Whipped To Perfection – How To Make Our Favourite Cream Cheese Frosting

If it were up to us, every cake, cookie and brownie would be crowned with a sweet, tangy and spectacular cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese frosting is ubiquitous when it comes to Carrot Cake and Red Velvet Cake, but it doesn’t have to stop there.

This delightful airy frosting is something that lends itself perfectly as a filling in Macarons or as a topping for a colourful and picture perfect Funfetti Birthday Cake. So, in honour of our favourite frosting in the entire world, we’re going to share our top secret recipe for a perfectly smooth and creamy Cream Cheese Frosting that dreams are made of! Scroll down and keep on reading, our fellow frosting addict!

Our Favourite Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 250g block of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature
• 120g Unsalted French Butter, softened to room temperature
• 300g Pure Icing Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Zest of ¼ Lemon
• 1/8th teaspoon Salt

Method:

1. In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the softened cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy.
2. Add icing sugar, vanilla,  lemon zest and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. If you want your frosting to be a little thicker, add a few more tablespoons of additional icing sugar.
3. Once all ingredients have been fully incorporated, use icing to frost a cake or transfer into a piping bag to create gorgeous rosettes on top of cupcakes.
4. Cover and store any leftover frosting for up to 5 days in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer.
5. After freezing, thaw in the refrigerator then beat the frosting for a few seconds so that it’s creamy again.

What To Put Cream Cheese Frosting On

This topping is great on so many things! Here are just a few suggestions:

• Red Velvet Cake
• Carrot Cake
• Banana Bread
• Banana Cake
• Fruit Tart
• Gingerbread
• Cinnamon Rolls
• Hummingbird Cake
• Vanilla Cupcakes
• Chocolate Brownies
• Macarons
• Whoopie Pies

Expert Tips For Making The Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting:

• Make sure that you are using full-fat brick cream cheese, not low fat or spreadable cream cheese from a tub. Anything other than full-fat will create a thin and sloppy frosting that is almost impossible to pipe.
• Make sure you allow your cream cheese and butter to soften to room temperature before making your frosting! Softening the butter and cream cheese helps to ensure that your ingredients will combine well and be lump free. No one likes lumpy frosting!
• If you intend to pipe your frosting, we highly recommend sifting your icing sugar prior to incorporating it into your frosting. This will ensure that there are no lumps of sugar left that may end up clogging your piping tip.
• Try your best to avoid reducing the amount of icing sugar in this recipe. Icing sugar is what keeps the frosting thick, creamy and pipeable. You can also substitute some of the icing sugar for cornstarch if you really have to cut down on the sugar.
• As tempting as it may be to keep on whipping, the minute you see it starting to look fluffy and stiff, turn that mixer off! If it goes too long it can become a runny mess.

Notes:

1. This recipe makes enough frosting to ice 12 cupcakes. If you want to fill and ice a large cake, we recommend doubling the recipe.
2. You should always refrigerate any cake, cupcake or dessert that has cream cheese frosting as the frosting can go bad at room temperature.
3. To make a variation of this frosting, feel free to use Orange Zest or whip in some melted Dark Chocolate for a delicious Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.