You can’t really beat the fresh taste of homemade frosting.
Besides the fact that you have curated it with your own hands, it was made right out of your kitchen.
But as the old adage goes, time is gold and it is not a luxury any of us can afford.
That said, store-bought frosting can be an alternative.
Unfortunately, some store-bought frostings are not made with baker’s quality.
And with that, we give you our step-by-step guide that includes three exact ways on how to make store-bought frosting better.
Items Needed
Powdered Sugar
This is primarily what you will use for thickening the consistency of your store-bought frosting.
Some also call this confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar — it is made by finely grinding a granulated sugar into a powdered form.
Buttercream
This is one type of icing made by creaming together butter and powdered sugar.
It is one that you will be using to improve the taste of your store-bought frosting.
Different sizes and tubs can be found in stores.
Cream Cheese
As the name suggests, it is a type of cheese made from cream and milk.
This is also one you’re going to be using to improve the taste of your store-bought frostings.
Different packages are available in stores.
Food Coloring
As the name suggests, this one will help you add color to any pastry or dish.
It’s basically any substance or pigment that adds color once it is mixed into your product.
If you can, try looking for the all-natural and organic ones.
Milk/Water
These two liquids are primarily the opposite of powdered sugar for they will be helping you in thinning down the consistency of your frosting.
You can use either of the two — depending on availability or preference of material.
Step-by-Step Guide
Improving Taste
To improve the taste of store-bought frosting you can add in cream cheese and vanilla extract.
Food is only as good as its taste. It’s safe to assume, if there’s one thing we want to improve — it’s going to be its taste.
That said, here is our guide to improving taste.
- Grab one tub of buttercream.
Make sure it’s room temperature.
You can just use whatever brand of buttercream icing that you prefer. - Next, get ready your cream cheese.
One package is enough, preferably 8oz.
And then combine the two in a mixing bowl. - Add the mixed cream cheese and buttercream plus one teaspoon of vanilla extract to your frosting and voila, you’re done!
Improving the Consistency
Taste is not the only thing that is essential when it comes to frosting.
Of course, consistency matters as well.
Soggy frosting can ruin a perfectly made pastry or cake.
Here is our quick three-step guide to solving this problem.
- Add your store-bought frosting to a large mixing bowl.
- Grab your powdered sugar.
Start by adding about three to four tablespoons of sugar to the mixing bowl.
Using a mixer or a spatula — depending on your preference or availability of materials — start mixing the sugar and frosting together.
Start with mixing for about 30 seconds. - Take a look at your frosting.
Does it look like you are hoping? Is the frosting thicker?
If it’s still too thin, just add more powdered sugar 1 teaspoon at a time and mix until it reaches the consistency you are aiming for.
Improving/Adding Color
Color makes life, in general, more exciting.
If you want to add some color for some quirkiness, here is our detail on how to do exactly this one.
- This one is fairly simple.
Just fill an empty clean mixing bowl with the entirety of your store-bought frosting.
Make sure your mixing bowl is properly and thoroughly cleaned. - Before doing another step, just mix it together just to smoothen it out.
You can use a spatula for manually mixing them.
Make sure you mix it well, you can do this by stirring. - Make sure you have some food coloring ready in your kitchen.
If not, a variety of food colorings are available in stores.
Now that your frosting mixture is smoothened, you may begin to add your coloring of preference.
Begin by adding one drop first and simultaneously stirring it with a spatula to mix the mixture well.
Do this until you have reached the desired color.
Some Additional Tips
Of course, unfortunate circumstances cannot be foreseen, at times.
And as a result, we gotta have some alternatives on our sleeves.
For Taste
- If you want to achieve that rich and robust taste, prepare some vanilla extract.
You can use the above guide for some reference, but generally, begin by adding about two drops until you reach your desired flavor. Stir well. - If it’s summer and you want some summer or tropical snack, nuts are your go-to savior.
Just buy some macadamia nuts and add it to your frosting mixture. - If you’re the type who goes for the more woody flavor, all you need is some hazelnut extract.
As stated above, begin by adding few drops until you reach the desired flavor. - If you desire a fruity flavor, all you need is one tub of some strawberry jam.
Note that as opposed to the flavor extracts which you will only need a few drops, for this one it has to be of the same amount as your frosting.
Using a mixer or a spatula, mix it well.
For Color
As the old adage goes, a little goes a long way.
That being said, only begin by a few drops of food coloring and never overfill.
For Consistency
If unfortunately, the consistency is too thick for your liking, just make sure you have some milk or water ready.
These liquid ingredients will be highly responsible for thinning down your consistency.
Depending on your preference, you can use either one.
Begin only adding one tablespoon to assure accuracy, until you reach your desired consistency.
Final Thoughts
There you have it, everybody! Store-bought frostings can sometimes lack in certain departments but fear not because we got some remedies.
Just remember for consistency, all you need is some powdered sugar and milk or water.
For taste, go buy some cream cheese and buttercream.
And for color, go get some food coloring.
I hope you enjoyed this article! If you have some more questions or suggestions, do not hesitate to leave them down below.
I’ll see you in the next article!
