frosting. Then add the second layer, top side down. Again, frost the top. And finally, set the top layer in place top side up. First, frost the sides, smoothing some icing along the cake without getting very picky about it. Then add much more frosting to the top of the cake, about like a meringue hat. Spread this into place, letting it fall down the sides of the cake. Finally, add the remaining frosting to the sides in globs, then smooth them out with the off-set spatula, pulling off and discarding the excess. You'll probably have too much frosting--but more is better than less to allow you to smooth out the cake with plenty to spare.
And that's about it. The cake should be eaten the day it's made--seven-minute frosting has a tendency to crystallize over several days, mostly because of temperature and humidity fluctuations. Store the cake under a dome--and enjoy at will. We had 8 at the table on Saturday night. This shot was taken at round two of the great cake battle. One more round and the cake was finished. I could hear everyone's pancreas humming. Loudly.
Mark Scarbrough | Posted on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 9:07AM | in Cake, Desserts, Fabulously Empty Calories cake, dessert, frosting, seven-minute frosting
Reader Comments (14)
Though I've heard of it, neither my pancreas nor I has ever made 7 minute frosting. I'm thinking this is the perfect excuse for me to finally replace my Braun hand-held mixer which has had only 1 beater for the past 4 years.
The frosting really does look marshmallowy. Is this how one makes marshmallows, too? (I honestly have no idea.)
Cheryl: First off, you can see that the mixer is none the better for wear. Honestly, we've had it for years. But hey, it does the job.
And no, this is not how you make marshmallows. They're a gelatin product, believe it or not. Maybe we'll have to whip up a tray soon. Bruce LOVES making marshmallows.
Carolyn: so if you thought the smell of banana cake would be good, just wait until you taste the whole thing together. Wow. I'm still in the sugar coma. But so very worth it.
Oh yes yes, this is a perfect frosting for all of the buttercream and cheese cream haters! We know people in both camps...
Duo: I've HEARD of people who hate buttercream. Wouldn't trust them with my money or my life. But I've heard of them. They're probably all librarians and accountants.
I've never made seven-minute frosting, either. But heck, I don't care how long it takes to make. This stuff looks so good, I want to just dip a finger in it now!
Carolyn: Wait for one of those gorgeous Bay days and whip up a batch. It's candy-making on top of cake. What could be any better?
Just found this site and love it! I'm trying to find a new frosting to replace the Cool Whip for my husband's family's "traditional" chocolate chip birthday cake (because I don't do "food-like product made with chemicals"). This looks like it might fit the bill. I'm going to try it this afternoon for his sister's birthday. I'll let you know if the in-laws approve. :)
Jennifer: Thanks for your kind words. Please drop by and drop comments. We all love to chat around here. Especially about food--although other things will do as well.
M.
HELP! The frosting was good, except it had a very metallic taste at the end of each bite. What did I do wrong? Was it that I used a metal bowl to make the frosting? That I let the egg whites come to room temp IN the metal bowl? Poor quality (though it's Pampered Chef, so...) metal mixing bowl reacting with one of the ingredients?
I'd love to try it again, but I'm not sure what to change to fix this. Thanks!
Jennifer:
The first question: what kind of metal bowl? Ours is stainless steel in the pictures. Was yours aluminum? There can be a reactive issue with aluminum.
Are you sure it wasn't the baking powder in the cake? (WAS there baking powder in the cake batter?) That can offer an aluminum taste, if you've used an aluminum-based baking powder.
Other than that, neither Bruce nor I have a clue. Maybe the eggs were a little long in the tooth? Hmmm. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, but from a cyber-distance it's hard to diagnose. My guess is still the bowl, although that seems a little far-fetched. Could it be the beaters on the mixer are aluminum?
M.
Mine was stainless steel (or claims to be), but it isn't anything like other s/s bowls I've used. For one thing, the better blades leave brown-ish score marks in the sides of the bowl. It makes me think there's some type of coating on the bowl that came off into the frosting. And it was definitely the frosting that had the metallic taste. Oh well, even then it was yummy! I'll try it again with a better-quality mixing bowl, and I know it'll turn out fantastic.
Jennifer: Brownish score marks? That honestly does not sound good. At all. I did a web search for such a thing and could find nothing. But maybe you should think about a different bowl, if only for the possibility of any issues. The OXO ones with rubberized outsides (so they don't slip) are particularly nice. I think they're under $20 at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
M.
Just found your site after I made my first round of 7 Minute Frosting. This stuff is killer good. I couldn't stop snitching out of the bowl, so after the cupcakes were frosted, the frosting had to go! ;o( Sad...but the waistline cannot continue to expand...
Deb: Welcome here. And yep, tough to not pick at the frosting. I find I have to fill the bowl with the excess with hot water--and quickly--so there's no chance I'm tempted. But I guess that says everything about how lovely that frosting actually is!
M.