Cream cheese for frosting

[BittyCharleston]

Hi,

I've had trouble with making cream cheese frosting using Philadelphia. I follow the recipe but the mix always ends up runnier than I'd like.

I've read that in the US they use a different type of cream cheese, a foil wrapped one that is firmer than the whipped European/UK version in tubs. Apparently this US version has lower water content and works better for frosting. But I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Does anyone have any tips? Or a fail-safe non-runny cream cheese frosting recipe? I'm at my wits end feeling that nice cakes are getting ruined with sub-par frosting and am about to embark on a friend's birthday cake. Adding more icing sugar doesn't seem to work and makes the whole thing over-sweet.

Ideas/links welcome!

It needs to be full fat. I've never had issues with full fat philadelphia

Mascarpone? That works well and doesn’t seem to have the same water content as philly.

Are you adding butter too?

Never use low fat, it won’t work. Full fat Philadelphia usually works fine for me, or supermarket equivalent.
Has to be cold as well. What recipe are you using?
Some use butter as well to help firm up the consistency

I use mascarpone

I’ve made philly cream cheese icing on both continents so I might be able to help you.

You are absolutely right that the cream cheese is different. In the US the “normal” product is far thicker than the U.K. “normal” product. In the U.K. you have to use the full fat product.

Butter needs to be super soft, but not runny. Beat it for a very long time before you add the cream cheese, otherwise it won’t blend with the cream cheese nicely. You can beat it for ages before you add the cream cheese, but once the cream cheese is in, you really can’t beat it too much more. The pink whisk has excellent instructions

www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk/2012/05/perfect-cream-cheese-frosting.html

If that still doesn’t work for you, you can put the cream cheese into a muslin cloth in a seive/bowl and leave it to drain overnight in the fridge, but so far I’ve not needed to resort to that yet!

Good luck!

Ugh I've made so many amazing cakes only to be let down by the cream cheese frosting. I only use this recipe now, perfect every time

100g Butter
100g Philadelphia
200g Icing Sugar

The best cream cheese I've used for frosting is from Lidl. Very thick, not at all watery

The trick is to cream the butter and sugar really well first so that the fat coats the sugar. If liquid from the cheese comes into contact with the sugar then it dissolves and this is when it goes runny. Then you add the cream cheese - you can beat it for ages so that it's really fluffy. I've never had it go runny this way.

I do 115g butter, 300g sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 200g cream cheese - can be aldi, lidl, tesco or whatever. Bring everything to room temperature to prevent lumps.

Thanks everyone! I've used of different recipes over time, BBC food mostly, but I've always been a little on edge about the consistency of the result. It has never been disastrous but I've always been a bit worried about how things will sit at room temp once the cake is fully constructed. Some great tips here though, fingers crossed for my next attempt!

You can leave the Philadelphia to drain overnight in a clean muslin.

That's what my MIL does.

Line a sieve with muslin put the cream cheese in and weigh it down and leave it over a bowl.

She does it with Greek yoghurt too, it makes it thicker.

I haven't generally used butter before, but did add some in a rescue attempt. It didn't make much difference by that point though and still at room temp the cake was a bit sloppy!

Use mascarpone instead?

First time I made cream cheese icing I didn't really read the recipe, so I just spread straight Philadelphia all over my (burned, sunken middle) carrot cake. :) Whacked a few sprinkles on to sweeten it. My cooking skills have improved somewhat since.

Why would you stick cheese on a cake? I get peed off when wanting to buy a (carrot) cake and have to ask if the frosting is cheese. Why? Why stick cheese in, what is essentially, icing? (not envy)

Its cream cheese not cheddar!

@dementedpixie

Its cream cheese not cheddar!

Just as bad!

Completely agree that you need to use the full-fat cream cheese for frosting!

I love the cream cheese frosting Nigella uses on her Chocolate Guinness Cake :

FOR THE TOPPING
300 grams cream cheese
150 grams icing sugar
2 teaspoons cornflour
125 millilitres double cream (or whipping cream)

Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and cornflour and then beat to combine.
If using double cream, add it and beat until you have a spreadable consistency. If using whipping cream, whisk first to soft peaks, add a couple of spoonfuls into the cream cheese mixture and once this is combined, fold in the rest.

@makesIlaugh

Why would you stick cheese on a cake? I get peed off when wanting to buy a (carrot) cake and have to ask if the frosting is cheese. Why? Why stick cheese in, what is essentially, icing? (not envy)

Because it's delicious! Do you like cheesecake, @makesIlaugh? It's fairly similar.

I don't like cream cheese frosting but apparently you can get the foil wrapped type in Tesco.

Fromage frais is also cheese but you eat it in the same way as yoghurt

A Filipino colleague brought in a cake with actual grated cheddar on the top. Apparently it's quite common in Asia to add cheese to sweet baked goods. It was nice.

Also very common to eat Cheddar, Wensleydale and other sorts of British cheese with fruitcake or apple pie in the UK. Delicious.