ain't no shame in using a little coffee extract as well, especially if you've tried the other recommendations and still aren't feeling like the frosting is where you want it to be.

ain't no shame in using a little coffee extract as well, especially if you've tried the other recommendations and still aren't feeling like the frosting is where you want it to be.

Cook down some brown sugar with a splash of water (just enough to wet it) until it is very dark and almost burned. Add that to the frosting while its in the mixer. Compensate by adding a little less powdered sugar.

Ditto to the instant espresso. Been years since my pantry has been without a small jar. Comes in so handy for so many emergencies.

I keep a tiny jar of instant coffee granules in the pantry for two purposes: to add a jolt of coffee flavor in recipes such as frosting, and for my mother who genuinely prefers it.

The Starbucks brand works very well for cake batters, but tends to produce gritty results in ice cream or cake icing. A true instant espresso works much better for what you are looking for.

Instant espresso is great but if you cant find it or don't want to spend that much I've used Starbucks "VIA Ready Brew" packets for mocha ice cream and cake batter and it worked great! It's mostly very fine ground coffee like instant espresso but it also has some high quality coffee crystals so it dissolves easily.

sdb, let's talk about this via email. Long explanation

Yes I use medaglia d'oro also. Thank you for the clarification I forgot to mention about heating. I have a question about swiss meringue buttercream if you see this. If not I will post a new question. I attempted to make a brown sugar swiss meringue and I don't know what I did wrong but it broke and would not come back together no matter how much I beat it. Could I have over beaten it?

Second the motion. I use Medaglia d'Oro straight. I don't know what kind of icing you're making, or how much. When I make a Swiss meringue buttercream, I add the powder to the whites and sugar as they are heating. If you're making a powdered sugar buttercream, I'd suggest adding it to some cream or milk gently warmed in the microwave.

Instant espresso works to intensify coffee flavor.