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.
Barb Montag says
June 19, 2019 at 4:08 pmCan I make this 2 days in advance to frost day if event for freshness?
Sam says
June 19, 2019 at 10:06 pmYup! Store in the fridge in an airtight container then you’ll need to let it sit out for about 30 minutes or so and stir it again before frosting so it warms up to a spreadable consistency. Enjoy!
Lisa J Kidd says
June 17, 2019 at 9:02 pmI just made your recipe exactly as instructed. I tasted it and was instantly transported back to childhood. I’ve been using canned icing for so many years I’d forgotten how amazing homemade cream cheese icing is. I’ll never go back to canned. Thank you for this delicious recipe!
Sam says
June 19, 2019 at 9:37 amI am so glad you enjoyed the frosting, Lisa! I always prefer homemade. It’s worth the extra work if you ask me. 🙂
Alesha says
June 17, 2019 at 2:13 pmHi! This is a plain cream cheese frosting recipe; do you have any ideas of how a person could easily do variations based on this?
Sam says
June 17, 2019 at 2:22 pmDepends on what kind of variation you are looking to do, here is my chocolate cream cheese frosting and I did a lemon cream cheese frosting on my lemon cupcakes, if that helps 🙂
Rosie Soward says
June 16, 2019 at 11:21 pmSuper tasty and moist carrot cake recipe! Absolutely a hit for
Father’s Day! Cream cheese frosting was the best consistency of any
recipe I’ve tried. Thank you!
Sam says
June 17, 2019 at 1:13 pmI am so glad everyone enjoyed the cake and the frosting, Rosie! 🙂
Vijaya says
June 7, 2019 at 11:10 amCan the frosting be used for an ice-cream cake
Sam says
June 7, 2019 at 10:52 pmHi Vijaya! I haven’t tried it, my only concern would be the thickness; often ice cream cakes are covered in a whipped cream frosting which can be easily spread without relying much on the friction from the ice cream cake for it to adhere. This frosting is a bit thicker and I’m not sure how well it would do adhering to the cake. Would love to hear how it works out for you!
Jacki says
June 7, 2019 at 1:59 amHi!
To help thicken, would I add the cornstarch with the icing sugar, or after it’s been all mixed? Looking to pipe a bunch of small swirls.
Thanks!
Sam says
June 7, 2019 at 10:15 amI usually add it as needed at the very end. You could also add more icing sugar (which will make it sweeter). I hope that helps!
Sam says
June 7, 2019 at 10:15 amThis is a fairly thick cream cheese frosting even without added cornstarch, though, and I often decorate/pipe swirls without adding anything else. The piping done on the cupcakes in these photos is without any addition to the recipe as written 🙂
Jacki says
June 7, 2019 at 3:43 pmAwesome! Thanks very much! Going to make now. 😋
Kayla Berkheimer says
June 5, 2019 at 11:26 amCould you add a tablespoon or 2 of meringue powder to help in hot weather?
Sam says
June 6, 2019 at 5:35 pmHonestly I’m not sure. Sometimes I thicken it with cornstarch to help with the heat but it’s hard to add enough to truly keep it from melting without compromising the taste. The meringue powder is an interesting idea and if that works for you I’d love to know!
Susan L Floyd says
May 29, 2019 at 9:25 pmI made this frosting for your carrot cake. I’m using it tomorrow but frosting it tonight. Can I leave it out on the counter or does it need to go in the refrigerator ?once I put it on the cake pedestal and frost it I don’t see a way to cover it in an airtight container.
Sam says
May 29, 2019 at 10:05 pmHi Susan! The cake should be ok if left out overnight. The frosting may crust a little bit much like a buttercream would do. I hope everyone loves the cake. 🙂
Susan L Floyd says
May 29, 2019 at 11:01 pmThanks! I baked it in two 9 inch pans for 30 minutes. The toothpick came out with just a couple crumbs on it. But the cakes are a little sticky on top in the center area. Do you think it is done?
Sam says
May 31, 2019 at 9:14 pmSounds like it to me 🙂
Susan says
May 31, 2019 at 2:10 amThe cake was perfectly done and moist. Everyone loved it! My husband said it’s the best carrot cake he’s ever had. Thank you for the recipe.
Sam says
May 31, 2019 at 2:08 pmI’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you, Susan! 🙂