Hello,
I just made this and I have to say that the flavor is AMAZING!!! Everyone should try it. It's the most delicious frosting I've ever had. I'm going to try the shortening-based one next to compare.
The only problem that I ran into was that my sugar syrup mixture recrystalized as it cooled (as in, it turned into a big hard block of flavored sugar), which resulted in a very grainy end-product, obviously. I know that sugar syrups can be tricky and hard to get right. I'm not sure if I agitated to much, cooled it too fast, had the heat wrong, etc. It could have also been that I didn't have enough liquid since I reduced the water by 1 Tbsp. I'm going to try this again to get it right, but I wanted to ask--are you whisking constantly and briskly the entire time (before and during boiling) for the 2 mins? Is there a certain temperature that the mixture is supposed to come to/be at on a candy thermometer? Finally, what is the texture supposed to be like when it's finished cooling--does it remain a liquidy, syrupy texture or does it get thicker?
Thank you for your help and for the great recipe!!