Chocolate Buttercream Cake

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I was really excited about baking this recipe, since I love halloween. I made this cake for an adult's halloween party, and they hated the liqueur in the frosting. All the guests said it made it taste too sweet and kind of weird. Overall the guests loved the cake but hated the frosting

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I wanted to try this buttercream recipe on my pound cake recipe, so I made the icing only and did not include the orange flavor. Overall, the taste was okay?as someone else mentioned, not the texture I personally prefer, but it was still good.

My main issue was working with the syrup. The first time I made it, by the time I?d finished beating the egg whites, the syrup had already hardened. I started over with the syrup and it worked out fine. I would strongly suggest that you beat the egg whites first and then prepare the syrup. That way, you can pour the syrup right from the saucepan into the egg whites (slowly, of course.

Also, though I only made half the recipe, it took much longer than 10-15 minutes for the egg/syrup mixture to cool. I was also paranoid about the mixture becoming runny, so I let it cool for another 5 min or so. At least 20 min total--maybe more. You can feel the temperature changing on the outside of the bowl, so I let it run until the bowl was cool to the touch and no longer warm at all. I know that my stand mixer was begging for relief after it was all said and done!

As I added the butter, I was sure that I?d done something wrong and that I would have to stick the bowl in the refrigerator. However, miraculously, as I added in the last 2-3 tablespoons of butter, it all came together perfectly.

This is definitely more complex than the icing recipes that I normally make, so I?m glad that I tried it out and that it actually worked. I won?t be making it again until I have a lot of time to spare. I made it a few weeks ago and if memory serves me correctly, it took me about an hour to make it (including the syrup re-do. Thankfully, a lot of that was inactive prep time, but it still took a while.

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This cake was great. So moist and light and not too sweet. I was worried about the buttercream since it was difficult to make and very buttery but it went so well with the chocolate cake.

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The cake came out very well, even though I baked it in 2 9 1/2 inch round pans (had to bake an additional 5 or 10 minutes. I did it as a 4-layer cake, and it came out looking fantastic! The frosting is certainly what you think of when you think "wedding cake" or anything from a professional bakery. Followed the directions and it came out just right (as some others have noted, if you don't wait quite long enough for the mixture to cool and your butter melts, just pop it in the fridge for a few minutes and start it in the mixer again... works like a charm!.
I wouldn't make this frequently because I'm not a fan of the texture of traditional buttercream like this, but the flavor is great (I also upped the vanilla and deleted the orange flavoring. Not too sweet, as some "quick-buttercreams" can be.

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Yes I too melted the butter. I stopped adding butter as soon as I saw it was going liquidish. Popped the bowl in the freezer to cool it off, then continuted to add the remaining butter and viola perfect consistancy. Room temp means ROOM TEMP! 240 is softball stage for those who have candy thermometer like mine(never where I can find it.

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I have never been disappointed in a recipe I've gotten from the Food Network. However, I have to believe there is an error in this recipe. The cake was bitter, packy--not at all as Ina described it. Her recipes are always GREAT! I was truly disappointed.

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I didn't make the cake, but I did make the frosting and it was so good! This was my first time making Italian buttercream (I usually do Swiss and it was really good, but I think next time I will just do Swiss because it is less labor intensive and you don't have to worry about getting little sugar crystals in the frosting. It's so soft and fluffy and the butter is not overpowering. I will be using this again, but only for special occasions because it is very expensive to make.

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In the recipe instructions Ina said if the frosting seems watery to put it in the frig for a little bit and then continue whipping. I thought I had ruined my frosting (and was considering a Plan B so I put it in the frig for about 10 minutes and then continued whipping and added the last two sticks of butter. Like magic, it started coming together. I was so surprised and by the time I added the triple sec, vanilla and food coloring I was so excited I couldn't wait to get it on the cake. I made some extra little loafs of the cake to leave for the family and gave my husband some with his dinner--he loved it so much he was using his finger to get every bit of icing off the plate!!! You did it again Ina, thank you so much!!!!

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The frosting is delicous! Very rich, creamy and one that I would use only for very special occasions because it is labor intensive and expensive to make. When the instructions say to allow the mixture of egg whites and simple syrup to come completely to room temperature - do it, the butter will melt.
It will go in my book of family favorites

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The chocolate cake was moist, easy to make and very good. The buttercream was difficult for a novice, but I stuck with it and it came out perfectly. The leftovers were devoured by my coworkers.