Cake Advice needed!! What cream cheese to use for cake frosting?? (can't find a Cooking topic!!)

[Bellepink]

What brand or type of cream cheese do you use for topping cakes? I can only think of Philadelphia, that can't be right, surely?

TIA!

Not low fat - tried that and twas a disaster. MIL is an excellent baker and always uses full fat Phily.

Ah! It is Phily! I always thought that was just for savoury [stupid emoticon] Thanks a lot!

get the own brand! a lot cheaper and just as good...

TIP best not to use Garlic and Chive Philly

Yup, almost any brand of cream cheese should suit. On the rare occasions I need this it tends to be philly because the flavours normally turn out right with it (I think it was a Jamie Oliver carrot cake I tried - cost a fortune for the ingredients, but definitely the best we've ever had (cream cheese in the icing, plus lots of lime - yum). Full fat often gives a better texture and makes it taste richer, so you'll need smaller slices or will want to eat less!

tescos own soft cheese...full fat and at room temp

I remember thinking about making a carrot cake - never got round to it mind, but I wondered this exact thing. Friend who's a great baker recommended Mascarpone.

I've used sainsburys basics cream cheese in the past (on carrot cake). Fraction of the price of Philly and tasted fine!

I regularly make cream cheese frosting for sponge cakes and cup cakes. You can use Philly but I always get cream cheese from Aldi (v cheap indeed), mix with a little butter and some icing sugar. To be honest, I use the reduced fat one and it tastes fine although I'm not obsessive about the fat otherwise there wouldn't be the slab of butter! I tend to reduce the amount of icing sugar given in a lot of recipes, but it very much depends on the flavour you are wanting - sometimes it's nice to have a very sweet frosting. I often add a dash of vanilla essence, and sometimes I make a variant with lemon or other citrus zest eg. if making lemon cupcakes. A nice sponge can be made with a layer of lemon curd and a lightly lemony cc frosting with some of those little candied mini lemon slices decorating the top of the cake.

Oooh great! thanks everyone! I have a new cake book (Cupcakes by Susannah Blake) which I am trying out for the first time, I was just puzzled by the cream cheese for the topping but not any more!! (have always wondered what that stuff was on cakes as it tastes great but I knew it wasn't buttercream).

Basics (or Value from Tesco) definitely fine, always use this and the Basics butter. Saves a fortune.