In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, whip the butter and cream cheese until soft and fluffy, about 1 minutes. I like to use the whisk attachment for my mixer.

Reduce speed to low and slowly add 2 cups of the powdered sugar. Once the powdered sugar is pretty well incorporated, increase speed to medium high and beat for 1 minute.

Stop the mixer, scrape the sides of the bowl, then add the other 3 cups of powdered sugar. Start out on slow speed again until sugar is mixed in the increase to medium high. Beat for another minute. Mixture will be very thick

Add vanilla and 1 ½ tablespoons milk and beat until nice creamy consistency is reached. You made need to add more milk, add just a teaspoonful at a time until desired consistency is reach. You want a creamy but fairly thick consistency, if you're planning on piping the icing. If spreading with a knife, the icing can be a bit thinner. Beat for another 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl several times during mixing.

Ice with a knife or pipe on icing with a decorating bag and tip. For the cupcakes pictured, I used a 2D Wilton tip, also known as a flower tip. For the pink ombre effect, I painted a few lines of food coloring inside my decorating bag before adding the icing.