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.
David Blythe
Perfect
Tonya
this recipe did not work for me I was trying to pipe very runny in my opinion
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Oh no! Did you make any substitutions or reduce the amount of sugar? It should pipe nicely (as shown in the photos), so this is unusual. Also, make sure you used full-fat, brick-style cream cheese-that is critical here!
Valerie
Hi Sam,
I was just reading through your recipe and noticed that you said to use unsalted butter. I used salted butter instead. That’s why it was too salty. For me, I would still cut back a bit on the sugar and add whipping cream to it
Darlene
Hey Sam,
Can this frosting be kept at room temperature?
Thanks Darlene
Sam
Hi Darlene! I am personally comfortable with leaving it at room temperature for a day, but I would recommend refrigerating it, especially if in a warm environment since it has cream cheese in it. 🙂
Lisa H
I really enjoyed this recipe. I make a carrot cake completely from scratch. I usually grab a jar of store bought cream cheese frosting. I am so happy I tried this. It’s so simple. So thank you thank you! Now I can claim that my carrot cake is completely home made.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you gave our recipe a try, Lisa! Homemade is our favorite ❤️
Elizabeth
I needed an easy and tasty cream cheese frosting recipe and boy, did I find it!! This recipe is absolutely perfect… sweet, perfect consistency and makes a great frosting for cakes, cupcakes and even cookies (like I used it for)! Don’t hesitate, use this recipe and you won’t be disappointed!
Sandy
my family likes almond frosting on everything. could i Pute it in cream cheese frosting for carrot cupcake? thanks
Sam
Hi Sandy! A little bit of almond extract goes a long way so you can use it, but use it sparingly. 🙂
A.L.
Hi Sam, thank you for your recipes. I’m making a 9×13 sheet cake, no piping. Is this about the right amount or should I halve it? Thank you. I’m excited to make this.😋
Sam
This should work perfectly for a 9 x 13. 🙂
shelby
I ended up using the zest of a whole lemon and it was delicious, the consumers raved. Thanks for your recipe, I’ll keep this one on hand
Shelby Salstrom
Can i add lemon juice to make it a citrus cream cheese frosting? If so how much?
Sam
Hi Shelby! You would probably get a better lemon flavor using zest or potentially lemon extract. I haven’t personally played with it so I can’t say for sure how much to add.
Kelsey F.
4 1/2