Cream Cheese Frosting and Pretty Cupcakes

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a Taste of Home cooking show with some friends. I got a bunch of little goodies including a sweet Velveeta cutter (ok it's basically a plastic knife) and 2 magazines full of recipes. Normally, this would not excite me since I'm such a picky eater, and I'll usually only see 1 or 2 brownie/cookie/dessert type things I'd even try. But, SURPRISE, I actually found several in these that I've tried AND liked! The one I'm going to share with you today IS actually a dessert, but technically I'm only sharing half the recipe. It is for white cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes were alright, but I found them rather tedious to make, and they didn't turn out all nice and fluffy like a good cupcake does. I could have gotten a WAY yummier/better/(cough) easier product with a mix. I know some of my baker friends are recovering from a heart attack about now, but one of my favorite things to do is use a mix for the cake and then jazz it up with the frosting. If you're still with me, that's what I'm here to talk about. The cream cheese frosting! It was SO delicious, and SUPER easy! Here goes:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (I actually threw in a splash of vanilla instead 'cause I can't stand lemon)

Basically, you just beat the cream cheese and butter in a small bowl until it's pretty smooth. Then gradually add the sugar and lemon juice (ahem vanilla), beating until it's smooth and creamy. That's it! This makes enough to lightly frost about 24 cupcakes.

This literally took something like 2 minutes to make, and here's the result...

I added some little Easter candies, and what do ya know? Pretty cupcakes.

Of course you could decorate them however you wanted. And when someone says, "You made these?", you reply, "You bet! That's homemade frosting!" Just gloss over the mix part. Seriously. My goal for this year is to try not to put down anything I cook/bake. We all do it. Someone compliments us on a dish, and we shrug and say, "Oh it wasn't hard" or "Well, it was just from a box" or "Well, it really didn't turn out the way I'd planned". Well, no more! I'm going to whip up my mix, slap on some frosting, and say, "Yes I did make those delicious cupcakes! Thanks for noticing". It's really kind of liberating, and no I will not report on how many times I fail at it.

And now that I've poured out my soul (once again) and my cream cheese, go forth and eat (cup)cake!