This is my family favorite BEST cream cheese frosting recipe! It goes great on Carrot Cake, Red Velvet Cake, and just about any other flavor cake or cupcake you can imagine. I’ve been making this cream cheese icing for years!
If I had things my way, every cake and every cupcake would be be buried beneath a mountain of cream cheese frosting.
Not buttercream — Never rarely buttercream — always and only cream cheese. For someone with such a rampant sweet tooth, it’s alarming the number of times I’ve turned down a slice of cake or a sky-high frosted cupcake because the buttercream just makes my teeth hurt (OK full disclosure I have a buttercream recipe coming up on the blog next month, and it’s delicious, but cream cheese frosting will always win over my heart, even over my favorite chocolate frosting).
While buttercream frostings are usually too sweet, cream cheese frosting I could eat with a spoon, and this recipe is every bit as versatile as buttercream — it’s sturdy, pipe-able, can be dyed, and, most importantly, it’s delicious.
Tips for Making Cream Cheese Icing:
- Make sure that you are using full-fat brick cream cheese, not low fat or spreadable cream cheese (which is usually sold in a tub rather than in brick form).
- I always like to use unsalted butter and add a dash of salt so that I have complete control over the flavor of the frosting. However, if you only have salted butter on hand then just omit the salt called for in the recipe.
- Make sure you allow your cream cheese and your butter to soften before making your frosting! Softening the butter and cream cheese ensure that your ingredients will combine well and be lump free.
- If you intend to pipe your frosting, I recommend sifting your powdered sugar before mixing it into your butter/cream cheese mixture, as small lumps of sugar can clog up your piping tips, especially if you’re using a smaller tip.
Can cream cheese frosting be used for piping?
- Yes! Especially with this recipe because it is nice and thick. Now, this frosting (as with most) is prone to melting in hot weather, but it pipes nicely and as you can see in the photos it holds its shape neatly as well.
How do I make my cream cheese frosting thicker?
- What I love about this recipe is that it already makes a nice thick frosting, but if needed you can add more powdered sugar to make your cream cheese frosting even thicker. I recommend adding about 2 Tablespoons at a time until the desired thickness is reached. Alternatively you can add cornstarch… see more on that below.
Can I add cornstarch to my cream cheese frosting?
- Yup! While this recipe does not call for it, if you need a particularly stiff frosting or are looking to make your frosting thicker without making it sweeter, you can add cornstarch (in fact, I use this technique for my carrot cake cookies). I don’t recommend adding more than a few Tablespoons, so start with just one Tablespoon at a time until desired thickness is reached.
Alright, while (in my humble opinion) cream cheese frosting goes great with everything, there are certain cakes and cupcakes that complement it particularly well. Wednesday I’ll be sharing one of my favorite cupcakes with you — the exact cupcakes seen in the photos above.
Can you guess what flavor they are???
How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened (113g)
- 8 oz cream cheese softened (brick-style, not spreadable) (226g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups powdered sugar* (500g)
Instructions
- Combine butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer (or you may use an electric mixer) and beat until creamy, well-combined, and lump-free.
- Add vanilla extract and salt and stir well to combine.
- With mixer on low, gradually add powdered sugar until completely combined.
- Use to frost completely cooled cake or cupcakes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Michelle Walker
Made 1.5 times the recipe for an oreo cheesecake sandwiched between two vanilla cakes. Needed a not overly sweet cream cheese icing that was piepable and this was perfect for my needs! The cream cheese had that perfect little tang that went well with the rich cake. I was a little worried about its piepability but it was perfect! Thank you Sugarspunrun!
Sophia
I’ve used this recipe before and I love it! I’m just wondering if it is able to be colored? I wanted to color it red for the holidays.
Sam Merritt
Sure thing! You can stir in some color briefly at the end. 🙂
Brenda
Haven’t made this yet but want to. My question is, how can I make it chocolate? I want to use it on a “death by chocolate” cake.
Sam Merritt
Hi Brenda! I have a chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe you can check out. 🙂
ROXANNE HOLDEN
If I only have salted butter can I use that and just omit the salt?
Sam Merritt
Sure thing! 🙂
felicia brown
Delicious frosting! I did a little less sugar and it was perfect consistency for an easy spread on top of carrot cake. Thank you!
Jennifer Catoe
will mine be good till Christmas im gonna make a pumpkin roll.so I made the icing tonight 😬
Sam Merritt
Hi Jennifer! I generally don’t recommend keeping it longer than 5 days.
Anonymous
Can I freeze the cakes with the frosting on?
Sam Merritt
Yes, this frosting freezes well 🙂
Karen Deoliveira
Absolutely easy to make and delicious! I will be using this for future cakes!
Anna Faith Brooks
This is a keeper recipe!
Karen
Can you make this frosting ahead of time? Does the cake need to be stored in the refrigerator then after it’s frosted?
Sam Merritt
Hi Karen! This will be good in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You will want to refrigerate the cake after frosting it. 🙂
Catherine DiMaria
Can I frost Christmas cutouts with this recipe?
Sam Merritt
Hi Catherine! It will crust like a buttercream, but won’t dry firm enough to be stackable but you can certainly frost cut out cookies with it. 🙂
Kim
I just made the frosting and it turned out amazing on my banana cake thank you
Kareena
Yeahhh THATS what I want to do with my banana bread slices , yummmMmmmm thank you all
Toni
Hi! I haven’t made this yet but I’m curious if we can dye this frosting? Thanks!
Sam Merritt
Sure thing! You will want to briefly stir in the color at the end. 🙂
Carey Larsen
Would this be enough to generously frost a 9 x 13″ cake?
Sam Merritt
Hi Carey! It will cover the entire 9 x 13, but if you want to pipe any decorations you will want in crease the recipe. 🙂