How to Make the Perfect: Cream Cheese Icing

We've all taken the easy cake-baking route. Buy the box cake mix. Bake it. Then, frost it with the goopy icing from a jar. Not exactly fresh from the bakery, but it does the trick. Well, we've found the secret for making everyone think you slaved for hours in the kitchen making a delicious cake - homemade icing. Everyone should have an easy two-minute icing recipe in their back pocket. Go ahead and use the box cake mix. No one will know once you ice the cake with your indulgent cream cheese icing.

For Super Bowl next weekend, put a little food coloring in the icing to make football cupcakes -- do equal parts red, yellow and blue to make brown, of course -- or a cake with your favorite team's colors. The only problem you'll have is making sure you don't eat all of it before icing the cake.

The recipe, after the jump.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Add powdered sugar in three additions, beating just until frosting is smooth (do not overbeat or frosting may become too soft to spread). Ice or pipe frosting onto the cupcakes.