Wedding Cake: Part Two - The Frosting

Holy cow, is this post way overdue.  But!  I have an excuse:  school and work has been kicking my butt.  Fortunately, I am now on a part-time work schedule, so juggling everything should be more manageable from now on. 

But enough about me.  On to the frosting! 

As I mentioned before, I made a white chocolate cream cheese frosting, as the groom is a big fan of white chocolate.  When making the frosting, it is very important that all of the ingredients are at room temperature.  If the cream cheese and butter are too cold, the white chocolate will harden into chunks.  If the white chocolate is too warm, it will melt the cream cheese and butter.

Instead of making a separate batch of frosting for the strawberry filling, I simply mixed some strawberry puree into some reserved white chocolate frosting.  It ended up being very tasty.

I chose to use white chocolate chips in the frosting, figuring that the same oils (which are used instead of cocoa butter) that help the chips retain their shape when baked would give the frosting added stability.  I'm not sure if success of the frosting could be attributed to the chocolate chips, as I haven't tried making the frosting with real white chocolate, but as written, this frosting holds up amazingly well.  I wouldn't recommend chilling the frosting in the fridge, as it will become way too hard to spread and could possibly curdle if you try to beat it afterwards.

I love this frosting because it's very creamy and not too sweet.  The cream cheese flavor is very mellow and allows the vanilla notes of the white chocolate to shine. 

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

28 ounces (3 1/2 blocks) cream cheese, softened
26 tablespoons (3 sticks + 2 tablespoons) butter, softened
24 ounces white chocolate chips
4 cups powdered sugar

Melt the white chocolate chips, using either a double-boiler or a microwave.  If using the microwave method, stir the chocolate well after each 15-second interval.  Let cool to room temperature.

Beat the cream cheese and butter until well-combined and fluffy.  Add the white chocolate and beat until thoroughly combined.  Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Set aside two cups of the frosting for the strawberry filling.

Strawberry White Chocolate Frosting

2 cups white chocolate cream cheese frosting
1/4 cup strawberry puree

Mix the puree into the frosting until thoroughly combined.