I am looking for suggestions on how to improve a cream cheese frosting recipe made with splenda, low fat & fat free cream cheese and low fat cool whip. I used this as the base to frost the cake, then I used low fat & fat free cream cheese mixed with splenda and low fat margarine to decorate. The frosting I decorated with ended up weeping onto the cool whip based frosting after refrigeration all night. Any ideas as to why? I thought maybe the margarine & cool whip combination? The recipe for carrot cake with this combination of icings, cuts the calories down to about 200 total per serving (9 x 13 cake cut into 15 servings) and would be suitable for a diabetic. If I can tweak it to look nice, it would be great! Thanks!

OPBBTL (Old Post Brought Back To Life)

Anybody out there with any ideas or recipes?

I think that the moisture and the whipped cream probably did it. Whipped cream automatically breaks down, especially pre-prepared. It turns into a soupy mess. I have seen a cream cheese flavoring, maybe just the whipped topping and the cream cheese flavoring together? or Margarine, lite cream cheese and Splenda to sweeten?

Most likely it was because you used margarine and not butter....margarine has a VERY high water content. I would try the recipe again using just regular butter & see how it turns out - doesn't exactly fit the lo cal/lo fat profile you're wanting, but if you use margarine, the water in it will eventually start to "come out" or "weep" & I don't think it can be avoided. I once used margarine to make a bc when I didn't have butter and the same thing happened. I had a wet, loosely frosted cake by the next morning....YUCK!! lol

PS - this "weeping" thing will be even worse if you use "Lite" margarine or no-fat margarine....they contain even MORE water. HTH

If you are going to use butter....the real thing is healthier than margarine. Plus it tastes sooo much better! And use the unsweetened butter. Landolakes is the only thing I use when I bake. For everyday, I use the store brand butter. As long as your other ingredients are low fat...then you are helping somewhat! Also, fat free whip cream tastes just as good as the Lite.
I wouldn't use fat free cream cheese though...I always use the 1/3 less fat..probably the same as you did.

low-fat products are made that way by replacing the fat with water and starch thickeners. a high water content is not the friend of icing that stays put on a cake. cream cheese of any kind makes for a soft icing even with the structural support of sugar, and cool whip is a very wet product with a un-stable air matrix that collapses very easily. low-fat margarine is very watery and waxy and loses its fat emulsification easily, hence your weepy frosting.

i think that if you're committed to decorating with whipped cream cheese frosting made with splenda (which adds no structural support), i would try omitting the margarine. the decorations may not be "buttery" tasting, but they may stand up better. you may also want to try using full-fat cream cheese just for the decorating icing, which may be firmer than a low-fat variety. vanilla and cinnamon and perhaps an artifical butter flavouring added to this icing will make it seem less like "straight cream cheese".