In this small quaint town, there are few people that you don’t run into on a daily basis. It’s been a culture shock, a climate shock, and definitely a culinary shock since moving to this northern Canadian burg. And while there are moments where I long for my urban desert home, there are also moments of sweet and utter bliss. One of those moments happened when I met Pat.
Pat is a sweet old lady who lives just a few houses down from me. She’s a fun witted grandma with a few stories to tell. She belongs to the same Church as I do, and when you have less than 30 members in your area, you get to know them really well. Pat’s husband passed away last July, and all of her children and grandchildren have long since moved away. She’s been having trouble getting around on her own these days, so she’s moving closer to her family. We have been assisting Pat in packing up her house and finding little treasures along the way.
We stumbled across an old trunk that was filled with love letters, hand-made baby blankets and booties, knick-knacks, and a plethora of hand written recipes. My heart began to beat faster as I ran my fingers through them, and I could see Pat become excited when I asked her about them. She hasn’t cooked much since her husband passed, and it was something she loved to do. She graciously gave me a stack of intriguing recipes and I couldn’t wait to dig in.
The first one that really caught my eye was this Fluffy Brown Sugar Icing.
What I love about old recipes is the way they are written.
Pat wrote: “drops like a hair from spoon” as to know when the brown sugar mixture is ready. It was interesting, and I had to see what she meant.
Plus… hello… FLUFFY BROWN SUGAR ICING!! How could you not want to know what that tastes like?!
Sure enough, the mixture of brown sugar, water and corn syrup becomes thick like a rich caramel and when dropped from a spoon makes tiny (even smaller than pictured) strands that resemble hair.
Then you: “Pour hot syrup in a thin stream into egg whites, beating constantly.”
I thought for sure this wouldn’t work. Maybe I am just really novice when it comes to egg whites, but I assumed pouring a hot liquid into them would almost immediately deflate them.
But no, it didn’t.
In fact, it held it’s shape and gained a glossy shine.
It was amazing, and the taste is stellar. It’s like a fluffy caramel marshmallow frosting.
I dipped many things into that Fluffy Brown Sugar Icing. Chocolate covered graham crackers, pretzels, and peaches. The peaches won in my book. My husband just rolled his eyes said, “Oh, now peaches need frosting?!”
But seriously, this icing would be amazing when paired with just about anything… even a spoon.
Thanks for letting me introduce you to Pat. I have several more recipes that I can’t wait to share with you!
UPDATE: Here are some more of Pat’s Recipes: Cherry Nut Bread and Very Nice Chocolate Frosting
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Fluffy Brown Sugar Icing {Pat’s Recipes}
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 4 egg whites
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Mix brown sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil. (Be careful, as it will rise, so make sure the sides of your pan are taller). Let it boil at medium to medium high until the syrup drops like a hair from spoon (approximately 10 minutes). Remove from burner and set aside.
- Meanwhile, beat egg whites until stiff.
- SLOWLY pour the hot syrup in a THIN stream into egg whites, beating constantly. Beat until icing holds peaks, then blend in vanilla.
- Let cool to room temp, then store covered in the fridge until ready to use.
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Neely
The sugar mixture immediately got hard when I poured it in the egg white’s and they didn’t blend. I just have hard, crusty caramel stuck to my mixing bowl now. Any idea what happened?
Shawn
Sounds like you cooked your sugar for too long and it went to the crack stage. Next time cook it less and it’ll be perfect!
Rebekah
So the heat doesn’t deflate the egg whites? I’m so surprised at that. I’ll def have to try this sometime.
cheryl
can u put this on a chocolate cake…
Audrey Ray
My grandmother called this spinning a thread when it fell of the spoon. It’s just like a hair blowing in the breeze. Good memories.
Paula
Help I’ve lost the recipe for a frosting my Aunt used to make. I know she cooked part of it, but when it sat out it turned slightly hard, enough to hold it’s shape and she’d toast coconut and sprinkle on it. It’s a old recipe since I was 8 or 10 and I’m now 65. Hope someone has a recipe.
LaVern Swisher
I hope someday when my kids go thru my hand written recipes the get excited like you did going thru Pats .Thanks for sharing and wish Pat good luck .
hyacinth
Will this recipe melt in humid country like Philippines?
Shawn
I’m not sure about that. I haven’t tested it in various climates.
Lisbeth
Pat reminds me of my grandma who died last year. She loved baking.
Seamus
Hi long long will this last ?
Shawn
It needs to be used within a day or two.
Jasa Pembuatan Website
I did a search on the subject and found nearly all persons will agree with your blog.
Bren
This sounds so much like maple syrup frosting. Yum. There’s just something irresistible about linking that gooey, maple-y goodness off your fingertips.
Thank you for sharing, I must try! Really enjoyed the story too!!!
Gabrielle
Would this recipe work with Light Corn Syrup?
Shawn
Yes! 🙂
Sherrell
Wondering does this hold up to being in the freezer? I bake cupcakes and am looking for a different frosting than buttercream frosting. I tried the cooked flour frosting-big fail.
Shawn
I’m not sure if this would hold up in the freezer. My gut tells me no, but I have never tried it before. If you do try, please let me know! Thanks!
Sue
Is the frosting supposed to end up with large chunks of candy in it?
Nishi
Hi… I made this icing today…every thing came perfect..but after cool it and when I’m going to fill a cake with it it went soooo runny..my cake layers going here and there 🙁 what did I do wrong… Plzzzz help me
Ashley
Baaa!! Mine flopped! A big hard sticky mess 🙁 I cooked it for 9 minutes and it smelled burnt. I think I had the temp too high. I always try to follow the directions the first time and I don’t even use common sense. I was going to make this for chocolate cupcakes with candied bacon on top. Do you think it would taste good with that? Should I give it another go with the bacon idea or maybe I’ll try it for another cupcake :/
Shawn
Oh no! So sorry! I would definitely try it again with the chocolate cake and candied bacon. That sounds wonderful! Make sure to keep an eye on your sugar, as each stove varies!
Laura
This is also called “7-Minute Frosting”. We use it on homemade chocolate cake. OMGGGGG.
Shawn
I love it with chocolate cake too! 🙂
Gabriela
Hi,
I did the recipe and got a very nice taste, and a fluffy VERY silky look. BUT, I don’t like how the frosting becomes sticky on your teeth after you leave them on a cupcake overnight. Any thoughts on why it became sticky?
Helen
Just tried it! The first time I burnt the sugar so I had to start over but the second time seemed to work! I was a little confused as to what “hair from a spoon” meant but I just waited until the caramel mixture was sticky and flowed from a spoon nicely. I’ll have to try it a third to see if I can get that buttercream consistency. For some reason mine is more like a glossy marshmallow icing instead of a cream. Perhaps not enough egg white since I used to use extremely small eggs as that was all I had.
Jojo
I tried to make this recipe twice and both times I had trouble. When I go to beat the sugar into the egg whites, the egg whites go flat and start flying everywhere. As well as the sugar starts to get hard and I get huge chunks of sugar in my icing. Also the texture gets really sticky.
I followed the instructions to a T as well as read the comments to get hints.
What am I doing wrong?
Julie
I am wanting to make this frosting for my sisters birthday cake, does this recipe work well to decorate cakes with?
Also how many cups of frosting does this yield approximately?
Elle C.
Just did this recipe tonight! ( Happy Valentines Day BTW). It came out great, and the consisentcy and texture is just MAGIC. thanks for the recipe.
Shawn
Oh so glad you liked it! 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment! 🙂