how to make any cake taste good

One of my favorite past times is baking. Basically, if you have an event where you need a cake (or cupcakes, pie, cookies, any confection, really) I would like to make it for you. It's not going to look completely professional; in fact, it will look distinctly homemade. BUT -- if it is a cake, it will taste amazing. And it's mostly because of this very simple icing recipe that I found.

Back in March Robert and I had a few friends over for St. Patrick's Day. I knew that I needed the staples: corned beef and cabbage, Kerrygold Dubliner cheese, Irish soda bread, green beer. But I also needed a dessert and was having a hard time coming up with something that felt distinctly Irish. Enter: the Guinness cake. The cake itself is good (you can find the recipe here) but the real showstopper is the icing. You know that kind of icing that gets just the slightest bit of a crunchy exterior when it sits but it still soft within? This is that icing. And the base recipe only has three ingredients: powdered sugar, butter and cream cheese. 

using Bailey's for the Guinness cake 

Ingredients:

-4 cups powdered sugar

-1 stick unsalted, room temperature* butter

-8 oz. room temperature* cream cheese 

Method:

Put the powdered sugar into a large bowl (or into the bowl of your stand mixer). 

Using a hand mixer or your stand mixer* beat in the room temperature butter until combined. Using a butter knife, section the room temperature cream cheese into eight, and add, one at a time, until the icing is smooth. When you are adding your seventh cream cheese brick into the sugar mixture you're going to think it looks crumbly and that I left out an ingredient. But I promise that you'll add in the eighth one and it will all come together; just keep mixing. The icing will be very thick.*

*Notes: 

-Having the butter and cream cheese at room temperature is imperative here. I have used the microwave in a pinch, but I really think the icing comes together more easily if you let the ingredients soften naturally. 

-I would not even attempt to make this by hand. Stand or hand mixer is the way to go here.

-This is a thick icing. To thin it, you can add 4-5 tablespoons of liquid. The Guinness cake recipe calls for Bailey's Irish Cream (amazing) but I have added strawberry juice, 2% milk, or just plain old water, to thin it. Just be aware that if you add too much liquid, the icing may become too soft to stand up on the side of a cake. If this happens just add more powdered sugar until you have some firm peaks forming. 

-To make this icing chocolate, add 5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tbsp cold coffee and a pinch of salt. Continue mixing until combined. 

using strawberry juice for a smash cake

using cocoa powder + coffee for me to eat after dinner 

using water and a splash of vanilla for wedding cake

I have a go-to yellow cake recipe that I typically use with this frosting; however, I have used a Duncan Hines boxed mix on multiple occasions and still I get comments on how good the cake is. It really is a game-changer. 

I've been wanting to try a chocolate version of this icing, so tune into our Instastories on Instagram during the day on Monday to see how it turns out. To follow along, click over to WeThreeBlog.