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
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened (113g)
- 8 oz cream cheese softened (brick-style, not spreadable) (226g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 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.
Ruby Wallach says
From personal experience, some buttercream recipes I’ve made in the past ask for 4 cups of powdered sugar, but it ends up being way to sweet. Will it be bad if put 3 cups of sugar?
Sam says
Hi Ruby! So the frosting won’t be as stiff and ideal for piping with only 3 cups of sugar. However, fortunately this recipe is flexible. I would start with 3 cups and if you find that the consistency isn’t stiff enough for your needs add more sugar until you get the needed consistency. I hope that helps!
Deepika says
Hi.. can we use icing sugar instead of powdered sugar???
Sam says
Hi Deepika! That will work just fine here. 🙂
Maya says
So good! It was perfect for my red velvet cake. The texture of this frosting was beautiful and it wasn’t too sweet, which we loved! I will definitely be using this recipe again soon 🙂
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Maya! 🙂
Nicole says
Delicious! My first time making frosting, and this was perfect. I made several colors with a little gel coloring, and also made raspberry and mango using crushed and sifted freeze-dried fruit.
I put the cake back in the refrigerator regularly while decorating and everything held up perfectly. I put some of the colors in the refrigerator for too long while I was decorating with other colors, and then was impatient for them to soften up, but now I know. My fiancé was stunned by how beautiful and tasty his birthday cake was and I can’t believe how easy this frosting was to work with.
Next time I’ll try to find some tricks to make it just a little less sweet. I think I read that adding a bit more salt might help cut the sweetness. Thanks for the great recipe!
Sam says
Hi Nicole! It sounds like it turned out beautiful! It is true that adding a little bit of extra salt will cut the sweetness, but be careful doing it. You don’t want to add to much salt and ruin all of the frosting. 🙂
Felix says
This cream cheese frosting is the best I’ve ever hàd. It was creamy and I was firm enough to pipe onto some gluten free cupcakes I made for my wife’s birthday. They were a bit!!! I will be using this recipe again very soon. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Sam says
I’m so happy to hear this, Felix!! Thank you so much for letting me know how the frosting turned out for you, I really appreciate it! 🙂
Grace Lingo says
This is the best frosting I’ve ever made! My family loves it and I find excuses to bake to use this!!
Sam says
I’m so glad to hear this, Grace! Sounds like your family loves it as much as mine does, and that makes me so happy to hear! Thank you for commenting and letting me know how you liked it, I really appreciate it <3
Ashley Jefferson says
Can I use confectioners sugar instead?
Sam says
Hi Ashley! Confectioner’s sugar and powdered sugar are the same so yes you are good to go with that. Enjoy! 🙂
Julie says
Would this be enough for a 9×13 (frosting in pan, so top only) plus piping a border and some decorations?
Sam says
Hi Julie! I usually increase the recipe by 50% if I want to do decorations/a border.
Jes says
My favorite icing hands down. Im always making cupcakes for my work (because lets face it..you cant not smile while holding a cupcake)!!
Sam says
It’s definitely hard not to smile when holding a cupcake! I’m glad you enjoyed the frosting. 😊
Felix says
Can this frosting be refrigerated over night? I plan on using it for cupcakes but I’m not going to frost them till tomorrow. Advice?
Sam says
Hi Felix! Yes it can be, but you will need to bring it back to room temperature and maybe mix it again before piping on your cupcakes. Enjoy!
Holly Walgren says
Finally! The perfect cream cheese frosting recipe 😋 i don’t know how much of this is actually going to end up on my brownies because I keep sneaking tastes
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Holly! Thank you for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Audrey says
Hi Sam,
In these crazy quarantine times I have been given the honor of making by best friend’s wedding cake, and this will be PERFECT. I plan on piping flowers and the whole works 🙂 Since it’s a wedding cake it will probably be sitting out at room temperature for quite some time. Will the cheesecake layer hold? Additionally, will the piped decorations hold?
Thanks for your help!
Audrey says
Ooops! I was also looking at your cheesecake layered carrot cake 🙂 I plan on making that cake and piping some decorations with this frosting.
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Audrey! What an honor to bake a wedding cake for your best friend. So sweet of you to do! Unfortunately, because of the cheesecake center, this cake will need to be refrigerated and can not sit out. Are they looking for a carrot cake or are they open to options?
Audrey Conley says
Hi Sam,
Oh, that is a bummer! The groom loves carrot cake, so I would like to stick with it. Could I use your cream cheese frosting recipe and frost it like a normal layer cake?
Sam says
That would be fine! While I do recommend refrigerating this icing as well, because of the amount of sugar in it it can stay out at room temperature much longer than cheesecake can.