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.
Lisa
Is it OK to make this frosting a day or two ahead of time? I have a lot to do on the day of my party.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes! Just store in the fridge in an airtight container. You may need to let it come back to room temp before using.
Marie
This icing is WONDERFUL!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for giving it a try, Marie! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Martynn Goetz
This was amazing and it was so good. And on the cupcakes they tasted delicious!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you liked it, Martynn! Thanks for the review 🩷
Sierra
So so good!
Christine
Do you think I need to refrigerate this if not serving it until tomorrow?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’d recommend it! Just make sure to keep it in an airtight container. You may need to let it warm a little bit out of the refrigerator before it’s pipe-able.
Catherine
Delicious and perfect
Matt
Was super liquid even after adding more icing sugar and mixing for over 20min. Everything was room temp and I didn’t add any extra water or milk. Could barely taste the cream cheese even before adding the extra icing sugar it was way too sweet.
Sam Merritt
Hi Matt! It’s quite odd that it was ever a liquid because the only liquid here is essentially a splash of milk. Did you use spreadable cream cheese? Was your butter really warm? Why did you mix it so long?
Ella
I’m making a big batch of cupcakes for a party next week, and was hoping to find a cream cheese recipe that would hold its shape during transport. The venue is just over an hour away by car, and is indoors, but I’m not sure of the temperature. Do you think this recipe could still work for that/do you have any tips on how to help the iced cupcakes keep their shape during transport? The recipe looks delicious, I’ll be sure to try it out soon (whether or not it’s for the party)!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Ella! We usually recommend refrigerating this frosting after 2 hours. If you can keep the cupcakes cold during transport (in a cooler with some ice packs would be great!) and set them out just before everyone is ready to eat, that should work. Not sure if you have a cupcake carrier, but that can be super helpful for transport as long as you can keep it level and it fits in your cooler. Hope that is helpful!
Lorraine deLaurentis
Perfect for 24 cupcakes. I reduced the powder sugar and added some cocoa powder since I needed chocolate icing. Know my senior group is going to be delighted. Thank you, it’s in my recipe book .
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy it worked so nicely for you, Lorraine!
Ashley
Very tasty frosting! Easy to make this will now be my go too recipe from now on 🙂
Jasmine B
no, I did not use spreadable cream cheese, used block cream cheese. 0 substitutions and used 4 cups of powdered sugar
Sam Merritt
Hmmm, unless it was super hot where you were then I’m not sure how it could be that thin with all of that sugar. 🙁
Kathy Stroud
The Best Icing ever!! Iwill use it on everything!! Thank you
Lieu Weaver
Would this work on the sides of a layer cake? I’ve never done this type of icing. Thanks!
Sam Merritt
Sure thing! 🙂
Jasmine B
followed this recipe to a T and even cooled the icing in the fridge for half an hour and it wasnt thick at all. icing was falling off the side of my cupcakes and wouldnt stay stiff enough to pipe as pictured.
Sam Merritt
Hi Jasmine! Did you use spreadable cream cheese? Did you make any substitutions? Did you reduce the sugar?
Meghan
It came out way too soft to hold it’s shape (I did use less sugar initially as it says in the recipe you can use 2 cups) and when that didn’t work, I added another cup of sugar and then it was disgustingly sweet. I used the 8oz block of Philadelphia cream cheese to ensure it wasn’t too soft as well. Had to throw it all out because it was useless after, what a waste of ingredients!
Sam Merritt
Hi Meghan! I’m not sure where you found that you can use 2 cups of sugar? It will be much thinner if you use that little. It will certainly be too thin if you don’t use the recommended ingredients. 🙁