White Chocolate Filling (or Frosting)

You can use this as a filling for the Home Style Chocolate Cupcakes or the Home Style Chocolate Cake, or it can be used as a frosting on any cake or cupcakes. White chocolate is not technically real chocolate…it is the cocoa butter that is extracted when cocoa powder is made. Be sure to use a white chocolate that is made with real cocoa butter. Lower quality white chocolates are made with hydrogenated vegetable oil (shortening) and have a far inferior flavor, and will leave an unpleasant coating in your mouth. Real cocoa butter will melt in your mouth, giving that great, smooth, sensuous feeling we get when we eat high quality chocolate. The white chocolate must be carefully and slowly melted or it will be grainy and the recipe won't work.

6 ounces excellent quality white chocolate,
chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
1 tablespoon half and half

Set up your mise en place. (See the Helpful Hints section of this web site.) Bring about 2 cups of water to a boil, and then pour it into a large bowl. Place the white chocolate in a heat-resistant small bowl, cover it tightly with plastic wrap, and place the small bowl into the larger one, making sure that no water, not even one drop, gets into the chocolate. Leave the bowl in the hot water until most of the chocolate is melted, about five minutes. Check every few minutes, stirring each time with a wire whisk until all of the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Meanwhile, beat the butter with the powdered sugar on low speed until it is blended (it will be crumbly at first), then increase the speed and beat it on high speed for 2 minutes until it is fluffy. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula, add the cream, and beat again until smooth. Add the white chocolate and beat on high speed for 2 minutes. The filling will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for two weeks. Bring the frosting to room temperature before using it.

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