Created for Coconut Cream Cake. 

This recipe was originally created for our Series of Unfortunate Recipes, based on the book and Netflix series by Lemony Snicket.

Makes enough for one 2-layer, 9-inch cake or 1 dozen cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS

2 eight-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 Cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature

2 Cups powdered sugar

1/2 Cup Coco Lopez sweet cream of coconut (see notes)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese until fluffy. (Have patience! It can take 5-8 minutes or more, depending on the speed of your mixer, to beat cream cheese to a state of fluffiness.)

2. Add the butter and beat for a few more minutes. 

3. Add powdered sugar, sweetened cream of coconut and vanilla extract and beat to combine.

Notes

I experimented with using Coco Lopez and Coco Goya sweet cream of coconut, and of the two, I strongly recommend Coco Lopez. It's substantially thicker and creamier, with more sugar and fat, and more coconut (the first ingredient) than the Goya product (first ingredient is coconut water rather than coconut). 

Both brands of cream of coconut contain some junky chemical ingredients that I normally don't like to cook with. Time didn't permit me to experiment with substitutes this week, but some combination of coconut oil, coconut milk and sugar would surely work. If you have any success substituting these, please let me know in the comments!