The Best Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
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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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Hello there,
I love your recipes!
I struggle with the ingredients though, since the greek market is quite different when it comes to products and their names.
So, I couldn’t find brick cream cheese, only the spreadable one.
You think it will come out presentable?
Or will I waste the ingredients using it?
Hi Maria! The spreadable stuff has different additives that don’t let it set quite right so it will probably be a little runny. 🙁
No matter what Frosting or Icing I make it turns out gritty or broken! I have read and read every tip out there and cannot seem to get a smooth silky frosting! I am in a very small kitchen so do not have a stand mixer. I have my hand mixer, food processor (not a great one) and, of course, my own hands. Have tried all methods…the hand mixer gets closest; food processor is a mess with constant smooth down of the sides to get it mixed and still not smooth…I can mix with some elbow grease and get it pretty smooth then it gets gritty over night. I have used sifted regular sugar, sifted 10x powered sugar and sweeten condensed milk…added more sugar, have added heavy cream, half & half, warm water/Cool water; melted it some over a double boiler; almost every tip out there and still crystallized after cooling or during mixing!
Maybe I am mixing it wrong? Not quite sure but would love some advice…..???
Hmmm this sounds very frustrating. Have you tried this recipe exactly as written? I have a video on the post which may be helpful. I actually make it with a hand mixer as well. I hope this helps. 🙂
Sometimes the altitude you live at makes a difference! I totally had to relearn how to bake when I lived in Nevada..lol
Easy and very tasty. One of the best cream cheese frostings I have had.
Can you freeze this frosting?
Yes this frosting can be frozen. 🙂
Hello! Just trying your recipe out for the first time… love reading your recipes and tips tho.
My question is… We are using this on sugar cookies and I was curious if it needed refrigerated.
Thank you for all the great recipes and tips! Merry Christmas ❤❤
Hi Bethi! I would recommend refrigerating it if not used with 2 days. 🙂
Just tried this tonight on a spice cake. It’s amazing I love it. Thank you Merry Christmas
I’ve tried making this recipe and it’s really good, however, I want it to become as white as possible. How do I do that without adding food coloring?
The butter and vanilla extract add the color here. Try to find a really pale colored butter and use clear vanilla extract. It still won’t be completely white because of the butter but it should still look pretty nice. 🙂
Hi there,
If you want to dye your frosting without using food dye, you can try using a tiny dab of butterfly pea flower. Natural, organic it’s a dry flower that you steep, once cooled you add a small amount of lemon juice and it magically changes from blue to purple. Add a tiny amount of the purple to cancel out the yellow in the butter! In the same context if you can’t find the flower a tiny amount of purple food colour on the tip of a toothpick will cancel the yellow in your frosting. Hope that helps!
P.S. I love this frosting and I use it all the time in my cakes!
Toner for frosting! BRILLIANT!
Would almond flavoring work as well as vanilla? I’m trying to get the icing as white as possible, and wonder if the vanilla might shade it a bit.
While almond would work it would change the flavor profile quite a bit (which is fine if you like that flavor!). I think I would recommend you use clear vanilla extract rather than almond, but that’s based on my own flavor preferences.
Wonderful recipe! Used it on a vanilla cake with strawberry filling. Will be making this frosting again!
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Rose! 🙂
Hey! I was wondering about how many cups of frosting does this recipe make?
Hi Maylee! I haven’t measured it out, but it will cover a 2 layer 8 or 9 inch cake. 🙂
Hi
Do I have use Mescarpone cheese or Philadelphia please?
Thank you
Hi Sabrina! You want cream cheese here. 🙂
Yes , it is for cupcakes
Hello. If I use Mascarpone cheese the cream will be as thick as the one with Philadelphia? Thank you!
I honestly haven’t tried it, but I would be careful with the mascarpone cheese. It may be easy to over beat and then your frosting will be runny.
do you NEED to add vanilla?
It’s recommended for best taste, but the frosting will still work without it.
Hi I am 10 years old, and I love baking! and i wanted to ask you if I can dye this frosting recipe. will it change the frosting?
Hi Lily! I dye this frosting all the time without problem, so you can do it without issue. Enjoy, and happy baking! Thank you for using my recipe! 🙂
Can i use salted butter for this recipe
Hi Jessica! You can use salted butter, just omit the salt. 🙂
I used salted butter but a didnt add salt
Hi there! Do you think this will taste good peppermint flavored ( I have a request for a red velvet cake with peppermint buttercream) . If so should I swap the vanilla extract for peppermint extract?
Hi Dina! That sounds great! You will need less mint extract than vanilla as it is much more potent so start with a conservative amount and add more as needed. 🙂