Cream Cheese Frosting — the shortlists

I promise this will be my last Actually Squash Cake-related post (for awhile at least), but I think this deserves it’s own post, don’t you?

I love frosting in general, and in my enthusiasm may have unwittingly introduced Francesco – who hails from a frosting-less land – to what will eventually lead to heart failure. The first time I made it, I absentmindedly stashed it in the fridge for a couple hours and he started eating it by the spoonful before I could explain that, wait! It’s for the cake! He just figured that, since we eat such crazy stuff over in North America, frosting must have been just another after school snack, as normal as that other cream cheese themed treat, ants on a log, or, I don’t know, canned cheese.

Recently, I’ve been making cream cheese frosting by the bucketful (on top of Wolfie’s delicious arrival, the house guest is still here and he, like my husband, is Italian and thus considers cake an appropriate breakfast food) and trust me, it never gets old. My friend John, who is not Italian and therefore has considerably more sway in matters concerning frosting, described it as “haunting.” In a good way.

HAUNTING CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

this quantity makes enough for a large cake, but, to make sure there will be extras, add an extra block of cream cheese, bit of butter and cup of icing sugar

2 blocks / 16 oz. / 500 g cream cheese frosting (light is easier to beat, so I usually get one full fat and one light)

4 tablespoons / 60 grams butter, room temperature, chopped

a pinch of salt

a dash of vanilla

2 cups icing sugar

a couple large spoonfuls of pumpkin puree (optional)

a large spoonful of sour cream (optional)

spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)

In a large bowl, use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese and butter together. Add all the other ingredients except the icing sugar. You will want to beat this for about 5 full minutes to get rid of any stubborn chunks of butter. Just beat beat beat. When everything looks smooth, slowly add the icing sugar, tasting as you go so it doesn’t get too sweet. Done!