Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken into small pieces
• 1 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons brandy or 1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum

Recipe

• 1 melt chocolate with 2 tablespoons of the butter.
• 2 reserve.
• 3 place whole egg and egg yoks in medium mixer bowl, beat at high speed 1 minute.
• 4 reserve.
• 5 measure sugar and water into 1 quart nonaluminum saucepan, stir well.
• 6 cook over low heat until mixture simmers, cover and simmer 5 minutes.
• 7 uncover sugar syrup, simmer slowly over low heat until it reaches soft ball stage-- 234 degrees to 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.
• 8 while beating at high speed, immediately drizzle the sugar syrup into the reserved egg mixture.
• 9 continue beating until bottom of bowl is cool to touch.
• 10 gradually beat reserved chocolate mixture and the brandy into sugar mixture until thoroughly blended.
• 11 place remaining butter in small mixer bowl, beat at medium speed until fluffy.
• 12 while beating chocolate mixture at high speed,add beaten butter, about 1 tablespoon at a time.
• 13 when all butter has een added, beat about 5 minutes.
• 14 refrigerate buttercream, stirring every 10 minutes, until firm enough to spread, usually 30 to 40 minutes.