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.
Lily
I give it 4 stars only because there is way too much sugar in this recipe. Even 2 cups is too much imho. Other than that, it is great.
Erin
I’m going to make a bus cake for my daughter’s first birthday and I think a cream cheese frosting would be perfect! Do you think it can do okay on a big layer cake (like long skinny city bus cake 5″ x 5″ x 20″) ? I’ll be doing everything out of buttercream, like the windows, the bus design, lettering and animals in the windows. Just wondering if I should elect buttercream for all or most of it or if the cream cheese frosting is sturdy enough.
Sam
Hi Erin! The cream cheese frosting is very similar to an American Buttercream. It’s pretty stable. I think you’ll be ok to use the cream cheese frosting. 🙂
Garlan
Hey there Erin.Your recipe is exactly like my mother’s . Absolutely delicious and the right consistency to spread nicely. I used it on my humming bird cake and plain white cake. It never fails. Thanks so much for reminding me of fond memories.
Nyaziah
Did you take down the brown sugar cream cheese frosting or did I imagine it’s existence?
Sam
Hi Nyaziah! I don’t have a stand alone brown sugar cream cheese frosting but it can be found in my pumpkin cupcake recipe. 🙂
niki
i tried cream cheese frosting for the first time on my red velvet cake, and i gotta say – its the best!! i was really worried about how the consistency would be and the taste. it was absolutely delicious and I’m for sure going to make this again. my only note to other people is to watch the amount of sugar you put. I put 3 cups and it was just about perfect. Maybe watch the last cup and put if needed 🙂
thank you so much for this recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you liked it, Niki! Thanks for your review 😀
Debbie
Sam, I want to try this frosting on a carrot cake for my Dad’s 85th birthday. I will be making a vanilla cheesecake to put between the layers so won’t need frosting between. Do you think that I will have enough frosting to decorate with borders around the cake or should I make at least 1 1/2 times the recipe to be sure I have enough? Thank you and I can’t wait to try this!
Sam
Hi Debbie! If I were doing it personally I would make more just to make sure I have enough. There’s nothing worse than being short on frosting. 🙂
Sean
I cut the sugar down a bit. Perfect!
Thank you. This was easy, and perfect for my cinnamon rolls.
😎
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum! Enjoy, Sean 🙂
Chef Sunny
Just found and made this Butter Cream Cheese frosting and it’s FABULOUS! I love how versatile it is and very stable for using on all kinds of cakes. Thank you so much for sharing!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you love it, Sunny! Thanks so much for commenting ❤
Jacquelin
Does it refrigerate well?
Sam
Sure thing! You’ll want to press some cling wrap down on the surface so it doesn’t crust. 🙂
Chris
Can I mix it by hand?
Sam
It will be an arm workout, but it can be done. 🙂
Andy
Bought low fat block cream cheese, so we shall see how it turns out 🙃
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
It could turn out runny–hopefully it works for you though!
Phoebe
I cut the butter and sugar both in half, and it turned out amazing.
Silek
How many Cups does this make?
Sam
Honestly I have not measured it in cups so I can’t honestly say. 🙁
Matea
I live in Croatia where we have only tubs of cream cheese, no blocks. I hope it will turn out good with it too. I always use the full fat cream cheese when cooking/baking. If you have any tips on using tubs of cream cheese, please do help out a fellow baker ☺️. Thank you!
Sam
Hi Matea! Without seeing the tubs of cream cheese that you have I can’t say for sure how it will work. Some of them have added ingredients to help them spread which will cause you to have issues with the consistency.
Kaity
This is my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe! I was wondering if I could add pulverized freeze dried strawberries like in your strawberry buttercream recipe?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! Enjoy, Kaity 🙂
Richard Almbaucht
Iadded a quarter cup of orange zest to the frosting after spreading it and was floored by how delicious it is! Only used half the powered sugar and added a teaspoon of cornstarch.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds delicious, Richard!
Miriam Holley
What is “ block cream cheese “ please ??
Sam
Hi Miriam! It’s cream cheese that comes in a block as opposed to the tubs. 🙂
Samantha
Hi Sam
May i use food color gel in it or will it change texture ?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
You sure can. Enjoy, Samantha!