Sour Cream Frosting
What ruins sour cream frosting is not the recipe but the whey — even a thick 30 % sour cream holds enough of it to make a cake slide apart by evening. A night in cheesecloth pulls that water out and concentrates the flavour into something properly creamy. Granulated sugar has no place here; it draws the liquid straight back.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Rest
- 8 h
- Total
- 8 h 15 min
- Servings
- 12
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 200 kcal
Ingredients
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What to use instead
If your sour cream is on the thin side, beat in 150 g of cold cream cheese; you get body without gelatine.
Makes: about 600 g — enough for a 22 cm cake with 3 layers, or an 8-layer honey cake
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Strain overnight
Line a sieve with four layers of cheesecloth, set it over a bowl, add the sour cream and refrigerate overnight. Expect 150–200 ml of whey to drain off.
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Step 2: Chill the equipment
Put the bowl and beaters in the freezer for 10 minutes. Cold is half of this frosting's stability.
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Step 3: Start whipping
Whip the drained sour cream on medium for a minute, until it is smooth and slightly lighter in texture.
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Step 4: Add the sugar
Add the icing sugar in three additions, whipping 20 seconds after each. Icing sugar only — granulated dissolves slowly and thins the cream.
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Step 5: Whip to soft peaks
Another 1–2 minutes brings it to soft peaks. Stop there: like cream, full-fat sour cream will break into butter and whey if pushed.
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Step 6: Fill the cake
Fold in the vanilla, salt and zest. Spread while the frosting is still cold, then let the cake soak in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Keep the drained whey — it makes excellent pancakes and quick soda breads.
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Swap
If your sour cream is on the thin side, beat in 150 g of cold cream cheese; you get body without gelatine.
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Variation
For mousse cakes, stream in 8 g of gelatine bloomed in 40 ml water and melted to 40 °C at the end of whipping.
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Storage
Use the frosting the day you make it. The assembled cake keeps up to 3 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 12 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 200 kcal | 2,400 kcal |
| Protein | 3 g | 36 g |
| Fat | 16 g | 192 g |
| Carbohydrates | 11 g | 132 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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