December 17, 2009

cream cheese frosting



Frosting is a foreign term to me - usually I'd say icing. But when it has cream cheese in it, I feel like it just has to be called frosting. I made this to go with gingerbread cupcakes, but I can imagine it just as happily on carrot cake, or chocolate cake, or basically any other kind of cake. Those cupcakes are delicious enough not to be a mere vehicle for frosting, but you'd want to make sure whatever you paired this stuff with could stand up to its impact. Otherwise you may just find yourself eating it with a spoon (not that there's a damn thing wrong with that).

And the nice thing is that it's the Joy of Cooking recipe. I tried it because of Slashfood, which calls it "the last cream cheese frosting recipe you'll ever need".

Cream Cheese Frosting
From The Joy of Cooking

8 oz cold cream cheese*
5 tbsp softened butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered (confectioner's/icing) sugar, sifted after measuring, plus extra to taste

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla together with an electric mixer until smooth and combined. Gradually add 2 cups powdered (icing) sugar, and then add more sifted powdered (icing) sugar until it reaches a sweetness you like.

* Cold cream cheese really does make a difference, but it shouldn't be super-hard - just straight out of the fridge.

6 comments:

Caroline said...

My absolute favorite frosting!! When in doubt... I go with this FROSTING and it's always a hit!!! I love your blog, all the recipes, photos.. everything!!

jen said...

tried this frosting and maybe it was my really high expectations, but i didn't really like the frosting --like, at all :( and i made the gingerbread cupcakes mostly so that the frosting would have something to sit on :) felt like i followed the diretions pretty well, but it really just tasted like butter mixed with cream cheese to me.

Philomena said...

Hi Jen - how sad that you didn't like the frosting! Maybe you needed to put more sugar in - I put in considerably more than the 2 cups (in fact, it's really best not to think about how much I put in), but one of the things I like about this recipe is that you build your way gradually to a flavour you like. I'm really sorry that it disappointed you.

Christie @ Fig&Cherry said...

Yum! I'm a big fan of cream cheese icing/frosting. It's particularly good with vegie/fruit cakes like carrot, banana or orange.

Mark said...

Love this basic recipe. Once in a while it tastes too sweet without body (I guess depending on the cream cheese); I'll add in some pure tupelo or wildflower honey. Maybe just a tablespoon. Gives it some light and tangy character.

Anonymous said...

I use at least 4 cups of powdered sugar in this same recipe and it turns out beautiful! I only put 2 cups in one time and it was terrible!

Post a Comment