Cream Cheese Frosting

This cream cheese frosting is sweet and tangy and is perfect for decorating cakes, like my carrot cake. Flavor it with your favorite extract. I like to use vanilla, but almond is delicious as well. You can also add a little strawberry juice to make the frosting pink and taste like fresh strawberries.

I tint my frosting with gel tints because they have a rich, deep color and a little goes a long way so that means that it doesn’t thin the frosting too much causing the need to add more powdered sugar.

I have used this cream cheese frosting recipe to decorate Christmas cut out sugar cookies with my kids. The look won’t be as crisp and perfect as royal icing, but the flavor with the sugar cookie is amazing!

Ingredients:

• 1 block of cream cheese 8 ounces
• 1 stick of butter (I use unsalted)
• 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 3-4 cups of powdered sugar

Directions:

Bring an 8 ounce block of cream cheese and a stick of butter up to room temperature. In a stand mixer or in a large bowl, whip the two together until fluffy (2-3 minutes on medium speed). Add 1 tsp. of vanilla extract and 1 cup of powdered sugar and mix until incorporated. Add more powdered sugar one cup at a time until the frosting is the consistency that you need for decorating a cake. I usually need 2-3 more cups of powdered sugar for a thick pipe-able frosting. This recipe is just enough for a double layer 9 inch cake with a border at the top and base. I would double the recipe if I want a lot of decorations on the cake or thick layers of frosting on the outside of the cake.

I refrigerate my cakes since this recipe has cream cheese in it. You can freeze leftover frosting for up to 3 months. Store it in a plastic container with a tightly fitting lid and thaw it in the refrigerator for one day. Remix it to return the frosting to the consistency it was prior to freezing.

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