(recipe) easy peasy cream cheese frosting

by Holly of Our Holly Days for See Vanessa Craft

I know it’s easy to buy a can of frosting at your local retailer, but I live smack middle in the middle of the SoCal High Desert, & around these parts, we have to make our own stuff from scratch. Between my own two children & my three step-children, we have a lot of birthdays; therefore a lot of cake; therefore a lot of frosting. This cream cheese frosting recipe is a great base frosting for any cake. It’s versatile (I’ll share a few of my favorite variations with you too!) & makes more than enough for double layers. I like to double the batch, make a fun four-tiered cake that the kids always ooh & ahh over, & use the leftover frosting as a dip for fruit at the party. Like what I did there? We desert dwellers like to get crafty with stretching our food since the nearest grocery store is pretty far into town.

For this basic recipe you’ll need the following ingredients:
• 2 8 ounce packages of cream cheese
• 8 tablespoons (or one stick) of butter
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla
• 2-3 cups of powdered sugar

To whip up this delightful frosting, add the butter & cream cheese together in a mixing bowl. Mix together until they are nicely creamed together. Next, add in your vanilla & stir again until well blended. Lastly, add in your sugar a cup at a time. Taste test & add more sugar as desired. I betchya didn’t know it was this easy, did you?

Like I said, this frosting is versatile & can really be customized to whatever flavors you’d like in your cake. Here are just some of the ideas I like to use:
• add in the juice of a half of an orange or lemon (more or less to taste) for a citrus-y frosting perfect for a summer celebration
• puree some strawberries & add in at the end for a delicious strawberries & cream cake
• toss in a packet of your child’s favorite Kool-Aid flavor to add a punch of fun color & a wild flavor
• add in some toasted coconut flakes for a fruity tropical flavor

You can find more simple recipes over on my blog, Our Holly Days, where I share all about our desert life as a blended family of seven, yes seven!

Holly Sosa is a mother of two & step-mother of three living in SoCal’s High Desert. She is passionate about kid fashion, crafting, and cooking; and claims gravy is her soul food. She writes for her own blog, Our Holly Days & writes a weekly column for her local newspaper, The Lucerne Valley Leader.