fluffy marshmallow frosting

Today was Gowie’s birthday! You all remember Gowie. Gowie (grandmother), the one who gave me my KitchenAid and still supplies me with pantryfuls of candy. She turned 22 again. I remember when I turned 22 and we were the same age. That was weird. Then I remember when I turned 23 and surpassed my 22-year-old Gowie. That was weird, too, but I think it was that year that I realized why she turns 22 years old every birthday. But, despite that realization, my age kept on churning to my current ripe 25 and she is still standing firm at 22. I like it. She is totally awesome and loves Jesus and likes to have more fun than lots of people I know who are younger than 22. She knows how to rap, knows sweet lingo, loves Neil Diamond (whoops, that slipped in), and my cousins and I were even going to name our rock band after her. It was going to be called, simply, Gowie.

You may be wondering why her name is Gowie. It’s not too complicated. My twin sister and I are weird and had our own language when we were babies. We’d babble back and forth and absolutely knew what the other was saying, but in real life, it sounded something like, “abbeldabblick gorkadips.” Well, our two older cousins could speak English and called Gowie “Granny” and we wanted to be cool like them and also call Gowie “Granny”. “Granny” came out as Gowie. And, so, now the whole world calls her Gowie. I’ll bet her birth certificate just says “Gowie.” I’ll bet she introduces herself to strangers as “Gowie.”

So, yes. Today was Gowie’s birthday and we most certainly had a birthday party. There would be no other way. We sang, took pictures, passed around sentimental cards, and ate the cake I made her for her party. I wanted it to be special. After all, Gowie was turning 22 again and it needed to be her cake. She loves chocolate. Check. Chocolate cake. I didn’t want to it be, like, double double double chocolate, so I made this really fun, yummy, stick-your-fingers-in-the-cake frosting. I used this when I made my sister’s wedding cakes and it’s really easy to decorate with. You just plop it on and spread. And since it’s so fluffy and pretty and cloud-like, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

I got this recipe from King Arthur Flour’s website (they make the bomb flour, by the way). I changed the title because the frosting is really like fluffy marshmallow topping.

fluffy marshmallow frosting
ingredients
2 large egg whites
1 cup natural cane sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup water
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

create
Place the 2 egg whites in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat until the egg whites are foamy and thick. They should mound in the bowl, without holding a peak. Set them aside while you prepare the sugar syrup.
Combine the sugar, cream of tartar, water, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. The sugar should be dissolved. If the sugar hasn’t dissolved, cook and stir a bit more until it has.
Begin to beat the egg whites and immediately pour the boiling sugar syrup into the egg whites in a slow stream, beating all the while. As you beat, the mixture will thicken.
Once all the syrup is added, stir in the vanilla and continue to beat until the frosting is thick and will hold a peak, about 3 minutes. While the frosting is still a little warm, decorate your cake.

Happy Birthday, Gowie. I hope we all stay 22 like you.