icing on the cake

is it icing or frosting?
i cant help but think of this from "how to lose a guy in ten days" {which has got to be the cheesiest "fake-movie-character-im-in-advertising-here-is-my-great-idea idea ever} when i hear the word "frosting", so ill just stick with icing.

we have had plenty of things to ice recently, with birthday parties and christmas and everything in between.

i thought i would share two tried-and-true icing recipes - both simple and delicious and versatile.

the first is my mom's cream cheese icing - which tastes great on everything from her wonderful homemade carrot cake, to birthday cupcakes, to a spoon.

bennetts birthday cupcakes this year with cream cheese icing, photo by sista

bennetts carrot cake last year, before being completely iced

janita's* cream cheese icing

1 stick margarine {yes my mom always uses margarine...i used butter and it did not ruin it ;)}

1 8oz package cream cheese, room temp

1 box confectioners sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

cream butter and cream cheese, add sugar and vanilla and beat well. 

enjoy!

the second is one i just recently tried from greencattlebeef blog, and it was a hit.  and by "hit", i mean stephen ate the extra icing out of the bowl with a spoon.  and he doesnt eat icing.  like hardly at all {scrapes it off cakes}.  so that is a big thumbs up from picky-icing-man.  bennett also approves

leslie's butter cream frosting

3 cups confectioners sugar

1/3 cup butter

2 T milk

1 t vanilla

mix all ingredients together until smooth

enjoy!

i also used leslies butter cookie recipe and bennett had a blast measuring, mixing, rolling, and cutting the cookies.  and eating the flour off the counter. ? 

 

either of these recipes can be colored.  i used red and green for these butter recipe cookies for bennetts classmates and teachers this year,

and blue cream cheese icing for bennetts birthday cupcakes last year

would love some advice on this: saturated food coloring that doesnt create neon or pastel colors.  i feel like i could have {and perhaps should have} used the entire tube of food coloring on those red and green ones and it would still be pastel.  and bennetts birthday cupcakes last year were so neon the pictures still hurt my eyes! :) suggestions? trick i dont know?

*i sometimes refer to my mother as janita {her name is janice}.  not in conversation, but she is janita on email, phone, and type. coined by the hubs.

xo,