Add freeze dried blueberries to an already delicious cream cheese frosting and create a tasty Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting perfect for any kind of cake.
I've been making cream cheese frosting my entire life. It wasn't until I actually started this blog that I began measuring my ingredients. To me, cream cheese frosting is one of those gut feel recipes meaning you cream together your butter and cream cheese and then keep adding powdered sugar until it tastes perfect. I've picked up a few tricks along the way including that you really need to blend the cream cheese and the butter together well. Just when you think they're perfect, blend them some more. If not, you're almost guaranteed to get little globs of cream cheese in your frosting, and no one wants that. I've also learned over the years that if you want to make something fruit flavored, its not always in your favor to just add the fruit to see what happens. Imagine if I had dumped a pint of fresh blueberries into my beautifully fluffy cream cheese frosting - it would be a soupy mess. Kind of what happened when I made my delicious but not-so-thick blood orange frosting. I've learned that freeze dried fruit can be a wonderful addition to your baking.
If you've never bought freeze dried fruit, you can usually find it with the other dried fruits and nuts. You know I love everything at Trader Joe's so it should be no surprise to you that I bought all my ingredients there. Freeze dried fruit tastes like candy. It crushes up into a fine powder with enough pressure, but I prefer to get a variety of sizes with my crushed freeze dried fruit. It makes a more textural and beautiful final product.
When I make my cream cheese frosting, I like to use equal parts cream cheese and unsalted butter, both room temperature. I always put vanilla in, but this time I totally forgot to add it. In the end, I'm glad I omitted the vanilla because I felt the blueberry flavor stood out even more.
I packaged it up so nicely in my little disposable frosting back only to find that the tip I put on was too small and a big chunk of blueberry clogged the thing up. It may have been the first time I was able to fill a bag like this without any mess and I couldn't even use it. I ended up cutting out the tip and just piping the frosting out of the very large hole in the bottom of the bag and it worked perfectly.
So there you have it - adding crushed freeze dried fruit to your frosting is the quickest, easiest, prettiest, and most delicious way to flavor your frosting!
Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
- 1.2 ounce freeze dried blueberries (crushed (one whole package from Trader Joe's))
Instructions
- Using stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese. Just when you think its well blended, scrape sides and continue mixing for another 2-3 minutes. Add in vanilla and mix well.
- Add confectioners sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Be sure to start off mixing slow and then increasing speed so you don't make a big mess.
- Add crushed freeze dried blueberries and mix well.
- Makes enough for a mountain of frosting on 12 cupcakes or a moderate amount on 24 cupcakes.
Lydia
Can you make this ahead of time? How long will it stay good?
Krissy
Yes! Just keep it refrigerated and it will stay good for several days.
W. L. Miller
This is the dessert I want with my last meal. Washed down with full-fat milk.
Krissy
Hey Larry! I read your comment and was going to reply with a "best comment ever" response because it truly made me smile. When I saw it was you, it made me smile more! And full-fat milk is the only way to go.
Audrey
How many cups of freeze dried blueberries are in a bag? I live in Canada and we sadly don't have TJ's up here.
Krissy
Looks like 1.2oz (34g)
Edlyn
Can you use fresh blueberries?
Krissy
Not for this recipe. There's way too much liquid in them. You can certainly garnish with fresh blueberries though.
Erika McNamara
Is it a strong blueberry flavor or subtle? I just added these blueberries to a buttercream recipe and I wasn't a fan. It was too sweet, the berries made it slightly grainy (hopefully they will soften after a while) and the flavor was just a hint of blueberry. I am making test batches for an event and am hoping to get something with a more powerful blueberry punch. My cream cheese recipe is somewhat different than yours (double the cream cheese, much less butter and half the sugar), but I want to try it with adding the blueberries and I'm just wondering if I should increase the berries or only use one package.
Krissy
Hi Erika, If you really want to increase the blueberry flavor, you might want to cook down a pack of frozen blueberries until you get a thick syrup. Strain, chill, and then incorporate some of that into the frosting. I haven't tried that method myself, but I think it would work if you cook it down enough!
Judy Morrison
Looks yummy. I don't have a stand mixer. Can I use a hand mixer? Thank youJ
Krissy
Absolutely! Krissy
Sue bukofski
The blueberries are a little hard to breakdown but the icing itself was absolutely amazing everybody raved about it!!! Definitely two thumbs up
Faye
Looks so yummy! Can't wait to give it a try!!