We’re less than a week away from Valentine’s Day, do you know what you’re making/giving? I’m not one for celebrating on any one particular day, because let’s’ be honest every day should be Valentine’s Day. Am I right? But in the spirit of all things love I bring to you a homemade recipe. I’ve been known to bake a thing or two, call it my language of love, it’s just what I do. You’ll definitely want to make this ‘Pink’ Cream Cheese Frosting!
In Trader Joe’s the other day and I noticed their Valentine’s display. One item drew my attention because they were gummies. A lot of people like chocolate, but for some reason I’ve always liked the fruity chews/gummies/candies). And even if you didn’t like these candies, you have to admit they are cute! XOXO
Besides it being a candy I knew I would love to eat, they actually caught my eye because they were dye-free. They used fruit and vegetable juices to “color” the candy – black carrot juice concentrate and black currant juice concentrate. Even though they are candy, let’s call a spade a spade, they removed the dyes and they still tasted good. Here’s to calling that a win! Definitely still candy and not a health food, but with better for you additives. Which got me thinking, could I use fruit juice myself and “color” frosting? The answer is a definite YES! Just wait and see!
And before I go any further, I could write a whole blog post on this, but I know some of you might be wondering, “isn’t she a dietitian? Why is she suggesting to eat dessert?” Again, a whole post could get devoted just to this topic, but the quick explanation is that all foods fit, in moderation, and in controlled portions. No need to eliminate, but rather find the way to incorporate (the more you restrict, the more you’ll want, i.e. “crave”). And by no means am I suggesting to eat desserts all day every day. On the contrary, I want for people to see how they can include them here and there and even maybe try to make them homemade. Enter pink cream cheese frosting.
I started with frozen raspberries. They’re slightly defrosted here. But then microwaved them for just a little over a minute or so to get more of the juices ready to flow.
And here’s where I thought I took pictures of the next steps and didn’t. But I’ll explain. I placed the raspberries in a fine-meshed sieve, rested it on top of a bowl (so you can catch the juice). Using the back of a spoon, I pressed the raspberries against the fine-mesh sieve, this presses the juice out and leaves the seeds behind. And that’s it. There is your raspberry juice concentrate. I’ve tried using beet powder before and even some acai to make different colors. But the truth is they never really worked out, i.e. they did not taste good. I had never thought to use in theory a little juice concentrate. Now I’m curious if blackberries would make a pretty shade of purple or blue. I think there will be more experimenting to take place. But this color is perfect for Valentine’s Day.
I went with a simple cream cheese frosting for my cookies, but decided to add different amounts of the juice in order to have different hues of pink. I think it turned out really pretty. And I went with a cream cheese frosting, you can always go for a buttercream, but I’ve perfected a cream cheese frosting (and that’s the one I love). Wishing you all a Happy Valentine’s Day today and every day!
‘Pink’ Cream Cheese Frosting
Take your basic cream cheese frosting up a notch and turn it PINK! Natural, dye-free raspberry juice will turn your frosting a festive way to turn your holiday from anything but basic!
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
- 8–oz cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Raspberry Concentrate
- 2 cups frozen, unsweetened, raspberries
Instructions
- Beat – using an electric mixer, the cream cheese and butter until completely smooth, about 3 minutes on medium speed. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure that the mixture is mixed evenly.
- Beat in the vanilla extract. With the mixer running on low speed to start, slowly add in 2 cups of the powdered sugar.
- Add – Powdered sugar has cornstarch in it that will thicken the frosting as well as make it sweet. Keep adding more powdered sugar to the frosting until you get your desired level of sweetness and thickness (I’ve seen between 2 cups – 4 cups, I used 3 cups).
- Place – For the raspberry juice concentrate – Place the raspberries into a medium bowl and microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes. Use a fork to stir and smash the raspberries.
- Use the back of a spoon, press raspberries through a fine-mesh sieve; discard the seeds. Store in the refrigerator or use right away. Freeze any leftovers in an ice cube tray for future use.
- Use the frosting as is, or add the raspberry juice concentrate to make ‘pink’ frosting. Add a few drops to three separate bowls to vary the hues. Stir in the raspberry juice and add more to your liking to get the color you like. Frosting is ready to use – for cookies, cakes, or cupcakes.
Notes
*This is a basic cream cheese frosting. The raspberry juice ‘pink’ is extra if you want to use and add in. You’ll only use a small amount of the raspberry juice concentrate to add into the frosting – I again used different amounts to make different hues of pink. Freeze the extra juice concentrate for future use.
*This recipe will yield 2 cups of cream cheese frosting. You can use this recipe to lightly frost a double layer cake, lightly frost 24 cupcakes, generously frost 12-14 cupcakes, or frost a 9×13 cake.
- Prep Time: 10
- Category: Desserts
1 thought on “‘Pink’ Cream Cheese Frosting”
Super festive and fun. Love a classic cream cheese frosting!