cream cheese icing for carrot cake

[peridito]

I've used this
Cream cheese icing
225g cream cheese
110g margarine, softened
450g icing sugar
120g chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

to make filling and icing .I used butter instead of marg .Was that a mistake ?It does seem very sloppy .

I normally use butter, but my quantities are different to yours! Does it firm up if you pop it into the fridge? I also use full fat cream cheese not reduced fat, otherwise it doesn't whip properly!

I was watching Nigella on TV (carrot cake recipe) she used soft butter and icing sugar and the cream cheese was cold from the fridge .

So it might be firmer when colder ?

Thank you all .It was full fat cream cheese .I've put it in the fridge ,will no doubt firm up .

Butter definitely much nicer than margarine! I make cream cheese icing now and again and if it is too wet I just put it in the fridge for a bit. If it's still too loose after that, add more icing sugar. It will never be as firm as some other types of icing though.

Butter is much nicer and should firm more.

If it's too soft add more icing sugar..I always do half and half butter and philly then add icing sugar until it looks right.

Cream cheese icing is tricky to make because the chemical composition of sugar pulls the water out of the cream cheese, making it sloppy - and the more sugar you add, the sloppier it will get. I think US cream cheese has a lower water content than the European spreadable kind, so holds up better. The only way I've ever got it to work is to make a very whipped buttercream then quickly stirred through some full--fat cream cheese, more as a flavouring than anything else. Or just stirred a minimal amount of sugar through full-fat cream cheese and shoved it straight in the fridge.

Apparently, there is a point when beating it that you shouldn't go beyond or it will become sloppy and hard to retrieve. I'm waiting for someone to tell me when that point is being reached.

I use:

175g full fat cream cheese
50g unsalted butter
juice and grated zest 1/2 lemon
350g icing sugar

AH HA ..why oh why didn't I ask before I'd made it .
I did wonder about adding lemon ,feel sure it would taste better .
Your recipe does sound better MissHavisham

I don't like butter icing or cream cheese frosting , and I leave my carrot cake nekkid
I'll cut the icing off a bought cake and fob it off to someone else .
I don't like butter anyway

Leaves the thread in disgrace ..

I find that the cream cheese icing from this recipe works really well and you end up with really light, fluffy frosting. I use less icing sugar, but the key is to make sure the icing sugar and butter is really well mixed so that the fat coats the sugar and stops the water in the cream cheese from dissolving the sugar.

Yea I think that's what I've learned through trial and error. Depends if you are spreading into a cake or piping and wanting it to hold shape.

Bit sloppy not such an issue if spreading.

More butter to firm it - not more sugar (more sugar works if it's a pure buttercream icing)

I normally do about 50/50 butter:cheese. Do icing auger and butter first - then add the cheese in - then chill. You can even freeze it for a bit to speed it up

icing sugar and butter is really well mixed + icing sugar and butter first then the cheese - yes ,did that .

@Reallybadidea link ,pretty please ?

I use Nigel Slater’s recipe and it never fails.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/oct/26/20-best-cake-recipes-part-3-ofm-nigel-slater-carrot-cake-banana-bread

Thank you MrsP .I've saved that .No electric mixer but looks doable by hand .

Oops, sorry! www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/cakes/red-velvet-cupcakes

Add extra icing sugar if its too wet

I used this recipe the other day but added extra icing sugar until I got the right consistency to pipe onto my carrot cake cupcakes

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
4 ounces (113 grams) full-fat block cream cheese, softened to room temperature (I used philadelphia)

2 tablespoons (57 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch fine sea salt

1 ½ cups (180 grams) powdered sugar or confectioners sugar, plus more as needed (I added extra)

@WishawHoping - interesting comments about cream cheese .

I noticed the remark below which I think makes buying supermarket own brand cream cheese for cream cheese icing a better bet than using Philly .

Meanwhile, make the icing. Drain any excess liquid from the cream cheese (I find the stabilisers added to the UK’s leading brand give it a slightly less satisfying texture than plain cream cheese

www.theguardian.com/food/2022/jun/22/how-to-make-carrot-cake-recipe-felicity-cloake-masterclass

I use a recipe from The Sunday Times cookbook (ancient one ) with sunflower oil not butter - for the cake .
I did try another recipe and it wasn't as good , more cake-ey rather than the dense squidgey moist cake . I need to find the ST recipe again.

(And still no cream cheese frosting )

Lots of recipes with oil and many comments that this makes a moister cake .

As does using wholemeal flour .Possibly .I'm not at all sure I understand this explanation
Wholemeal flour absorbs a little more moisture than white flour so you may find the cakes are slightly more moist from the carrots.

Actually the recipe I used called for crushed tinned pineapple so I think that made it moist.

Always oil rather than butter for a carrot cake. For sure.

Ah, the eternal runny cream cheese icing nightmare! I must have made hundreds of carrot cakes over the years, and the icing has always been hit and miss (especially because I like to add passion fruit (juice only) - the flavour is amazing, but the extra liquid is problematic...). Having done a lot of Googling, it seems that the problem is we don't have block cream cheese in the UK, only spreadable. A good explanation can be found here, along with a recipe that I've used a few times now and does seem to be foolproof (gives that lovely piping consistency I've been trying to achieve for years). I would say it is a bit on the "buttery" side though. Before I found this recipe I'd had some success using mascarpone rather than cream cheese (maybe due to its higher fat content?), but it lacks the sharp flavour.

I use mascarpone and icing sugar . That's all. I think it's richer than the leading brand.

You should never add more icing sugar all that does is make it looser

Can anyone help me understand this remark?

Wholemeal flour absorbs a little more moisture than white flour so you may find the cakes are slightly more moist from the carrots.

If wholemeal flour absorbs more moisture would that make the cake drier ? You've added something absorbent and it's sucked up some of the moisture ?
But then I guess you've got wetter flour ?

I realise that the effect will be minimal ,but I'd like to understand .