What A Nightmare!! I Hate Cream Cheese Icing.....
Decorating By CakeDiva73 Updated 10 Oct 2006 , 12:00am by koolaidstains
I swear, this is the last time I ever work with cream cheese frosting!! I am going to lose it. Yet again, no matter what I did, the icing was too soft and was sliding down the cake. I tried to make my recipe less sweet since it was for my Grandma and she doesn't like buttercream and I ended up having to add 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar to even make it stiff enough to work with....
Carrot cake is my most popular flavor but there is no way I could do a wedding cake with this stuff! Does anyone have a cream cheese icing that is not a runny nightmare to work with but not too, too sweet?
Also, Wilton icing tastes horrid so what kind do you guys use? I have a bunch of heavy whipping cream so I was going to add some to cut the sweetness but I guess that made it more wet and runny...
I swear, the cake turned out like crap and after I take pics, I will be posting it in the 'my worst cake' gallery...I tried to do a grass green basketweave and it just kept falling off the cake so then I tried to frost it but couldn't get the frosting to stick..... 
I like the orange cream cheese frosting from the Cake Mix Doctor. It's wonderful with carrot cake. As a matter of fact I'm going to make a carrot cake and this frosting today. As for frosting being too sweet for some people, I don't particularly care for buttercream but I expect it to be sweet and just scrape it off my piece when I eat it. I think most people who don't like very sweet frosting just do this without thinking twice about it. If I were you I'd just make the frosting as the recipe calls and not worry about trying to lighten it up.
I used the crusting cream cheese from the recipe section here just the past wewekend on carrot cake and it was fantastic, great tasting and it really DOES crust!
Here it is, and chin up-tomorrow is another day 
BTW, I just added a little violet and it came out white enough to suit me...
Crusting Cream Cheese Icing
Serves/Yields:
Prep. Time:
Cook Time:
Category: Frostings
Difficulty: Easy
This is a recipe for a crusting cream cheese icing that I've seen floating around this site in the forums. People are constantly looking for it and it wasn't in the recipes, so I thought I would post it. It's not mine, Kathy Finholt from Iowa is the original creator.
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 pound cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
3 1/2 pounds sifted confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cream butter, shortening, cream cheese and extracts. Gradually add confectioner's sugar and salt. Beat on low speed until nice and creamy. If you want whiter icing, try to use butter without dyes available at most health food stores.
This recipe is for a stiff consistency. For a thinner consistency, use 3 pounds of powdered sugar instead.
If you want a very smooth cake, let the cake sit for 15 minutes after icing. Then smooth with the non-printed side of a Viva paper towel.
Source: Kathy Finholt from Iowa
Contributed by: edencakes on Monday, October 17. 2005 at 10:17:36
I use cream cheese icing all the time and while it is a bit tricky to work with, it's totally possible. I basically use the "wilton" class recipe and just play around with it. I sometimes use all cream cheese, sometimes cream cheese and butter, sometimes cream cheese and crisco and sometimes all three. You get the idea right? I use heavy cream instead of milk or water. You do end up using more powdered sugar to make it stiff enough to work with. What I've I've discovered is that I have to make the icing feel stiffer than I want it to be in the mixer because once you work with it it softens. I also don't like messing around with keeping the icing cold to make it stiff. I start with room temperature cream cheese so that I know it's not going to get a whole lot softer on me. Of course I refigerate any cake covered in cream cheese icing, but I also recommend it sits out for at least a 1/2 hour before eating for best taste.
If you're trying to do roses, then i would definately add some amount of crisco. If I'm going to be doing roses I try to make at least half of my "fat" from crisco and the other half either all cream cheese or half cream cheese and half butter.
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