Calling all bakers!

[Barbara!]

I am having huge issues with making icing. I have always had them...but I am just fed up with it. No matter what I do, it always ends up being runny.

I only ever make cream cheese frosting. The recipe usually goes like this:

2 packs of cream cheese (softened)
2 sticks of butter (softened)
4 cups of powdered sugar

But no matter what happens, I always have to end up adding way too much powdered sugar to get it to be less watery...and then it ends up melting all over the place when I put it on the room temperature cake. Drives me bonkers!

So, any of you cake bakers out there...PLEASE HELP ME.

 

[Renee750il]

Cream cheese frosting needs to be refrigerated

Make sure your cake is completely cool before you ice it. Refrigerate it, even.

Don't let the cream cheese get to room temp before making the icing. If the room is warm you might need to set the bowl of icing in a slightly larger bowl with ice water to keep it cool while you work.

 

[Romy]

Nothing useful to contribute here, but I'll be stalking this thread. Major frosting fail in my kitchen.

 

[Fran101]

lol I'm no help. Betty crocker is my best friend.. she just does everything.. BETTER! lol

 

[Renee750il]

I really prefer cooked frostings. They tend to be more stable and are easier to handle. You do usually have to work a little faster with them though.

 

[maxfox426]

My first instinct would be to reduce the butter.

I haven't make cream cheese icing in a while, but I did just make vanilla buttercream a couple days ago. The recipe I use takes:

2 sticks butter (softened)
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 tbs vanilla
1/4 tsp table salt
2-4 tbs heavy cream


With your recipe, using the same amount of sugar and butter as my buttercream, but adding the cream cheese in addition to that... that might explain the melty-ness. I'd try reducing your recipe to only one stick of butter, or try omitting it altogether and see if that helps.

 

[Gempress]

Halve the butter. I think you're using way too much butter. You're using twice as much butter as cream cheese. Generally, when your frosting melts at room temp, there are too many fats and oils in it.

My recipe is almost exactly the same as yours, except I only use one stick of butter. I also add a spoonful or two of milk (sorry, I don't measure). I make cream cheese icing all the time and have never had any problems with it. I don't chill it afterward anything like that. Just mix it up and it should spread on right away without a problem. A cream cheese frosting should be no more difficult to work with than a buttercream. The only real difference between the two is the source of the fats and oils.

 

[Renee750il]

Good thought, Cynthia

This is Martha Stewart's version.

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions

Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter, and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners' sugar, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine.

And the Philly Cream Cheese recipe:


1pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/4cup butter or margarine, softened
1tsp. vanilla
1pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar (about 4 cups), sifted

BEAT cream cheese, butter and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended.

ADD sugar gradually, beating after each addition until well blended.

Martha Stewart's calls for the same ratio of butter to cream cheese that you use (1:1), but in the Philly recipe the ratio is half that and the ratio of powdered sugar to cream cheese and butter is twice what yours is -- 4 cups confectioners' sugar to 1 package and half a stick of butter.

 

[Gempress]

I personally don't like Martha's recipe. Way too gooey. It's more like a glaze or icing, not an actual frosting.

 

[Renee750il]

That's what I was thinking, Gem, that it's more of a glaze. It was a good illustration of the opposite end of the ratio spectrum though

I'll admit I tend to like glazes though, since I don't usually like heavy frosting.

 

[Barbara!]

Thanks for all the tips, guys! It just drives me batty... All these recipes where the comments say "awesome!" and mine just...fails. Lol. I will try less butter next time and see how it works out.

Do you guys know any other good frosting recipes that are good for vanilla or red velvet cakes?

I'm not usually a cake person. I make mostly pies or cakes that require glaze/syrups. But I would like to expand my skill in the cake area and eventually learn how to do fondant. Anyone here ever done fondant?

 

[Gempress]

That's what I was thinking, Gem, that it's more of a glaze. It was a good illustration of the opposite end of the ratio spectrum though

I'll admit I tend to like glazes though, since I don't usually like heavy frosting.

