It's Raining, It's Pouring.....

It is pouring rain today.....which, contrary to popular belief it doesn't do very often. It threatens to rain all the time, but to actually be able to hear the rain fall on the roof? Rarely happens. So, what's a girl to do? Go to Powell's Books in Portland, of course, but not before baking a batch of double chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting, and not just any frosting, but swiss meringue buttercream frosting!
I  love cupcakes! I've had cupcakes across the country in Miami, Chicago, Seattle, and Portland and I even sent cupcakes to my family from Georgetown Cupcakes in Washington, DC, but no one makes a better cupcake than Butter Cream in Coral Gables, FL. Their cupcakes are rich and moist with a most delicate rim that offers a tiny bit of crunch to offset the softness of the rest of the cake. And the frosting is piled high and delicious! I've been craving one for the last 18 months, but none of the cupcakeries in Portland even come close. So, I decided to make my own and I stumbled upon the most wonderful frosting in all the land!
I have long admired Publix bakeries for the frosting they use to ice their cakes. It is soft, not gritty like most frosting, and perfectly sweet. As I was perusing my cupcake cookbook looking for a frosting for cupcakes I came across a Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I was going to make 7 Minute Frosting (courtesy of America's Test Kitchen) but since I only have a stand mixer I wasn't able to whisk the frosting in a double boiler. The Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe called for using my mixer bowl as the double boiler so problem solved and in the process I discovered that this is the exact frosting used at Publix! It was wonderfully smooth and beautifully sweet....like a little bite of heaven! I used a recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, but it can be found here. After whipping all of the ingredients, I added 4 sticks of room temperature butter and beat for 2 minutes. No wonder it tasted so divine!
Now, I am off to Powell's to listen to something other than the rain falling on the roof and enjoy a cup of coffee and a book talk. Wish I could bring a cupcake....