Cream Cheese Frosting (with Red Velvet Cupcakes)

One thing that you should know about me is that I'm a hoarder. Yep, my pantry and fridge and freezer are stocked full at all times. I dislike throwing away food, so I'll refrigerate or freeze food as long as I can. Hoarding isn't as great as it sound... When it comes around to spring cleaning, I always end up throwing away lots of freezer-burned mystery meat or expired cans.

One hoarded item was a box of red velvet cupcake mix. I probably should have made the cupcakes when I first received the mix (as a birthday gift) a few years back... But I wanted to save it for a "special" occasion; when the opportunity and the time never coincided, the mix got shoved to the back of my pantry. I found this a few weeks back, aaaand, well, cake mix can't really go bad, right? I finally made these Sprinkles (think it's a famous cupcake shop?) Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, and they still tasted pretty darn good. Bomb-dot-com good!

The cincher was the cream cheese frosting. The instructions for cream cheese frosting that came along with the mix is a definite keeper. Not too sweet with enough cream cheese flavor that shines through. One problem I had was that my frosting was too runny even after adding the required amount of powdered sugar. The solution? More powder sugar! I added 1/4 cup more powder sugar at a time, beating well after each addition. Also, I tasted the frosting (yummy!) after each addition, in order to avoid overly sweet frosting. I was trying achieve the perfect nirvana in terms of frosting: a stiffer frosting that also isn't sickeningly sweet. The original recipe is below, add more powder sugar at your pleasure!


Cream Cheese Frosting

8oz cold cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter, firm but not cold
1/8 tsp. salt
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter, and salt on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy (about 2 to 3 minutes).
2. Reduce speed to low, and gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until incorporated. Add vanillla.
3. If frosting is too thick: add milk 1 tsp. at a time until frosting is at a spreadable consistency.
4. If frosting is too thin: add additional powder sugar 1/4 cup at a time until frosting is at spreadable consistency.