I love me some glazes on cookies, rolls, and brownies. *drool* With cake, though, I tend to like my frosting light and fluffy.

German chocolate cake frosting is the exception. It MUST be gooey, oozy, caramel-y goodness. MMMM.

 

[Renee750il]

Red Velvet cake MUST have cream cheese frosting!

Penuche Frosting is incredible on yellow or chocolate cake. This is one of the better basic recipes for it.


1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup milk
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, more or less
hot water, optional


In a saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Add the brown sugar. Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium low and continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually add sifted confectioners' sugar. Beat until thick enough to spread. If too thick, add a little hot water. Frosts top and sides of a 2-layer cake or a 13x9-inch cake.

One of the best chocolate frostings I've found is the one on the Hershey's Cocoa tin. I'll admit I tweak it, cut down the sugar, jack up the cocoa, and use dark cocoa instead of the regular. The chocolate cake recipe that's on the tin is a really delicious one too. And easy.

One of my favorite ways to finish off a cake is just a simple, dark, decadent ganache *dies*

 

[Locke]

Definitely reduce the butter and refrigerate the icing. The recipe I like calls for 2:1 cream cheese to butter ratio. Make sure both the butter and cream cheese are the same consistency, and it's better to use them when they're still a bit hard.

The cake has to be totally cooled before icing, but if you're going to put the cake in the fridge, it has to be sealed/wrapped air tight, as the cake will dry out quickly in the fridge.

I also prefer cooked icings. Swiss meringue buttercream is soo easy to make and it's delicious. No grainy, sugary texture. Just pure, smooth, lightness. Check out Martha Stewart's recipe.


Regarding fondant:
It's fun, but not easy. I prefer to make my own fondant out of marshmallows, shortening and icing sugar. It's cheaper than premade, is much easier to work with and tastes better too.
I like to roll my fondant out VERY thinly, but that also makes it more prone to tears. Mask the cake with buttercream before covering it with fondant.
When covering the cake, smooth the top first, then press the fondant down, working your way around the cake little by little. Do not press it down all the way to bottom on one side or you'll get big overlaps.

If you don't succeed, try try again! You'll only get better at it.

 

[Kilter]

When you bake the cake and before you frost it, freeze it. Then 'dirty ice' it first where you use a smaller amount of frosting and do a thin layer on the cake, chill or freeze again if needed and then a thicker layer. Helps a lot and then you can keep the cake in the fridge too if needed.

The Ben Starr carrot pumpkin spice cake is amazing.

For fondant, don't buy the crap, it tastes horrible. Marshmallow fondant is easy to make and tastes like marshmallow, much better. I've done cakes with that and it's yummy. You'd want to practice and I find I add more shortning than it calls for in the recipe but that makes it work...

Most of the time for icing I use a pound of butter, softened, and beat in sugar till it's thick enough, add some vanilla and beat some more till fluffy.

 

[Barbara!]

Do you guys hand mix, or have a mixer? I need to buy a mixer...lol.

How do you guys spread your icing over your cakes? Any cool techniques?

 

[kingfarvito]

Do you guys hand mix, or have a mixer? I need to buy a mixer...lol.

How do you guys spread your icing over your cakes? Any cool techniques?

hand mix with an angel hair baloon whisk that has been frozen in a metal mixing bowl that has been frozen sitting in some ice. Spread with a rubber spatula. When making icing you're making an emulsion for which the ideal temp is 36 degrees.

 

[Renee750il]

Uncooked frostings go in the big KitchenAid stand mixer. My favorite kitchen appliance of all time. I usually stick the bowl and beater in the freezer for a bit before I use it.

 

[RedHotDobe]

The vanilla frosting I make is just butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. It's not runny at all at room temperature, but it will harden when refrigerated. My butter is softened, not melted, and I beat it until it's a fluffy little cloud of butter, lol.

 

[Gempress]

Uncooked frostings go in the big KitchenAid stand mixer. My favorite kitchen appliance of all time.

THIS. I love my KitchenAid. It's a bit pricey, but well worth it. My mom has one that's more than 20 years old and still works like new.