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.
Tamika Lovett
Can it be frozen?
Sam
Sure thing! 🙂
Lynn Matlock
Just the recipe that I was looking for! Simple and delicious. Served on red velvet bundtlettes. I got lots of compliments on the frosting. I definitely will be using this recipe again in the future. Thank you for sharing.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Those sound adorable, Lynn! Thanks for trying our recipe and coming back to leave a review 😊
Zachary
AWESOME!!!! I love cream cheese, and i love frosting, and I especially like good frosting on cake. I made a red velvet cake (not very red. Brown velvet would be more accurate:( but thats ok ) and i wanted a frosting not to sweet for my parents, so what i did was double the recipie except the sugar, and then added only a little above 4 cups idk how much but then i got the most cream cheese tasting frosting i ever got thanks!!!!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you liked the frosting, Zachary! Next time give our red velvet cake a try–it’s nice and red 😊
Zachary
Edit to my last comment: i added (on accident but whatever) around 1/2 a cup more sugar then the recipe said, but still tasted good. Melts a little bit easy, so i would refrigerate the cake/whatever your putting the frosting on if you aren’t eating it the same day. But on that recipe, It would have a similar problem as i can’t use red dye, but thx for trying to help!
Maggie
I am out of powdered sugar can I cream butter and regular sugar and then add the cream cheese would that work?
Sam
Hi Maggie! Unfortunately I’m not sure that’s going to work too well. 🙁
Ashley
Hi Maggie, an easy way to solve this problem is to blend (I know, it’s weird) your cane sugar! Just put it in a blender by itself, and blend until the sugar doesn’t look crystalized and is in a powder form.
Kristie
So yummy yet so easy. It seems to good to be true! 😁
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like the frosting, Kristie! Thanks for your review ♥
Roswita Toepfer
Easy to make, delicious results! Thanks! 🙂
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you liked it, Roswita! Thanks for trying our recipe ❤
VJ
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this frosting!!! Not too sweet, consistency is awesome and I could eat it ALL with a spoon!! Thanks so much for sharing 💞
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That’s wonderful! We’re so happy you enjoyed it ♥
Lynn
Make it sticking strictly to recipe and was way toooooo sweet. Didn’t taster the cream cheese at all. Will not use this recipe again!
Janice Aviles
I added cocoa powder to make it a chocolate icing and 2 tsps of finely ground instant coffee. Was so delicious
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed it, Janice! Thanks for trying our recipe 😊
Sonya
Can I sub out some powdered sugar for cocoa to make a chocolate cream cheese icing? What would you recommend?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes! You could substitute a 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar for a 1/2 cup of cocoa powder. This is what we do to make our chocolate cream cheese frosting 😊
Tara
Does the frosting once on cupcakes need to be refrigerated?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Tara! They can sit out for a few hours, but they will need to go in the fridge after that. Hope that helps! 🙂
Marcy
I love this cream cheese frosting recipe (and it has been a huge hit with my family!)! I want to double it for the carrot cake recipe. To do so, would this be the final recipe:
-226 grams of unsalted butter
-2 8oz blocks of cream cheese
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1/2 teaspoon of salt
-minimum of 4 cups of powdered sugar
When I do one batch I tend to do 2-2.5 cups of sugar since I don’t like it too sweet; would these be the right measurements for a doubled recipe of cream cheese frosting?
Sam
Hi Marcy! I recommend using 8 cups of sugar for doubling, but if you’ve altered it to your tastes that is great! The rest of the ingredients list looks good to me. Enjoy! 🙂
Diane
The best recipe and YES you can FREEZE left over icing for another time. I have done it. Let it thaw to room temps. and just spread and enjoy! Left over icing freezes great!
Diane
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like the frosting, Diane! Thanks for your review ❤
Tammy Poling
How long can you keep this if you don’t use it all
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Tammy! This frosting can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 5-7 days. You will want to bring it to room temperature before using and most likely you will need to stir again before using. 🙂
Linda Chaplain
I have baked a lot of cakes using Sam’s recipes. I would highly recommend if you haven’t tried any yet.Always good results.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for your review, Linda! We’re so happy you’re enjoying our recipes 😊
Wes
I followed recipe exactly (I’m new to baking) but the consistency wasn’t very creamy. The flavor is awesome, but texture-wise it’s a little bit dryer/firmer rather than creamy. I dumped all of the powdered sugar in at once. I guess I should have added it a little bit at a time until it reached the consistency I wanted?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Wes! We’re sorry the texture wasn’t as expected. Yes, this recipe works best when the powdered sugar is added gradually with the mixer on low speed. Another factor that may have contributed is improperly measured powdered sugar. Like flour, it can be easy to over-measure your powdered sugar; you may find our post on how to properly measure flour helpful! 😊
Kimmy Robinson
Made this to go with the carrot cupcakes. I did use half as my crowd doesn’t like a lot of frosting. Very good flavor. I did add a sprinkle of ginger as I thought it would complement the spice in the cupcakes. Will be making this again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds absolutely delicious, Kimmy! We’re so happy you liked it! 😊
Mary
If i want to be able to pour the cheese icinģ do I just mix cream or milk til it is the right condensity?
Sam
Hi Mary! That will make it pourable but it will be quite runny and could run off the cake…