Cream Cheese Icing

I used a box mix, lemon flavored and baked 2- 8" rounds.
You will need:
2 boxes of cream cheese
1 stick of butter (no margarine)
1-2 ponds of 10X sugar
1 tsp. lemon, almond or vanilla flavoring
I used lemon this time because I was making a lemon cake.
1/4 -1/3 water
Have all ingredients at room temperature.

Cream together:
cream cheese and butter

Beat until smooth.

(I add my flavoring to my water before adding it to the sugar.)
Add 1 pound of 10X sugar, add water and flavoring slowly.
Add more sugar and water slowly to make it a stiff consistency,
you should see peaks form while you are beating it, but do not over beat.
If it is too thin add more sugar. If it is too think add a LITTLE more water.
A small amount of water goes a long way!

Pipe icing around the first layer,
make this about 1/2 inch high to form a boundary for the filling.

Fill with your choice of jam or preserves.
(raspberry, strawberry, apricot, etc...)
Do not make the filling higher than the icing.

Place top layer on, pressing down a little.
You could also cut these 2 layers in half using a serrated knife,
creating 4 layers of cake.
Then you could add icing and filling between each layer as shown above.
If you do this, you may need to add a couple of straws
cut to the height of the cake
and inserted through the center of the layers
to keep the layers from shifting any,
especially if you will be transporting it.

Ice sides and top, decorate if desired.
This is a very rich icing and always a hit!
Due to the cream cheese this will need to be refrigerated.