I’m going to burn a lot of bridges when I say this, BUT, the one thing I’ve found distinct about most (not all, I haven’t tried them all yet), New York bakeries is that they DO NOT know how to do southern desserts. Cream cheese icing? Pish. Bread pudding? What’s that?

Sorry Magnolia, Cupcake, Little Hen, or any other various cupcake chain, sincerely I am, but you need to take a lesson from your “sista-friends” down in the dirty-dirty. A little less cream cheese, a little more sugar. And butter …

I’m not from the south, so I can’t say that I’m better than any other New York in preparing these fine delicacies, but what I do have is tons and tons of tasting practice. Since I ate everything I could get my hands on for four years, I think I’ve got an upper hand on what’s delicious and what’s not.

I think if there is one truly “American” cuisine it Southern Cooking. In my opinion, the south is the true epi-center of all American food. If New York is the melting pot, the south is where they cast that iron. Home-grown, you bet. Historic, without a doubt. Incredibly rooted in what IS American, done.

In order to love southern desserts, you have to love dessert to the utmost. This isn’t a category for the “oh I’m so full, I can’t possibly fit dessert” people. Bless your precious hearts, though …

When I think of southern desserts I think of three things in particular; butter, pecans, and cream cheese (in no particular order). That and … buttery pie crusts, luscious red velvet VELVETY cake, hummingbird goodness with macadamia nuts, carrot cake so thick with fruits and vegetables you’re basically eating a “southern salad,” bread pudding hot out of the oven with Maker’s Mark ice cream, bananas foster with rich pound cake and more brown sugar and butter than a cholesterol laden heart, chicory coffee, toffee, beignets, home-made whipped cream, ahh, I could go on for hours. But let’s stick with one specific thing …

Cream cheese icing.

Anyone who says they don’t like it, hasn’t had it done well. That’s all I have to say. I don’t even LIKE cream cheese, and having the prefect icing transforms your life. In New York, I think people are too used to smearing bagels rather than icing cakes. The icing shouldn’t taste like cream cheese. It shouldn’t be thick enough to pull off cake, and it shouldn’t be piled mile high on top.

Ratio’s are crucial. The perfect racial between cake and icing, and for the icing between cream cheese and sugar. So I went in search for these ratio’s in New York. My favorite use of this icing is on a red-velvet cake, so that’s what I went looking for. Apparently the best red velvet in the city is from Little Hen … I’m keeping mum, just like my polite southern mothers’ taught me … it was “nice” but not great …

That being said, I’m going to pull out the big guns, my all-time favorite red velvet is from Dewey’s bakery in North Carolina. This small chain is as authentic as authentic tastes – divine! Here’s recipe for their icing which I think is pretty similar to theirs, although they refuse to give it out. Batter this on just about any kinda of cake but my favorites include carrot, red velvet, and hummingbird cake … like any true southern.

Cream Cheese Icing

8 oz cold cream cheese (full fat)
5 TB soften butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (sifted before added)

Temperature is crucial here. The cream cheese should be right out of the refrigerator and the butter be room temperature. Add as much sugar as you like sweetness. I prefer mine on the sweeter side, rather than the creamy-cheesy side, obviously.

Paddle attachment on mixer, and mix first three ingredients, add sugar gradually and beat until JUST combined. There’s a threshold in which can be crossed into over-whipping the cream cheese and creating a “whipped cream cheese” icing.

Enjoy!