For about a week now I have been craving frosting. It is all I can think of. I just never knew that it could be so decadent, so beautiful. It all started when I began perusing web sites looking for, yes, wedding cakes. I mean, I don't really even like cake, nor did I ever think I would be looking for one.....(isn't spumoni OK at a wedding? Does anyone every really eat the cake? I hate it when brides and groom smoosh it in each other’s face)! Ahhhh!
Alas, suddenly, I find myself immersed in this endeavor. Blue cakes, pearly white cakes, cakes with monograms, cakes that look like purses, cakes that aren't cakes, cheesecakes, and cupcakes.... the options are endless. Of course, the more I look the more $8 a slice pales in comparison to $25 a slice....(that would be $2,500 for 100 people - better cut down the guest list). At the same time, I am thinking - why didn't I think of this? I could slather pastel frosting around a freshly baked cake - frosting like lacquer; slick, smooth - maybe I could become a frosting chef - then I am reminded of all those Betty Crocker cakes I created as teen that looked a deflated tire. Or even the chocolate chip cookies that a high school boyfriend gingerly told me, "I couldn't eat them, they were as hard as rocks." . Besides, my real motive in being pastry chef would really be just to lick the bowls. Nah, not an option.
Anyway, back to the frosting.....the craving was dormant for a few days but alas, tonight, Sunday, it is back. I was looking at cakes again because I had 50 adolescent poems to correct. But my class understood, they even knew of my craving - I told them on Friday, "I don't know what it is, I can't keep thinking of frosting". One student smiled at me and said, "Ms. Morosoli, my sister said because you are getting married, my year will not be good....she said the next thing you will do is get pregnant and leave us." Ah, nothing like the divergent yet fresh mind of an 8th grader.
Anyway, the craving! I told Mark I just had to have some frosting. Since I am starting my second round of the South Beach Diet tomorrow - tomorrow meaning I am going to loose 10 more pounds to reach my goal weight - I just knew that a Sunday already brimming with an abundance of carbs (of course, since the carbs are going bye bye, I, of course over indulged all day - French toast smeared with butter, burritos and chips, Italian cookies (yesterday)....)this day, just had to end with a grand finale. So while Mark and I were sipping an Italian Pinot Grigio - (taste testing for the wedding as well), I decided I had to make frosting.
Well, of course, dieting and all, there was no powered sugar to be found - and really there aren't many frostings that can be made without it. Online I found an icing w/o powdered sugar and boy was it strange, strange, strange, First ingredient, white sugar (I just couldn't use Splenda), "Smart Start" the miracle non butter was the only option for butter in our butterless home and for texture some nonfat sour cream and lastly a drop of vanilla. LIQUID MESS! I put the concoction in the freezer (all the time thinking, who knows, maybe I do have a talent for new frostings....) and about 10 minutes later -WALA this sort of lumpy brown mess...it didn't taste bad and really, it was quite OK - I was lapping away when Mark, my beloved fiance, looked over at me. "Want some hon?" I smirked. Instead, he let out an adolescent, "Ew". So I continued my lapping and on my last slurp he kindly took the bowl, with my finger in tow - to the kitchen.
Anyway - regardless of the cost of all the fancy cakes and our dream of Tiramisu - The frosting craving, I fear, will linger. Tomorrow, I am booking about 10 tastings for two weeks from now (when the diet transitions) and by then - I can eat all the frosting I want!
