As promised, here is the cream cheese frosting recipe that co-starred in our red velvet cupcakes video last week. If you’re a regular cake baker, you may be wondering why a video is even necessary for such a simple frosting? I used to think like that.
When I posted the red velvet recipe on YouTube, and teased the fact that I’d show the frosting in a future video, I was instantly met with a huge wave of panicked comments, all having a similar message; something to the effect of, “When the hell is the frosting video being shown? I want it now. I need it now. Give it to me now!”
So, not wanting an angry mob of people waving pitchforks and unfrosted cupcakes in front of my house, I quickly edited the footage and posted it today. This shows that no matter how simple a recipe or technique is, people just feel better and more relaxed about making it, if they can see it being done first.
Anyway, the next time you whip up a carrot cake, or batch of red velvet cupcakes, I hope you give this ultra-simple and delicious frosting recipe a try. Enjoy!
Ingredients for a cake or 12 cupcakes (plus maybe some leftovers):
*Double recipe if you like a thicker layer of frosting.
*Double recipe if you like a thicker layer of frosting.
1/4 cup soft butter
4 oz room temp cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar (or to your taste - start with a cup and go from there)
39 comments:
I lurve cream cheese frosting on lots of cakes! It's good on lemon cake, coffee cake, red velvet, carrot, straight up chocolate cake! It's phenomenal when garnished with toasted coconut on yellow cake! BTW ... I have NEVER had red velvet cake that wasn't frosted with cream cheese frosting!
Thanks Chef John! I can't wait to try this! I'm new to cooking and baking. :)
Where's my full English breakfast?! We all know you've been away for the weekend (hope you had a great time by the way) but anyone with a spoon can make, what is it you made? Some sort of topping. Cream cheese icing? That sounds delicious. Keep up the good work!
OK, I have been baking for over 50 years and I still don't know what "fluffy" means. Help me out, please.
Jackie
"fluffy" just means light and airy
I was drunk when I wrote that babble, now I'm just hungover.
I think the fervor around this video is more that people love to see things like this made. I don't have much intention to make this (as I don't have a cupcake tin! or a cake pan!), even though I'd like to, but I was VERY excited to watch this video.
So calming!
No pinch of salt? Or what if you only have salted butter?
can't wait to try this!
with all your wonderful recipes, i'm having a wonderful bonding time with my family. thanks to you :-)
pett
Hi! Does the soft butter you use in the states contain any salt? Because we only have salted butter, I think...
i only buy and use unsalted butter, ans so should everyone else ;-)
Pretty easy for something so good. I was astounded when you used powdered sugar instead of icing sugar. Then I read up and found out they are basically the same thing. I had always thought they were two different products.
hi john chef I'm Rosa and I all ways look for you on my lamp top , I also love all most of all you recipes too... p.s. nice creamcheese frosting.....
Hi Chef John !
This looks very good, can't wait to try it BUT there's a little problem, I live in Belgium so it's impossible for me to find cream cheese.. so do know what I could use instead and would make great frosting ? :)
Thanks ;)
Really? There is no soft mild creamy style cheese in Belgium? I find that hard to believe.
chef will the frosting become more fluffy if i add more sugar?because i tried adding less sugar(too sweet for my taste) and the frosting just wont stick to the cupcake properly and it's hard to spread them.please help me
p/s: i only use half of the sugar measurement
Sorry, im confused. Even plain whipped cream cheese and butter with no sugar would be spreadable. Not sure what you mean that you can spread it. Is it soft and whipped?
Hi Chef John,
My frosting is lumpy with small chunks of powdered sugar, how do I fix that?
Sounds like it needed to be sifted first. Not sure other than keep beating, or pass through a fine sieve.
yes when the cream is still inside the mixer it looks soft and fluffy, but when i try spread it onto the cakes, it became liquid-y and not as solid as yours in the video. I don't know what went wrong. please help me.
p/s : i did left the cakes for about 30 mins to cool down, but still won't work
I have no idea! Sound like they might have been still warm. Are you sure they were completely cooled?
I guess there are soft mild creamy style cheese but then there are so many different kinds of cheese ! I'll try with one of them :)
yes i'm very sure that the cakes cooled down completely. I looked up other websites and videos and they said that it's because there are not enough sugar. I don't wanna add more sugar(too sweet for me), but overall your opinion matters more to me :D
help me chef. thx
Sorry, not sure how to help if you don't add enough sugar.
Hi there, CJ. Have you ever made cannolis? I would appreciate it if you put up an alcohol-free recipe soon. Can't wait to try this frosting, though! (trying to persuade my family to get a KitchenAid mixer)
can i add food food color for decoration or design effect that i will be doing? does it affect the taste and texture sir? tnx and god bless! waiting for the reply pls. tnx again mr. chef! :)
food color has no effect!
Elly, you can buy Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese in Europe. There are many brands of spreadable/soft cheeses, ie la vache qui rit (laughing cow), President etc, they come in round packages divided into small individually wrapped triangles inside, buy unflavored one, Philadelphia is the best, but those work as well, I tried. I found cream cheese in Africa, you can find anything in Belgium. Good luck!
I made this today and it was Delicious!
Chef John, I hear "room temperature" a lot. I live in the tropics, so "room temperature" could be 28-30 degrees Celsius. In this video, you mentioned this term too, what would the room temperate you're referring to be? Thanks in advance! Amélie.
Just means not refrigerated.
Thank you Chef John! Amélie from Singapore.
My food wish:
BUTTERCREAM ICING
(i want to know how would make it)
Hello Chef John, I am from Indonesia and not familiar with the measurement of cup and oz. I would be so grateful if you could inform what cup do you use to measure and how much is oz to measure in grams. Thank you chef, look forward for your reply
cup is 240ml. For future ref, just google for metric convertor!
Loved this frosting! I took the liberty of piping it and it piped well too! Aside from yummy frosting, I have pretty cupcakes too now!
I am so glad I wasn't one of the ones who had to wait for this recipe :-) Lovening it.
How long does it takes to be light and fluffy. Is icing sugar the same as powdered sugar? Cause I keep failing at this, though it's easy. :( HELP!
Post a Comment