Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

There are difference variation of the cream cheese frosting. For my first try, I use the Wilton's cream cheese frosting recipe. It makes about 6 cups of frosting.

Ingredients

Unsalted butter - 1 cup,  softened
Cream cheese - 16 oz, softened

Confectioners' sugar - 8 cups, about 2 pounds
Milk - 1 TBSP

Steps

1. In large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese with electric mixer until light and fluffy. 

2. Gradually add confectioners' sugar and milk. Beat on high until smooth (30 - 60 seconds). If icing seems too thin, add confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. If it seems too thick, add more milk 1 teaspoon at a time until icing reaches desired consistency.

Note

According to cook's illustrated, "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advises refrigerating any food made with cream cheese after 2 hours (that includes time spent making the food). In general, that seems like sound advice. However, we feel comfortable leaving the frosting for our Simple Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (see related content) out for up to 8 hours, since we know that sugar acts as a preservative and that the amount we use is more than 50 percent of the weight of the cream cheese."