Toddler Friendly Frosting

Yes, all frosting is kid friendly, but when it comes to buttercream swirls, little chubby hands have a difficult time creating fancy pants cupcakes. Of course, you don’t mind what the cupcake looks like when it’s your child that decorated it; in fact, usually the final look is even more charming because it’s from the hands of your sweet child. But, if your cupcakes are destined for a crowd other than your family, I have just the recipe, and it’s the easiest frosting recipe on earth: ganache. Ganache is multi-purpose; so, if you make too much for your cupcakes or cake, you can repurpose it for truffles. It also works well as filling for crepes, a drizzle over ice cream, or sandwich cookies, whether they're your cut and rolled ones or animal cookies straight from the box.


My daughter had a blast dipping the cupcakes in the ganache for our Valentine's day treats. I demonstrated once how to dip the cupcakes, and, to my pleasant surprise, she mimicked the technique perfectly. She turned out four perfectly frosted cupcakes, one of which is in the photo. You can't tell the difference between hers and mine! So, I gave her four more. At that point, the temptation became too great, and she added a quality check step to her job. With each cupcake she dipped, she took a big lick off the top and squealed, “Mmm, ah, good!”

Ganache
Makes 1 cup


 2/3 cup heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons corn syrup


Directions

Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Place chocolate and corn syrup in a small bowl. Pour hot cream over chocolate mixture, and stir until smooth.