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Cream Cheese Frosting Help

I love carrot cake. And carrot cake is just not carrot cake without the requisite cream cheese frosting. But I don't like what my cream cheese frosting does--that is, to drip down the sides of the cake as I'm trying to put it on! Does anyone have a recipe for cream cheese frosting that is stiffer than mine? Otherwise, I'm thinking of going with a whipped white chocolate ganache instead. Somebody please stop me before I make a terrible mistake!

15 Comments:

I use 8 oz. cream cheese, 1 stick butter. Beat well, add powder sugar about 2 lb. or so, a bit of milk to thin it out. I use a stand mixer and let it do the work, maybe you arent using enough powder sugar.

Why is your cream cheese icing runny? What is your recipe?
The standard that most folks use is:

8oz. cream cheese (softened)
1/4 lb butter (softened)
2-4 tsp vanilla
about 1 lb sifted powdered sugar
Cream the butter and cream cheese, add the vanilla, then add the sugar by cups until you have the consistency you like. Should be nice and thick. I often even add a few tbsp milk for creaminess.

There are other recipes out there also for this type of icing, but this one is the standard. There are some tasty variations using orange and pineapple too. Also some using honey rather than sugar, and one with whipped cream.

Cream cheese icing should never be runny though...

2 packages softened cream cheese
enough maple syrup (good stuff) to make it sweet and yummy

whip until smooth

@WSLunch: I like your "fat" ratio: one package of cream cheese (8 oz) to one stick of butter (4 oz). But I add one cup of powdered sugar and one teaspoon of pure vanilla extract and then whir it in the stand mixer. And that's it.

@buffy: Not sure of your cake size, so you might want to double the above recipe. I used it to frost 12 cupcakes.

I use the same recipe as Susquehanna, that is: 8 oz cream cheese, 4 oz softened butter, 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. It's delicious, stiff and not too sweet. The key is to incorporate the ingredients without whipping it. Overprocessing the cream cheese will make it runny, and adding too much air to the frosting will make it soft, at least in my experience.

I use 8oz cream cheese (it has to be regular full fat), 1 cup of granulated organic sugar and 1 tsp vanilla... that's it. I beat it together with a hand mixer. It's usually pretty stiff and sometimes I thin it out with a drizzle of heavy cream.

there is a good one very similiar, if not the same, to sadiepix's -you can find it on the McCormick (McCormick spices) web site..I've used it on red velvet cake--this is not a "drippy" kind of frosting and tastes great too!

cream cheese frosting should not drip. It should be spreadable. Don't add milk to it unless you need to thin it and then add tsp at a time.

Ina's cream cheese frosting for her coconut cake is fabulous. I think she uses 16oz of cream cheese but I'm not sure. Been a while since I made it and, of course, the book is at home and I'm not. Her recipe might be on the FN website though. Good luck!

This should hold up...Try to maintain the stiffness of the cream cheese when you beat it with the butter.

Ingredients

1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
1/2 C. butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 Tbs. genuine vanilla extract

Directions

To make frosting, beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth; beat in vanilla until well-mixed. Gradually add confectioner's sugar until it is all incorporated. Frost cake.

Hillary
Chew on That

Make sure the cake is nice and cool before icing!

Never use anything but full fat cream cheese. I have tried for the life of me, but I have never been able to make anything but runny versions with anything but full fat.

I use 16 oz. cream cheese, 1 stick butter, 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 2 lbs. confectioners' sugar. It's stiffer and a tiny bit tangier than the usual recipe, and it makes a very generous batch. It's great for red velvet cakes & cupcakes, and if there's any left over, it freezes well and makes a great spread for cinnamon bread, etc.

So, it turns out that I had to make cream cheese frosting at work today and I'd like to update my earlier post. Forget about not whipping air into the frosting. I used my usual proportions (same as Susquehanna's), combined everything on low, then turned it up and beat it (still with the paddle attachment) until the lumps were gone. It's so good! A nice light color, easy to pipe with a star tip (retains its shape), and most importantly, a great cream cheese flavor. Oh, and I agree with earlier comments about using full fat cream cheese. Neufchatel is way too soft straight out of the package (although I use it all the time in tarts and for my special crab dip :)).

My recipe called for about 1/2 as much butter as you all are using, and less powdered sugar. That must be contributing to my problem. Thanks, guys!!

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