Thursday, August 19, 2021

Three Berry Birthday Cream Cheese Frosting @LucyBurdette




LUCY BURDETTE: We had lots of family visiting last month, and I was asked to make the birthday cake for my five year old granddaughter, Thea. She is a fan of berries of all kinds, including blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. She's also a fan of sugar, so I hoped this icing would be perfect.


First, I made a yellow cake, you can find the recipe here. And then frosted it with a very pink berry frosting. And because at the last minute she changed her mind and wished she was getting a rainbow cake, we added sprinkles. 




To be perfectly honest, the icing turned out kind of droopy. I think it was partly due to the heat and humidity, partly to the frozen strawberries I included, and partly to adding more berries than the cream cheese could support. It was delicious anyway, and everyone loved it.


Ingredients for the frosting


1 8 ounce package cream cheese

1 8 ounce stick of unsalted butter

About 4 cups of powdered sugar

1 cup strawberries

One package blueberries

One package fresh raspberries

Several tablespoons good raspberry jam


Bring the cream cheese and the salted butter to room temperature. For this cake, I used a container of frozen strawberries from our garden. I drained them on paper towels so they would not be too liquid. (As you'll see, I wasn't 100% successful!)




Mash the cream cheese and the butter together. Add the strawberries and beat until fairly smooth. Now comes the artistic part, continue to beat, adding the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. You will be obligated to taste in order to see where to stop when it’s sweet enough. I stopped at 4 1/2 cups.





Spread a layer of raspberry jam on the top of one of your cake layers. Layer some of the frosting over the top and place the second layer on top of that. Frost in the top of the cake.





Now place the layer cake and the extra frosting in the refrigerator so it can firm up. Otherwise it will run down on the sides and pool on your cake plate. When you judge that the frosting is thick enough, frost the sides of the cake and the top.





Decorate with the blueberries and raspberries. We added sprinkles and a candle for the birthday girl. Keep cold until serving. And if there is any leftover cake, be sure to refrigerate it.






Happy birthday or whatever!



The 11th book in Lucy's Key West food critic mystery series, A Scone of Contention, is on bookshelves near you. You can find it wherever books are sold!


A scone-by-scone tour of glorious Scotland. Foodies and Outlander fans will rejoice in the references to both in this not-so-mysterious paean to Scotland. –Kirkus


9 comments:

  1. All our kiddos would LOVE this, Lucy/Roberta! Thank you. Hugs. MJ

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  2. I love your droopy frosting! And as I am a five year old at heart, I'm going to go make me some...

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  3. This might be the most beautiful cake I've ever seen. The berries, the frosting, the sprinkles, the love!

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    1. thanks Molly, that's a sweet thing to say. I panicked when I heard her say she wanted a rainbow cake after all, but sprinkles fix everything:)

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  4. Pink, and sprinkles, and yummy fruit. What's not to like for a 5 year old?!
    My 5 year old (this month) granddaughter would be delighted with this. Her party's this weekend and mom had arranged for a cup cake cake--The cup cakes are arranged in a shape (I think a unicorn was the winner, I'll know Sat) and then frosting holds it all together and decorates it.
    Great job, Grandmom.

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    1. thanks Libby and HB to yours! I think unicorns are very big right now with the 5 year old set...

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  5. Lucy/Roberta, I have searched far and wide for the best strawberry icing recipe. The one I made with pureed strawberries (just cut frozen ones up some and throw them in the food processor), turned out the best. It's a simple recipe of 1 pound (4 cups) powdered sugar, 1 cup salted cream butter, and 1/4 cup pureed strawberries. (1 cup of frozen, chopped strawberries makes about 1/2 cup puree.) Add the strawberry puree last and you can adjust it for right consistency. Now, this worked great for me for three times, and then for some reason, my icing went droopy. I think I now realize that it's best to refrigerate the iced cake. In fact, I had to do that with my chocolate cherry cake last time. I do want to say that your cake looks delicious, and I'm sure your granddaughter was thrilled.

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