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.
Maria
Hi Sam! A few questions…
1) how long can the cupcakes, with frosting, stay out before needing to be refrigerated?
2) how long are they good for?
2) can I make the cupcakes and frosting today but assemble a day or 2 later? If yes, would I need to refrigerate the cupcakes too or just the frosting? I ask because there might be some that prefer no frosting so I can just frost what I need.
Sam
Hi Maria! The cupcakes with frosting I wouldn’t leave out much longer than 24-48 hours unless it’s really warm where you are in which case you will want to refrigerate sooner. They should be good for 5 days in an air tight container in the refrigerator. You can make the cupcakes and the frosting in advance. The cupcakes can stay at room temperature in an air tight container and the frosting you will want to store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. 🙂
Greer Ellison Wolfson
I love this recipe and have used it many times for my carrot cake. Only once did I make a fatal mistake and I want to warn you about it. It was a very hot day and I put the frosting on as quickly as I could and got it in the fridge. The next time I looked at it (the next day)—at the home of my friend, the top layer had slipped off of the bottom layer. We all just laughed and it still tasted incredible. This is a tried and true recipe and very easy!! I also sometimes forget to take the cheese and butter out of the fridge to soften, so I just put it in the microwave for 30 seconds on high and then it was still cool and soft—ready to use.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Greer! 🙂
Eleanor
So delicious! I did a half batch, and softened up at the end another 1/4C or so of cream cheese to give it the extra tang. Absolutely delicious!!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Eleanor! 🙂
Heather
Very easy and quick! I’ll be using this recipe anytime I need to make cream cheese frosting! Thank you 😊
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Heather! 🙂
jessica
A rich, delicious frosting. Mine came out more the consistency of an icing which was fine for my purposes but if I was decorating or frosting a layer cake I might have been disappointed. You might want to make sure you have more than just four cups of powdered sugar on hand in case you need to add a bit more as a thickener. Overall a great recipe: thanks!
Grace
The frosting is amazing! It’s also a very easy recipe anyone can do, it’s great for beginners. My family is very picky on frosting because most don’t like it very sweet, it was a perfect mix between sweet and not to sweet!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Grace! 🙂
sonia
How long does thwe frosting stay good outside of the fridge?
Sam
Hi Sonia! Since it has cream cheese it in you want to be careful with how long it is out of refrigeration. I normally leave it out only for a few hours while serving. 🙂
Kelsie
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but am hoping to use it on a birthday cake I plan to make soon. I’d like to do as much work ahead of time as possible, how long will this icing keep refrigerated if I make it ahead of time? Thank you.
Sam
Hi Kelsie! This will last several days in the refrigerator. 🙂
Bethany
I’m not sure if I did the recipe wrong, but I halved the recipe for carrot cake icing. I recommend using waaay less sugar. I used around 160g of sugar (less than 250g) and it is still very sweet. Again, not sure if I did the recipe wrong or if you have a sweet tooth. Overall it’s delicious!
SONYA
When making me a 9″ double layer cake while I have enough left to pipe a couple of knowledge on top I should I increase the recipe by a 1/2 more
Sam
Hmmm I would probably increase the recipe by 50% to make sure you have enough. 🙂
Nals
If I have 150 g of cream cheese. Can you help me adjust this recipe to the measurements please
Sam
Honestly that would probably be a little bit tricky because you are about 33% short on cream cheese. I would probably recommend just cutting the recipe in half and then your measurements will be much easier to figure out. 🙂
Heidi
I am a little confused. Your recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter (one stick) – one stick is 1/4 cup…?
Sam
Hi Heidi! A standard-sized stick is 1/2 cup (1/4 lb, though). You will want to use 1/2 cup 🙂
Caroline Trezise
Hi!!Nals…you need 225 g of cream cheese to equal 8 ounces
Tony
Hi,
if I want to make a three layer cake, should I double the ingredients? Thank you very much
Sam
Hi Tony! You should be able to just increase the recipe by 50%. 🙂
Sam
this is my go to recipe for cream cheese frosting! using just 1 cup of icing sugar works well for me though 🙂
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sam! 🙂
Erica Van Brunt
You mentioned using cornstarch but what about using fat free milk powder instead? You could use it to thicken your frosting and maybe to repace some of the sugar if you wanted a less sweet frosting. Do you think it would work?
Sam
Hi Erica! I haven’t tried it but I think it could work. Let me know how it goes. 🙂