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.
Jessica
What did I do wrong?? The icing was runny and almost became liquid after use. Not sure what I did wrong, but yikes. It tasted good, but the consistency was horrific.
Sam
O no! I’m so sorry this happened, Jessica! Did you use full fat brick style cream cheese that was softened but not melty soft? If so you can always add more powdered sugar to thicken it up. It will start to melt if you are in a really hot and humid location. I hope it goes better next time. 🙁
Zoë
Hello. I tried the recipe but I was confused. I only saw powdered sugar, butter, and cream cheese. Was there more to the recipe that I did not see? I added a bit of milk hoping it would help and I believe it did. Please let me know if there is more to add. Thank you.
Sam
A little bit of salt and some vanilla extract are the only other things you need. If you accidentally use too much powdered sugar and it becomes too thick you can thin it out with some milk. 🙂
Phoebe
Hello! I would love to try this recipe 😋 but the problem is that I don’t have vanilla extract.. is it okay if i make the cream without it?
Sam
Hi Phoebe! You can leave the vanilla extract out you just lose a lot of flavor. 🙂
Brookermans
Cream cheese frosting is basic and delicious. I used 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar and it was fabulous. I hate sickeningly sweet desserts, so that’s personal, but in this world where there is too much sugar in everything, why not tone it down.
Connie
I started with 2 1/4 c of sugar to the brick of cheese and stick of butter. After the first cup and a half it started to thicken. I was actually worried it would be too thick but trusted to add more. It would appear thick at first then soften. I only had 4 c of sugar but l added a 3rd cup hoping to see it thicken more so l could pipe it. The 3rd cup hardly made a difference and the Vanilla flavor seemed weak. I have good vanilla so it wasn’t that. I added 1/2 tsp more then tasted and added another 1/2 tsp. The flavor was much better with 2 tsps. I used the frosting as it was at that point, not wanting it overly sweet. It has a nice flavor like this but is not pipeable. Maybe it needed to be chilled. So the kids were happy with the flavor and so was l. Just hoped for that firmer texture. Adding that last cuo of sugar may have done it but it wasn’t looking that way. It made quite a lot! Enough to frost 12 cupcakes and a small one layer cake, and about a cup and a half leftover. It’s in the fridge now. I am waiting for it to chill then l will “revisit” it! 😁 Next time l will half the recipe and go from there.
Sam
Hi Connie! The last cup of sugar would definitely help to thicken it. I’m glad everyone enjoyed it though. 🙂
lazy Susan
perfect and easy!
Simone
I now use this as my go to cream cheese frosting, everyone loves it. It holds its shape and is great to work with.
Sarah
You can try using more powdered sugar or corn starch to thicken it
Genie
These are amazing! I used soy milk instead of regular milk and they came out a little flatter than I think they would have otherwise, but it worked fine and they tasted amazing!
Ari
Hi Sam, is it okay if i put the icing in the fridge while waiting for my cupcakes to cool down or should i leave it out? Thank you!
Sam
It’s not necessary to put it in the refrigerator for that short period of time unless it’s really hot and humid where you are, but you can it in the refrigerator if need be. 🙂
Nicki
Hi! How do I use less sugar and more cornstarch or ? I need a lesser sweet taste and lower sugar content. Thanks!
Sam
Hi Nicki! I haven’t played with it so I can’t be sure. You can leave out some sugar but it’s going to make the frosting thinner. I would be cautious about adding too much corn starch as that could alter the flavor.
Angela
BEST cream cheese frosting I have ever tasted. I used 2 1/4 cups of sugar & it was still perfect. I can see how 4 cups will give it a more study texture. If I was transporting these for a party or something, I’d use 3.5 cups of sugar so the icing could stay in place. But we eat them right out of the oven, so there’s never any time for the icing to melt! So good.
If you are using only 2 cups of sugar and you want the icing study, I heard you can also use 1 tablespoon cornstarch or 2 tablespoons arrowroot power (added to powdered sugar). I haven’t tried that yet, but I heard it works.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Angela! 🙂
Lisa Schmidt
Should I chill this before using so it stays in place? I am making a beehive cake and will be piping in rounds going up?
Sam
Hi Lisa! I always pipe it right away so I think you should be good to just pipe it. 🙂
Christina
I am looking forward to try this recipe! I want to make sure it will work well with frosting a blue velvet CAKE. Will the frosting be too thick? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Christina! This frosting should work great for you. 🙂
Katherine
Is it possible to add cocoa powder or something to make it chocolate flavored?
Sam
Hi Katherine! I do have a chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe. 🙂
Meow
It was pretty good but dry
Sam
I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Michelle
This recipe is amazing!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Michelle! 🙂
Jaclynn
If you color the frosting is it better to use gel coloring or water based?
Sam
Hi Jaclynn! I always prefer gel coloring as it gets more vibrant color without adding lots of liquid. 🙂
Curtis
Does this frosting have to be refrigerated?
(It was very good and not overly sweet!)
Sam
Hi Curtis! I will typically refrigerate it after a day or two unless it’s really hot and humid, then I refrigerate it sooner. 🙂
Taylor
Awesome!!How many cupcakes will this frost?
Sam
24 cupcakes. I typically put this info right above the ingredients in the purple box so you don’t have to wait for a reply. 🙂
Steven Perry
This was the best Cream-cheese frosting I’ve ever had/made.
Such an easy recipe for something that tastes soooo delicious!
Steve
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Steve! 🙂
nur
hi Sam! this is definitely the best cream cheese frosting i made. i only used the minimum 2 cups of icing sugar and it taste so good alrd. however it’s not as thick/firm like i expected it to be (i live in singapore where it’s humid all year round, is that an issue?) and i still have a lot of the frosting, how long can i freeze it before it turns bad?
Sam
You can just place the frosting in an air tight container and place it in the freezer. 🙂
Zee
I plan on trying it soon with chocolate cake!
Sam
That’s a great combo. I hope you love it! 🙂
Jeanne
I thought the cake came from a bakery! This paired with red velvet cupcakes were the best cupcake I have EVER had! This was thanks to my neighbor and friend since she made them for my birthday. Yummmmmy!
Sam
Thank you so much, Jeanne! I’m so glad you enjoyed everything so much! 🙂
D Holland
I am making a double batch of cream cheese frosting; Am I to double: butter-1cup, cream cheese-16oz, 8cups powdered sugar,so on..?
Sam
Yes. Enjoy! 🙂
Krissie
Best icing I’ve ever had thank you!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Krissie! 🙂
Shirley
Super easy recipe that was delicious!! Next time I make this I might use three cups of powered sugar. It was a bit sweet but that’s never a problem right?! Very helpful tips. 🙂
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Shirley! 🙂