Sugar Savvy

There are some things in life that upon first glance, touch, taste - first whatever, you know instantly you just love. Ayun’s Double Fudge Icing is one of those things for me, and I’m not being dramatic when I say that. I whipped up a batch as a taste test with the intention of doing a bit of an experiment, one batch strictly by the recipe and a second batch varied somehow. I was initially thinking I would add mint or coconut flavoring, but after that first taste I couldn’t think beyond reaching my finger into that bowl of icing long enough to make a second batch.

I’ve eaten a lot of chocolate icing in my life, and Ayun’s Double Fudge Icing has the exact taste and consistency of the delicious icings I always so lovingly devoured at all those family reunions and church picnics I remember going to as a little kid. My grandmother was an excellent cook and a fantastic baker, but sadly, baking wasn’t something she did often. If she would have baked a chocolate cake with chocolate icing I’m quite sure it would have tasted just like the one I made using this recipe.

If you can be patient enough to stir the cream and sugar as it simmers and then allow the icing to cool completely in the fridge, you will find the recipe is actually pretty easy. And I guarantee, you will be handsomely rewarded. Yum-O!

Ayun’s Double Fudge Icing

Put 1 1/4 C of sugar and 1 C of heavy cream in a pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring it every now and then so it doesn’t boil all over hell and back.

Meanwhile chop 5 squares of unsweetened chocolate to toss in the pan once you’ve removed it from the heat. Stir until the chocolate has completely dissolved. Whittle in a stick of butter and then when that’s melted, follow it up with 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Resist the urge to lick the spoon at this point because those tongue blisters would take a month to heal. Napalm is napalm, no matter how sweet it might taste. Put the pan in the refrigerator and go take a cold shower.

When the icing is cold, beat the hell out of it with an electric mixer or a wooden spoon. Now you can ice that cake, if you bothered to make a cake.