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.
Debi
Can this frosting be frozen?
Sam
Hi Debi! You should be able to freeze it. It may need to be stirred briefly upon thawing. 🙂
Evelyn Hardison
Can you make this recipie sugar free
Sam
Hi Evelyn! I’m not really sure how that would work here. 🙁
Shannon
Yes! I used monkfruit confectioner sweetener. It substitutes 1:1 with sugar
Katha
Sub powdered Lakanto monkfruit sweetener for the powdered sugar. It’s a 1:1 ratio.
Katha
Actually, for the powdered version, the ratio 1:2. Only use 2 cups of powdered Lakanto (half as much).
Alison
Does this taste like buttercream?? I personally don’t like the taste or sweetness of buttercream. Will I be able to substitute some of the sugar with corn starch or corn syrup?? Last question how much batches do you think I would need for a three layer 6 inch cake. There will be plenty of rosettes on top for decoration
Sam
Hi Allison! Cream cheese frosting is not nearly as sweet as butter cream. You could probably replace some sugar with corn starch if you’d like but I would just start with small amount. A single batch covers a 2 layer 8 inch cake so 1 batch should about cover a 3 layer 6 inch cake. 🙂
Michelle
This truly is the best cream cheese frosting recipe. It was so simple to make and tastes divine.
Sam
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Michelle! Thank you so much for commenting 🙂
Pat
This is the recipe I use but if I want a softer frosting to run down a coffe or bunds cake I use low fat cream cheese. Works like a charm
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoy it so much, Pat! 🙂
yamilex
I completely love it! I’ve made other cream cheese icing and never liked them, but this one im in love with
Stefanie
Super super good cream cheese frosting for my red velvet cupcakes 😊😊😊 Thankyou for sharing!!
Lauren
Whisk attachment vs paddle?
Sam
Hi Lauren! Either works here but I recommend the paddle to avoid whipping less air in to the frosting. 🙂
Margo
Will this frosting harden enough to stack cookies?
Sam
Hi Margo! Unfortunately it won’t ever really get hard enough to stack. It will form a crust but I don’t know that you could stack cookies.
Natalia
This cream cheese frosting was perfect for my banana cupcakes!
Amna
I made a coconut cake (not from your recipe) but I used the cream cheese frosting recipe from your website and added coconut extract to make coconut cream cheese frosting. The frosting wasn’t thick enough but I did add 4 cups of sugar, I didn’t want to add more because it was already very sweet for me, when I ate the cake the sugar wasn’t fully powdered, even though I used powdered sugar. Is there something I am doing wrong? How can I fix the thickness of the frosting without make it sweeter (I added 1tbsp of salt)? What can I do to make the sugar finer?
Sam
Did you use full fat brick style cream cheese? If not this could be your issue.
Jonmarie
Can you make this whipping by hand or do you need an electric mixer?
Nan Doheny
Can this frosting be made ahead?
Sam
Yes it can. You will want to store it in the refrigerator in an air tight container. It may need to be briefly stirred before using. 🙂
Robin S.
OMG…was looking for a buttercream frosting, but came across this recipe. It was the bomb! For a friend’s birthday today, I made a devil’s food cake with cut up cherries in the batter. Topped it off with The Best Cream Cheese Frosting and everyone loved it.
I followed the recipe exactly as written, with the exception of only adding 3 cups of the 10x sugar. It is a keeper! Was delicious and now going to be my go to frosting.
Thank you sooo very much for posting!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Robin! 🙂
Aram
I made this and received SO MANY compliments. Perfect balance and delish
Edith
Very easy and lots of tangy cream cheese flavor (not too sweet). Perfect for carrot cake as it offsets the sweetness of the cake. Also very good on a dark chocolate cake. This is now my go-to cream cheese frosting recipe.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Edith! 🙂
Amelia
Thoughts on adding a bit of whisky? I did that once we regular frosting and loved how it came out! Wondering if you think it would be odd with the combo of cream cheese? (Planning on using this recipe on top of spiced cookies).
Sam
Hi Amelia! Sounds like it could be tasty. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