We were chatting about the Ankarsrum stand mixer<\/a> in a meeting the other month when one of my colleagues casually dropped a shocking baking tip.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I love to use the dough roller attachment to make frosting,\u201d she mentioned, then moved on to another topic. I, meanwhile, was stunned.<\/p>\n The dough roller? As in, the incredible but very bread-<\/em>specific mixing attachment<\/a>?<\/p>\n As soon as the meeting ended, I reached out for more details. And in the process, unlocked my new favorite way to make frosting.<\/p>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n Photography by Danielle Sykes; food styling by Liz Neily<\/p>\n<\/div> For those unfamiliar, the Ankarsrum is a Swedish stand mixer<\/a> beloved for its powerful engine, stable base, open bowl, and unique attachments. One attachment, in particular, really stands out: the dough roller, which has a ridged cylindrical shape and was designed for bread doughs, effectively mimicking the gentle, steady pressure of hand kneading, leading to stronger doughs with better gluten development.\u00a0<\/p>\n At first, I couldn\u2019t imagine how that attachment could be used to make buttercream; typically, buttercream recipes call for beating the ingredients using a paddle or whisk attachment. (And to be clear, the Ankarsrum’s traditional whisk attachments do <\/em>make great frosting.)\u00a0<\/p>\n So I put the dough roller to the test, making batch after batch of buttercream frosting: beating room temperature butter until smooth, then adding confectioners\u2019 sugar and a dash of milk and mixing until light and fluffy. To my surprise, my colleague was right. Though the dough roller may be designed for bread dough, the attachment\u2019s gentle motion also produces silky buttercream without incorporating air into the mixture, resulting in frosting that spreads easily with a glossy, ultra-smooth finish. Other mixing options, like a paddle attachment or a hand mixer, whip air into frosting as it mixes, which results in small air pockets that disrupt the smooth finish you might be going for.<\/p>\n Another key factor is the Ankarsrum\u2019s bowl scraper attachment, which seamlessly scrapes the frosting from the side of the bowl as it turns. As a result, you don\u2019t have to stop and scrape the bowl yourself, streamlining the whole process.<\/p>\n And finally, there\u2019s the extra-large mixing bowl. I always make big batches of frosting, whether because I\u2019m decorating a slab cake<\/a> or want to make sure I have extra frosting for final decorative flourishes. (Nothing is worse than starting to frost a cake, only to run out of frosting and stopping to make another batch; plus, most types of frosting freeze beautifully, should you have any excess.) The 7.4 quart capacity of the Ankarsrum means I can whip up big batches with ease \u2014 and without worrying my mixer\u2019s engine is going to go on strike.<\/p>\n See it in action:\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Ankarsrum](\"https:\/\/www.kingarthurbaking.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/scaled_small\/public\/2022-10\/Ankarsrum-Original-Stand-Mixer-4942.jpg?itok=-YRAaxGs\")
<\/p>\nWhy the dough roller makes great buttercream\u00a0<\/h3>\n