Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese, the block-style temperature in the room
½ cup unsalted butter, room temp
¼ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
Instructions:
Add room temperature cream cheese and butter to a large mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) for 1 minute, or until smooth.
Mix in the vanilla essence and salt until well combined.
Half of the confectioner’s sugar should be added and mixed at moderate speed until thoroughly combined. Switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
Serve immediately after piping on cooled cupcakes or spreading on cooled cake.
Notes:
Low-fat cream cheese, whipped cream cheese, or spreadable cream cheese in a tub cannot replace original, full-fat block-style cream cheese. Any of these replacements will result in runny frosting.
If cream cheese frosting is left out for more than 2 hours, it should be refrigerated. In a firmly sealed container, store frosted baked items in the refrigerator. 1 hour before serving, remove from the oven and bring to room temperature.
Leftover frosting may be stored for up to 3 months in the freezer or 1 week in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Allow to cool to room temperature before applying to baked products.
Up to 18 cupcakes with piped frosting, 24 cupcakes spread with a knife, a 9×13 sheet cake, a 13×18 sheet cake, or the top and middle of around 8 or 9 inch 2-layer cake may be iced using this recipe (leaving the sides bare). Make an additional half batch of frosting to ice the edges of a two-layer cake.