Cream cheese icing appeared to be a running theme when I looked through last year's baking photos on my phone. All of these bakes have been blogged previously in some form but I felt they were worth mentioning again since they're all good recipes.
First up, ALL THE CARROT CAKES.
I made this particular carrot cake *a lot* last year (also, sneaky peek at my pretty baking area in the kitchen complete with splashback tiles.) I'm aware I need to update the recipe link as I've made revisions to the original recipe. I'll get around to it some time as I'm guaranteed to bake this again.
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Mum's birthday cake. I think I used the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery's first Cookbook, although the obvious difference is that I've only baked two layers instead of three. I'm guessing I divided the mixture between two 8" round tins to create deeper layers and left them in the oven longer to bake although I have no notes to confirm this, sorry.
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My brother's birthday carrot cake bundt. I love how jazzy this looks with all the walnuts, sprinkles and candles. This is the same recipe as above but baked as one giant bundt. I've made this cake previously, both as a triple layer cake and a bundt. Either way, it's awesome. This recipe works so well as a big bundt and is a lot less faff to make than assembling and decorating layer cakes. Bear in mind it needs longer to bake in the oven (1 hour) since it is one big cake instead of 3 thinner layers.
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Apple and walnut cupcakes, recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days book. I was clearly on a Hummingbird bender last year. I fancied revisiting this recipe as I hadn't made it for years (first blogged here.) It makes such soft, juicy cupcakes. They didn't hang around for very long.
Hummingbird cake (spiced banana and pineapple cake for those not familiar with it.) Surprise surprise, another Hummingbird Bakery triple layer cake baked as one big bundt. I've also made it as a layer cake before. This was baked for my parents' wedding anniversary so I made it look prettier by piping rose swirls all around the cake. Cream cheese icing isn't ideal for this since it tends to be soft, but it still worked ok... providing you don't look at the cake too closely.
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Bonus photo where you get to see a glimpse of my garden. It's mostly full of weeds but look at my beautiful blue fence!
I'm always on the lookout for fun ways to use or pimp up cream cheese icing. My favourite flavour additions are vanilla extract or cinnamon although honey and lemon is also lovely. I think I've even added fruity curds to it before. I've bookmarked a recipe somewhere which involves browning the butter before adding it to the icing. I've used browned previously in baking (these blondies in particular were awesome) so I think this would be worth trying out. Perhaps on a banana bread.
What's your favourite cream cheese icing or way to use it?