Many people simply buy store-bought cake mixes to make cakes when they don’t have a lot of time. Making cakes from scratch might be more impressive, but not everyone wants to have to do this.
Typically, people will also buy store-bought frosting to frost their cakes. You might find this type of frosting to be very tasty overall, but some people might find it lacking.
If you want to be able to use the store-bought frosting, then you might be thinking of ways to jazz things up. Perhaps you’re wondering if you can alter it a bit to make it better.
Keep reading to learn how you can make store-bought frosting even better. This will help you to enjoy the cake that you’re making to the fullest, whether it’s just something you’re making for dessert or if it’s for a special occasion.
1 – Try Adding a Little Bit of Salt
The first piece of advice that you can try is to add just a little bit of salt to the frosting. You might not think that this would make much of a difference, but sometimes it can really make it taste quite a bit better.
Depending on the type of frosting that you’re using, it might be a really good idea to give this a whirl. You don’t need to go overboard when adding salt, but a bit more can help.
2 – Beat in Some Cream Cheese
Beating in some cream cheese can make the frosting taste a lot smoother overall. To get this done, you’re going to want to beat eight ounces of cream cheese into your store-bought frosting.
You’ll have to ensure that the cream cheese is at room temperature or else you won’t get the best results.
You can use either plain, unflavored cream cheese or flavored cream cheese. Just pick something that is going to go well with the type of frosting that you’re using.
Of course, some frosting types won’t go well with cream cheese. This means that cream cheese won’t be a practical addition in every circumstance.
3 – Try Whipped Cream
Whipped cream is very practical when you’re trying to make store-bought frosting smoother. If you mix equal parts frosting and whipped cream, then you’ll be able to make your store-bought frosting a lot nicer overall.
It’s going to be best for you to use unsweetened whipped cream for this. You can substitute whipped topping that has been thawed out if that’s all that you have, though.
Just don’t use canned whipped cream because that doesn’t work out well. It winds up turning into liquid too fast and it isn’t good for mixing purposes.
The method of mixing whipped cream with store-bought frosting is useful for more than just adding smoothness, too. You can also make overly sweet types of store-bought frosting better by taking the sweetness down a notch.
4 – Add Some Peanut Butter
Some types of store-bought frosting can be made tastier by adding in a bit of peanut butter. This really depends on the type of frosting that you purchased as well as how much you enjoy the taste of peanut butter.
For example, adding half a cup of peanut butter to chocolate store-bought frosting might help you to create something really appealing. But if you don’t like those flavor combinations, then you’ll want to stay away from this idea.
Peanut butter is another ingredient that you can mix in for extra smoothness. It’s just going to add more flavor than an option such as whipped cream.
You’re also going to be more limited on which frosting types it will be practical to use it with. Whipped cream can be mixed into any type of frosting and you’ll get good results, but peanut butter might not be a flavor that will pair well with certain fruit-flavored frostings.
5 – Add Chopped Nuts
Have you thought about adding chopped nuts to the store-bought frosting? This is a great thing to try when you think it needs more texture.
Most types of store-bought frosting are just smooth and rich. They often don’t have texture ingredients such as nuts mixed in.
You could add some of your favorite nuts to the mix to make the frosting that much better. You can mix in half of a cup of nuts for every one cup of frosting.
Of course, you’ll need to be sure that whoever is eating the cake with you doesn’t have nut allergies. This is a good trick that can make store-bought frosting seem as if it’s homemade.
6 – Add Chocolate Chips
This idea is similar to adding chopped nuts, but it’s something that more people will be able to enjoy. Adding some chocolate chips to the frosting can help you with texture while also adding flavor to the frosting.
You could use other types of baking chips if you’d like to as well. For example, you could add butterscotch chips to certain types of frosting.
Just pick a flavored baking chip that you think would taste good with the store-bought frosting that you have. Mix half a cup of baking chips into one cup of frosting.
You should wind up with a cake that is even more satisfying than usual. It’s an inexpensive way to spruce up a store-bought frosting that won’t take much time at all.
7 – Add Candy or Toffee
Have you considered adding some of your favorite candy to the frosting? How about using some crunched-up bits of toffee to add flavor?
These are some of the things that you can do to give the store-bought frosting a more customized flavor. You can pick out things that you enjoy and add them to make things that much better.
Take your favorite type of candy and crunch it up so that you can mix it into the frosting. You should be able to mix in about a quarter-cup of candy for every cup of frosting to get good results.
Toffee bits can be purchased right from the store and you can use those right away. It can give your store-bought frosting a satisfying crunch and it might make your cake feel special.
8 – Whip the Store-Bought Frosting
Taking the time to whip the store-bought frosting can make it a lot better, too. Sometimes store-bought frosting is too dense and this can make it tough to eat too much of it.
Homemade frosting is a lot different because it is lighter and creamier. This is partially because of how you whipped the frosting and put air into the mix.
You can take your store-bought frosting and whip it up using a hand mixer. Simply put all of the frosting into a large enough mixing bowl so that you can begin.
Whipping it will aerate it and it’ll be a lot better than it was before. You’ll have an airy, creamy frosting that should be much closer to homemade.
Ensure That You Buy High-Quality Frosting
The frosting that you buy from the store will play a role in how the advice above turns out. If the frosting that you bought simply isn’t good, then your results won’t be as good.
Some store-bought frosting might be kind of bad since it might use low-quality ingredients. However, most of the popular brands that sell frosting make really good stuff.
Try to stick to buying good brands that you recognize so that the base frosting will be pretty good. This will ensure that your efforts to improve things will go well.
Final Thoughts
Being able to make store-bought frosting that much better is going to be quite useful. If you don’t necessarily want to take the time to make homemade frosting for your cake, then you can still make store-bought frosting taste sort of as if it’s homemade.
There are many ways to improve upon store-bought frosting. You’ve read about many different ideas that have worked well for many people.
Adding a bit of salt might seem like a strange idea, but it can improve the taste of the frosting in some ways. You can whip the frosting yourself to aerate it and ensure that it’s going to be light and fluffy.
Mixing in different ingredients such as whipped cream can help you to make the frosting smoother. This is also going to be a good way to take the sweetness down a bit when you bought overly sweet frosting from the store.
You could mix in favorite flavors such as peanut butter if you’re looking to make things different. It’s just important to consider which flavors will mix well with the frosting that you have.
Some people even add ingredients such as crushed nuts, toffee bits, or candy to the store-bought frosting. This can give the frosting better texture and it’ll make it that much more interesting.
Of course, the quality of the store-bought frosting plays a role. If you bought frosting that isn’t that good in the first place, then you won’t be able to turn things around completely.
It’s usually best to try to buy high-quality store-bought frosting that will be pretty good even if you don’t try to modify it. Hopefully, this information will help you to enjoy many tasty cakes in the future.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.
Lynne
Sunday 28th of January 2024
I aerated the frosting in its container and it turned into a glaze consistency. It looked awful and there was a brown residue (from the chocolate cupcakes) after one day. I was really bummed.