Thank you all for the replies! I didn't remove any whey and it was very stiff yet creamy and easy to work with. Somewhat like a creme fraiche. Anyway, the resulting icing was tasty and worked well with the carrot cake.
Andy--yes I've lived here for over 10 years (moved from Wisconsin in the middle of winter!). There have been some challenges with bread, beer and cheese making (temperature, dairy and grain product accessibility and terms) but things are working fairly well now.