Cream Cheese Frosting

Last week I was asked to make red velvet cupcakes for my friend's bridal shower. The shower was hosted by her lovely bridesmaids, and I was in charge of the dessert portion of the meal.  Red velvet is the bride-to-be's favorite cake, but not one I was very familiar with. After much recipe researching, I made a batch of these minis. If you delve into red velvet history, you might find that the cake is traditionally made with a custard-based frosting. However, cream cheese frosting is now commonly used and sounded much more appealing to me. Google cream cheese frosting, and your recipe choices will be all over the place...lots of sugar, minimal sugar, sour cream, lots of butter, no butter...etc. I adapted this recipe from Martha Stewart's Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe, and the results were absolutely delicious.

Cream Cheese Frosting


Ingredients
-8 ounces cream cheese, softened
-8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
-1 1/2 c powdered sugar
-2 tsp vanilla

*yields about two cups of frosting

Instructions:
1. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is easily passes through the beaters.
2. Add the butter in two, 4 tbsp additions, beating well after each addition.
3. Add the powdered sugar and beat until incorporated.
4. Add the vanilla, beat to incorporate.
5. Frost at will!

Pictures and Tips:

Step 1. Place the softened cream cheese into a medium-sized bowl. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until it passes easily through the beaters.

Step 2. Add the butter in two additions, beating after each addition.

 Steps 3 & 4. Add the powdered sugar and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat until it is incorporated as well. The frosting will have a smooth, creamy texture.

Step 5. Frost at will....I filled a piping bag to frost the mini cupcakes.

The piping bag and tip gives a lot of control and allows you to make cool patterns, but if you don't have one...you can achieve a similar effect by filling the corner of a plastic bag and cutting the tip of the corner off.

A picture of the finished product :)


I highly recommend this recipe...it has just the right balance of sweetness from the powdered sugar and tang from the cream cheese. It worked great for these red velvet minis, but would also be delicious with chocolate cake or carrot cake.

In my next post, I'll show you how to make cute chocolate cupcake toppers to jazz up your next cupcake endeavor.

Thanks for visiting,

-The Delicious Dabbler