The right way to Make Cream Cheese Frosting

Candy & tangy, stiff & pipeable. A easy mix of butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. That is the right cream cheese frosting recipe for all of your desserts, cupcakes, and cookies!

I’ve a love/hate relationship with cream cheese frosting. LOVE the flavour, hate the consistency. Or fairly that it’s so troublesome to work with.

Although I’m not a cream cheese fan (you’ll by no means catch me ordering a cheesecake), there’s something insanely scrumptious about cream cheese frosting. Particularly when it’s paired with sure flavors like Carrot Cake, Hummingbird Cake, and Pumpkin Cake.

Frosting a cake with it, nonetheless, is the bane of my existence. It’s SO troublesome to work with. It’s gentle and not possible to get a pleasant, clean look so I at all times simply go for one thing rustic like a swirl.

I’ve resigned myself to the truth that that is simply how cream cheese frosting *is* although and accepted the truth that cream cheese frosted desserts won’t ever be pristine and ideal however they will be scrumptious and that’s all that issues.

Through the years I’ve tried numerous totally different combos and ratios of cream cheese to butter to powdered sugar and might lastly say I’ve discovered one which I like and that works greatest for me. It’s the most steady one I’ve made too. Yay!

So, let’s get to it.

The right way to Make Cream Cheese Frosting

It solely takes a couple of easy substances to make a scrumptious and steady cream cheese frosting. Right here’s what you’ll want:

• unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• powdered sugar (sifted)
• vanilla (or every other flavoring)
• cream cheese (chilled! learn on for why)
• cornstarch or meringue powder (non-obligatory, learn on)

The strategy is straightforward. Whereas most recipes name for beating butter and cream cheese first, I beat the butter and powdered sugar first and add the (chilled) cream cheese on the very finish.

I realized about this method — beating the butter and powdered sugar collectively first — from my pal Janice over at The Bake College. There may be some science behind it that I gained’t attempt to clarify however it made sense to me so I gave it a go and it labored nice!

Utilizing Chilled Cream Cheese

Cream cheese is already considerably gentle even straight out of the fridge so there’s actually no purpose to have it come to room temperature. Utilizing it chilled makes for a stiffer frosting. The frosting will clearly soften the longer it sits at room temperature however it begins out stiffer and simpler to work with this fashion.

I take my cream cheese out of the fridge after I begin making the frosting. By the point I’m prepared so as to add it it has been out of the fridge for 10mins or so.

I reduce it up into small cubes (about 1 Tbsp every) and add them one after the other whereas the buttercream is whipping. As a result of the cream cheese is chilly you wish to ensure you incorporate it effectively in order that there aren’t any chunks of cream cheese in your frosting. Simply give it an excellent whip as soon as it’s all been added.

The right way to Thicken Cream Cheese Icing

The simplest and most typical solution to thicken cream cheese frosting is so as to add powdered sugar however this might make a candy frosting even sweeter.

For those who discover that your frosting remains to be too skinny you possibly can add both cornstarch or meringue powder a little bit bit at a time on the finish to assist thicken it up. Add it slowly and solely sufficient to get the frosting to the consistency you want.

That’s it! Every little thing it is advisable to make a scrumptious, decorator-friendly cream cheese frosting.