Raspberry Icing

Christmas bell-ringing around, the festive season is embellishing the world. I can sense how each kitchen is bustling with amateur bakers struggling and with expert bakers succeeding in their results. How can you end your Christmas without a cake? I thought of including Christmas flavours like Chocolate and Raspberry into my treat. Also, how about including Beetroot in your Chocolate cake and Raspberry in your Butter icing… sounds healthy and tasty!!! Thrilled to bake a super moist, uniquely flavoured Chocolate Beetroot Cake. Added Bonus recipe, relish this heavenly treat slathered generously with a slightly tart, creamy Raspberry icing. It’s the ultimate therapy for Chocoholics to indulge in this outrageously moist and soft cake topped with silky, smooth, sweet, and tart raspberry icing. Click here for the chocolate cake recipe.

Click here to jump to recipe card!

For Raspberry icing, you require minimal ingredients. 

1. Raspberry jam seedless– this is easily available in markets. Use only seedless jam to get smooth icing. If you cannot fetch Raspberry jam, can try with mixed berry jam as well but it should be seedless. Another alternative, prepare your homemade seedless jam. Cook and mash equal quantities of berry and sugar, along with a few tsps of lemon juice in a pan. Strain it through a steel sieve thoroughly by pressing with a spatula. Transfer this puree into the pan again and reduce it till it forms the jam consistency. 
2. Butter– use any brand of unsalted butter, but it has to be kept at room temperature, should be softened while whipping.
3. Powdered sugar– simply blend the granulated sugar into powdered form. Sieve it if required. Or you can buy the confectioner’s sugar or Icing sugar from the stores.

Let’s get into the recipe.

Powder the white sugar crystals into a fine powder and sift it to get rid of any lumps. Or can buy store-bought Icing/confectioner’s sugar. Keep the unsalted butter at room temperature. It should be softened, not hard nor melted. Measure and keep all the ingredients ready.

Take a wide glass or steel bowl. Add the softened butter to the bowl.

Then add the seedless Raspberry jam to the same bowl.

Whip it in medium speed for a minute till the jam and butter get mixed well.

After a minute, take a spatula and scrape the sides and bottom to check if any butter or jam is untouched and unmixed.

Then again whip for another minute till you cream the butter with jam. Now add the powdered, sifted sugar to the bowl and mix it with the beaten mixture without switching on the hand mixer. This prevents the sugar from flying as smoke.

Now switch on the mixer and run at medium speed for a minute.

Again, scrape the sides and bottom with a spatula to check if any sugar is untouched or unmixed. Add a pinch of salt, (if using unsalted butter) to balance the tartness from the jam and sweetness from the sugar. Now, whip it for another 60-90 seconds, till it combines well with the thick and creamy frosting.

Frosting can be prepared a day prior to the cake preparation. It can be refrigerated and stored for a week as well. The fat content (butter) in the frosting hardens while cooling. So, don’t forget to bring it back to room temperature before frosting the cake.

Recipe Card

For Raspberry icing-

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 0 minutes

Cuisine: International

Category: Desserts

Serves: sufficient for a 9” cake

Author: Manimala

For Raspberry Icing –

Ingredients-

Raspberry jam seedless – ¾ cup (240) gm

Powdered sugar (sifted) – 1 ¼ – 1 ½ cup (

Unsalted Butter (softened) – 1 cup (230 gm)

Salt – a pinch (optional)

Instructions-

1. Powder the white sugar crystals into a fine powder and sift it to get rid of any lumps. Or can buy store-bought Icing/confectioner’s sugar.
2. Keep the salted butter at room temperature. It should be softened, not hard nor melted.
3. Measure and keep all the ingredients ready.
4. Take a wide glass or steel bowl. Add the softened butter to the bowl, then add the seedless Raspberry jam to the same bowl.
5. Whip it in medium speed for a minute till the jam and butter get mixed well.
6. After a minute, take a spatula and scrape the sides and bottom to check if any butter or jam is untouched and unmixed.
7. Then again whip for another minute till you cream the butter with jam.
8. Now add the powdered, sifted sugar to the bowl and mix it with the beaten mixture without switching on the hand mixer. This prevents the sugar from flying as smoke.
9. Now switch on the mixer and run at medium speed for a minute.
10. Again, scrape the sides and bottom with a spatula to check if any sugar is untouched or unmixed. Add a pinch of salt, (if using unsalted butter) to balance the tartness from the jam and sweetness from the sugar.
11. Now, whip it for another 60-90 seconds, till it combines well with the thick and creamy frosting.
12. Frosting can be prepared a day prior to the cake preparation. It can be refrigerated and stored for a week as well. The fat content (butter) in the frosting hardens while cooling. So, don’t forget to bring it back to room temperature before frosting the cake.

Notes:

• Try to get seedless raspberry jam from the stores. If not available, try with seedless mixed berry jam. If, both the options are not available, don’t panic 🙃😃👇.
• Prepare your homemade jam in a few steps with minimal ingredients. Cook and mash equal quantities of Raspberry and sugar, along with a few tsps of lemon juice in a pan. Strain it through a steel sieve thoroughly by pressing with a spatula. Transfer this puree into the pan again and reduce it till it forms the transparent jam consistency. Though this needs to go the extra mile, it’s worth trying as it’s economical too.
• You can choose any brand of salted butter. Alternatively, you can also choose unsalted butter. In that case, add a pinch of salt to balance the sweet and tart flavours in the frosting.
• To cream the butter, it has to be kept at room temperature. It should be in the softened form while whipping. It should be neither hard nor melted while whipping.
• If you use granulated sugar, your frosting ends in a gritty texture. So, always use powdered sugar to get a soft and creamy frosting texture.
• For powdered sugar simply blend the granulated sugar into powdered form. Sift it if required. Or you can buy the confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar from the stores.
• Frosting can be prepared a day prior to the cake preparation. It can be refrigerated and stored for a week as well.
• The only challenge is the fat content (butter) in the frosting hardens while cooling. So, don’t forget to bring it back to room temperature before frosting the cake. 
• It should be kept for a couple of hours at room temperature to soften it. After the given time, vigorously stir with a spatula or spoon to revert the soft, smooth, and creamy texture. It’s highly perfect now for frosting the cake.