Icing Disaster!

[slinkycat]

Followed a recipe for chocolate icing, 2oz butter & 4oz chocolate melted in bowl over pan,add 1 beaten egg, remove from heat & beat in 6oz sieved icing sugar.

It looked more like uncooked mississippi mud pie filling than icing so I added more icing sugar, quite a lot more in fact to try to make it "spreadable" as the recipe said, rather than "pourable" as it actually was.

The recipe photo showed an icing that looked similar to buttercream, mine was by now the consistency of peanut butter :( I gave up and sent hubby to get some betty crockers! Where did I go wrong?

[Wharton]

You didn't go wrong, you've got a husband who runs errands :-)

[Sparkles62]

Was it still warm? Would imagine that it would thicken as it cools down and the choc sets. X

[EcclesCake]

My best guess is that the chocolate seized due to the temperature in the bain marie being too high.

When melting chocolate the bowl shouldn't be in contact with the water and the water should be barely simmering.

[EDDIE51]

Too much sugar , you should have just let it cool a bit.

[treetops1]

Try this one next time, I think by heating the ingredients you were getting into more of a fudge topping.
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1935652/delicious-chocolate-icing

[slinkycat]

Lol wharton! Thanks for all the answers, think it was probably a combination of being too warm and me overcompensating for the runniness, although the recipe said to add the icing sugar while it was still warm.
All was not lost though, I was staring glumly at the mess in the bowl ( I hate waste) and decided to roll it into balls, coat in cocoa and pass it off as chocolate truffles, everyone loved them:)

[slinkycat]

That sounds good treetops, use bbc recipes a lot and they are always reliable.

[Wharton]

I hope the errand boy got one :-)

[slinkycat]

Yes he had two, if he fetches the morning paper he can have another tomorrow.

[LyndaB]

you should have let it cool down I think - the chocolate would have partly set, as would the butter, then it would have been spreadable. Patience is a virtue!