Author Notes
The template for this frosting is Rose Levy Beranbaum's White Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream found in The Cake Bible. It's a buttercream that doesn't require making a sugar syrup or meringue, and has a nice layer of tang from the cream cheese and lemon in it. I wondered if milk or dark chocolate would work in place of the white chocolate. I decided to try milk chocolate, then take it in a slightly savory direction by adding malted milk powder. The tangy cream cheese flavor didn't work with the malt, so I swapped it for mascarpone with much better success. The resulting frosting is mildly sweet with an almost savory character from the malted milk powder. It is soft when first made, but upon standing firms up to a mousse-like texture from the malted milk powder. It's perfect on top of yellow cake or cupcakes with a few lightly crushed malted milk balls for decoration. —hardlikearmour
Test Kitchen Notes
The end result looks and tastes just like the inside of a Three Musketeers bar, my favorite childhood treat. The malt powder reins in the milk chocolate nicely. This would be a perfect complement to devil's food cupcakes. —mitschlag
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Ingredients
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9 to 10 1/2 ounces
high quality milk chocolate like Green and Black (three 3 to 3.5 ounce bars)
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1/2 cup
malted milk powder
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1/2 cup
heavy cream
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16 ounces
mascarpone cheese, at cool room temperature
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12 tablespoons
unsalted butter, softened
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1 1/2 teaspoons
vanilla extract
Directions
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Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl at 50% power, stirring every 15 seconds. Once it is mostly melted let the residual heat finish the job. (Feel free to melt using a double boiler or bowl set over simmering water instead). Set aside to cool.
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Combine malted milk powder and heavy cream in a mixing bowl. Mix until the malted milk powder has dissolved, and the mixture is like a thin paste. Add the mascarpone and beat at low until combined, then at medium (high if you're using a hand mixer) until smooth and creamy.
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Gradually beat in the cooled chocolate mixture. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber/silicone spatula. Beat the butter in, 2 tablespoons at a time until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla extract, and beat until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl once during the process.
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Use to frost cake or cupcakes shortly after making (within an hour or two) as the buttercream will firm up to a mousse-like texture with time.
I am an amateur baker and cake decorator. I enjoy cooking, as well as eating and feeding others. I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with my husband and our menagerie. I enjoy outdoor activities including hiking, mushroom hunting, tide pooling, beach combing, and snowboarding.
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