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.
Ria
If I make the frosting and leave it in the fridge for the next day do I need to let it come to room temperature before piping? If so how long do you think it will take?
Sam
Hi Ria! Yes you will want to let it warm up a little bit to make it easier to pipe. It probably doesn’t have to get all the way to room temperature. It really depends how warm it is in your house as to how long it’s going to take to be usable. Just check it periodically to see how stiff it is. 🙂
Elaine
This was super simple to make and delicious too. I’ll never buy canned frosting again. Can the frosting be frozen?
Sam
Hi Elaine! This frosting will freeze well. I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Tuti
Your cups to grams measurements are wrong. 4 cups = 340 gramms not 500 gramms! I trusted what was given and used 500 gramms *should have trusted my instinct because I did think that was insane amount… And actually just 250 gramms would be enough.
Sam
I’m sorry you had a tough time with this frosting. I’m not sure where exactly your conversion is coming from but a cup of powdered sugar is more than 85g. I do a cup of powdered sugar standardized to 125g and these are the measurements I use in all of my recipes without fail. Of course, since this is a frosting it’s easy to manipulate and add sugar to reach your desired consistency which is why I don’t instruct you to dump it in all at once.
Diane Santana
Hello, it has come out perfect consistency however, I ran out of powdered sugar. I am about a cup shy, it’s still not sweet enough. Can I add regular sugar to it?
Sam
I would not recommend adding regular granulated sugar. Your frosting will become pretty grainy. 🙁
Kathy
Insanely delicious! Made the carrot cake stand out from all the other desserts.
Deb
Can I use salted butter for this recipe and simply omit the salt? I don’t have time to run to the store.
Sam
Yup! Enjoy!
Peggy Lawing
Thank you so much! The best! How long will it keep in fridge. Using for cinnamon buns
Sam
Hi Peggy! It will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. Enjoy! 🙂
Peggy Lawing
Thanks!
Renee Denning
This frosting is great! Really compliments my homemade spice cake! Thank you so much!!!
Gina
Will I need to refrigerate frosted cupcakes if I am making them the night before or will they stay at room temp overnight?
Sam
Hi Gina! I have left them out overnight without issue, however, since the frosting is made with cream cheese my official recommendation would be to refrigerate it overnight. If you don’t want to refrigerate the cupcakes you could always just refrigerate the frosting overnight and pipe it the next morning. 🙂
stacey
I love this frosting! It is my go to recipe
Sam
So happy to hear this, Stacey! Thank you so much for trying my recipe 🙂
Rebecca
This looks delicious – how do I store leftover frosting? I will need to frost cupcakes on two (consecutive) days so want to make sure fridge is good. Thanks!
Sam
Hi Rebecca! You will want to store it in the refrigerator in an air tight container. 🙂
Mary Amanda Richey
Used 3 cups of sugar to frost pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes with ginger snap crust for a friend’s birthday. Delicious!
Ash
Hi there!
I think my butter might have been too soft
It’s summer this side so I put it in the freezer for 10 minutes and it worked!
Bianka Van Wyk
Do you put your frosting in the fridge before you use it for piping?
Sam
I do not, I use it right after mixing.
Sciacca
Made this frosting for some sweet potato cupcakes, it’s tastes really good and it holds shape very well.
Pam
Excellent! Comes out perfect every time
Mimi
Hi, I need to frost 48 standard size cupcakes. I saw the note that it can frost 24 cupcakes, but then was confused where it said it would only do 12 generously. If I’m piping frosting onto 48 cupcakes, do I need to quadruple the recipe or only double it? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Mimi! Depends on how much frosting you like. If you would like to frost the cupcakes as generously as is pictured in the photos in this post, I would quadruple the recipe.
Monica
Can I half this recipe? I need a little frosting for some macarons
Sam
Absolutely! Enjoy!
Shelby
I used half of the powdered sugar and still thought it was a touch sweet but my family loved it. It was even better the next day!