Roux-Based Cream Cheese Frosting

This past weekend, I had to bake two cakes for my sisters' birthdays. Both of them have birthdays in April and they decided to do one party. I originally was going to make each of them a 6 inch carrot cake, however one wanted carrot and the other and her family do not like carrot cake. They got matcha chiffon cake instead. That's for another post.

I've been wanting to experiment with a roux-based cream cheese frosting. I really like the roux-based buttercream from Bobby Flay's Red Velvet Cake recipe and have been researching how to turn it into a cream cheese frosting. I don't really like working with cream cheese in frosting, mostly because I tend to overbeat it and it breaks.

I've been trying to not overdo the fat in buttercreams and attempted my best to make a reduced fat buttercream using nonfat milk, neufchatel, and less butter. I adapted Bobby Flay's buttercream to suit this.

I started out with 1.5 cups nonfat milk in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.

Whisk in 7 tablespoons of all-purpose flour.

Add a little in and whisk and then repeat so it doesn't clump.

Whisk constantly, it will start to thicken fast.

Thickening and almost there.

Testing to make sure it's a thick paste. Just a little more and it's ready.

Pour into a bowl - you can see how thick the paste is; it doesn't run together when being scraped out.

Cover with plastic wrap, but make sure the plastic wrap is directly on top of the paste to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Meanwhile, let unsalted butter come to room temperature.

In a mixing bowl, add 4 oz of butter and 1 cup of extra fine sugar (I just measured 1 cup granulated sugar into my Vitamix and ground it to a fine consistency). Whisk until light and fluffy and a good portion of the sugar has dissolved.

Add in spoonfuls of the flour-milk paste. I found that the paste helps break down the sugar further. The frosting might look a little broken at this point. Add in 12 oz neufchatel until thoroughly mixed; it should bring everything back together again. I wouldn't recommend this for piping. It was a nightmare to work with to frost a cake at all. I don't think I would use this exact same recipe again, but I'm determined to make changes to make it more stable. Perhaps some gelatin? I'm pretty sure I need more butter too.

Roux-Based Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1.5 cups milk (I used nonfat, but will probably try whole next time; Bobby Flay's buttercream calls for 1 cup whole and 1/2 cup cream)
• 1 cup superfine granulated sugar (I put 1 cup granulated sugar in the Vitamix and mixed to a fine consistency)
• 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
• 12 oz cream cheese, slightly cold (I used neufchatel)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. In a small saucepan, warm 1.5 cups milk over medium-high heat.
2. Before the milk starts to steam, whisk in flour by the spoonful.
3. Continue whisking for a couple of minutes as the milk and flour thicken to a paste; you want to cook it long enough so that the flour is cooked (but don't burn the milk!). The paste should be fairly thick, use the pictures above as a reference.
4. Pour the paste into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap with the plastic wrap sitting directly on top of the paste to prevent a skin from forming; Refrigerate for at least two hours.
5. Add room temperature butter, vanilla extract, and sugar to a mixing bowl and whisk until light and fluffy (whisk attachment).
6. Add the cold milk flour paste by the spoonful until thoroughly incorporated. The frosting might look a bit broken at this point - this probably depends if you used higher fat dairy here.
7. Add in the slightly cold cream cheese by the spoonful until all is mixed. After adding the cream cheese, the frosting came together again.

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Next time, I will try adding fat back in. I think I might use 12 oz cream cheese to 6 oz butter and use whole milk for the milk-flour paste and hopefully that will yield a firmer frosting. This was almost a pudding consistency to be honest.