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.
Laura
Loved it. Would adding a couple tablespoons of lemon juice disrupt the consistency?
Sam
Hi Laura! You won’t get much of a flavor from the lemon juice. It is going to thin out the frosting a little bit. Your best bet for lemon flavored frosting is either lemon extract or a little bit of lemon zest. 🙂
Red
Hello! Can I replace half of the butter with vegetable shortening to make it more stable?
Sam
Hi Red! It won’t taste quite as good but it should still work. 🙂
Sarah
Sooo good! I did two batches. Kept it plain vanilla for the first batch.
and for the second batch, I crushed some freeze dried raspberries in one half and crushed freeze dried blueberries in the other half (added about 1/3 to 1/4 cup of crushed freeze dried fruit). I sifted the crushed powder to remove all seed.
So tasty, no need to add color! The kids are gonna love this on the funfetti cupcakes!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sarah! 🙂
Mariela Resendez
Oh my goodness… I had to try this twice… the first onw was way too sweet. The second one was perfect.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Mariela! 🙂
Nicole
Yummy, yummy, yummy. I switched out pure almond extract (about 3/4 tsp) for the vanilla & added finely chopped almonds & 1/2 cup chocolate chips this last time to top vanilla cake & is really delish!! Lol😋
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Nicole! 🙂
Sarah
Can I make this without vanilla? I just used the last of mine in the cake 😒
Sam
Hi Sarah! It will work without the vanilla, you will just be missing a little bit of flavor. 🙂
Joli Garcon
Butter Cream is great but Im looking for a smaller recipe as all my cupcake recipes are for 12. Do you have a recipe for 12? As a person who cooks dsiky from scratch Loving fresh I do not freeze anything but fresh vegetables from my organic garden. I’m tired of throwing butter cream down disposal. Looking for smaller batch recipe for 12 cupcakes. Do you have one? Please. 😁
Sam
Hi Joli! You can simply cut all of the ingredients in half to make enough for 12. 🙂
Crystal Hennings
Thank you I love cream cheese frosting😊
Sam
It’s one of my favorites too! 🙂
Sue
So easy and delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Sam
Hi Sue! I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Nan Ballein
This is without a doubt the best cream cheese icing I have ever made!!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Natasha
So delicious and simple!
I was just wondering, I made to big of a batch can I freeze it till the next time I make the muffins again?
Sam
I am so glad you it so much, Natasha! This cream cheese frosting does freeze well. 🙂
Diane L
Coworker drooled and gobbled up every bit of the cupcakes and this frosting 👏👏👏👏👏absolutely the best tasting recipe. Although I goofed an bought 1/3 less fat philly cream cheese blocks. So I used a 3/4 block of the full fat that we had on hand and 1 full and 1/4 block of the less fat and the results was still delicious.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Diane! 🙂
Jay
Thank you so much for the recipe, absolutely delish! You’re right, I could eat it with a spoon (why lie, I already have :-D) !! Do you think if I made a full batch, I could freeze half?
Sam
Haha! So glad you enjoyed, it’s hard to resist just eating by the spoonful, isn’t it!? 😂
And yes, cream cheese frosting freezes well. Enjoy! 🙂
Jay
Excellent, thank you!
Shelby Pemberton
Tried this today and the whole family loved it! It’s so perfect on pumpkin cake. Thank you so much.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Shelby! Thank you so much for commenting, I appreciate it 🙂
Anna
Does the frosted cake need to be refrigerated
Or the cream cheese frosting before I frost the cake ?
Sam
Hi Anna! I usually recommend refrigerating a cake covered in cream cheese frosting if you don’t enjoy it within 48 hours. 🙂
Emily
Is this something I could make the day before and refrigerate overnight then pipe it on the next day ?? Will it need to come to room temp to pipe??
Sam
Hi Emily! You can definitely make this the night before. I would let it warm up a little bit at room temperature to make it easier to pipe. It may need to be stirred briefly. 🙂
Juhie
Hi! I’m planning on using this recipe for my parent’s anniversary cake but is this one a bit thicker to hold up a 3 tier cake? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Juhie! This should hold up for a three tier cake. 🙂
Sherry
This turned out great. So delicious!! Made a cream cheese pound and use the icing for my cake. Not to sweet just right!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sherry! 🙂