I noticed when I brought cupcakes to Alexander’s pre-k class that all the kids ate the icing and barely anyone ate the cake. Silly me for thinking they would eat the cake. Icing is practically all sugar.

 

So so how am I going to make it healthier? Well I was able to cut out 4 oz, almost an entire cup, of powdered sugar from my original icing recipe. And then I put a small star piping tip in the piping bag

 

 

to pipe a small rosette of icing on top instead of my normal generous rosette.

 

 

Except even a small rosette still had too much icing.

 

 

Then it came to me, I piped a V for Valentine’s Day or Velvet.

 

 

I took 40 mini cupcakes to Alexander’s class on Friday for Valentine’s Day and this time they ate the whole cupcake!

Avec Amour, Victoria and Alexander

 

Red Velvet Icing Recipe

 

1 Package Cream Cheese (8 oz)

1/2 Cup Butter, soft (4 oz)

3 Cups Powdered Sugar (12 oz)

 

1. Cut the cream cheese into smaller pieces

 

 

and with the paddle attachment in a stand mixer or a hand held mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth.

 

 

2. Add the butter and beat until combined. There should be no lumps of butter.

 

 

3. Gradually add the powdered sugar.

 

 

4. Continue to beat until all the powdered sugar is added.

 

 

5. Beat another minute or two on medium speed until the icing is fluffy and stiff peaks form.

 

 

Put icing into a piping bag *

 

 

with a piping tip, I used a number 820 Ateco tip*, close bag with rubber band.

 

 

The icing will be too soft at this point to pipe with so put it in the refrigerator for a minimum of one hour up to overnight. Decorate your cupcakes!

 

 

This is plenty of icing to decorate 46 mini cupcakes in either a V  or a rosette. This icing actually freezes well, so freeze the rest of it for up to 3 months. Just defrost in refrigerator overnight and beat in mixer to fluff up before using.

 

If you don’t have any piping bags or decorating tips at home don’t worry. Just put the icing in a ziploc bag and snip off a tiny bit on the corner and squeeze, or just use a small metal spatula and spread some icing on top of the cupcakes.

 

* The piping bags and tip can be purchased at Amazon. Below are the links.

Amazon Piping Bags

Ateco 820 Piping Tip