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.
Jane
Hi Sam I am going to make a large sheet cake with Vanilla pudding filling for my Grandson’s First Holy Communion and considering using this receipe also I was going to make cupcakes using those Russian piping tips what I was wondering if I made the cupcakes before hand and decorated them using the piping tips could I freeze them already decorated any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jane
Sam
Hi Jane! I think both the icing and the cupcake will do fine in the freezer. Just make sure no air can get to them so they don’t dry out. 🙂
Dezteney Mckinney
Would using regular butter make a difference
Sam
Hi Dezteney, do you mean salted butter? You can use salted butter just omit the salt called for in the recipe.
Sam S.
Usually don’t like cream cheese at all but this recipe is AMAZING. I love how fluffy and soft it is. Made it for your carrot cake cupcakes and couldn’t help but eat it while I was frosting them! Have a lot left over and thinking about trying your no-yeast cinnamon rolls this weekend to use the rest 🙂
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the frosting, Sam! 🙂
Sandra
This recipe was fantastic. I couldn’t find my fancy piping tips so I just used a ziplock bag and cut one of the corners. I put three mini eggs in the middle on top of the frosting and they looked like little nests. What a hit. I took them to a planner meet up and were they ever popular. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it Sandra! It sounds like they turned out looking really cute! 🙂
Michelle
Hi Sam, Can you please advise me if unsweetened cocoa, would be good to use to colour the frosting little brown, as I don’t want to added anymore sweetness.
Cannot wait to make the carrot cupcakes with this frosting 😊 Thanks
Sam
Hi Michelle, unsweetened cocoa would make it brown, but it will also make it taste like chocolate so just keep that in mind. I do have a chocolate cream cheese frosting if you’re looking for one.
Hannah Shirley
loved this recipe! finally found the perfect cream cheese frosting.
Sam
So happy to hear this! Thanks for letting me know how you liked it, Hannah!! 🙂
Sandra
I love cream cheese frosting! And I have a penchant for piping this icing onto cupcakes using all kinds of colors! I don’t beat my butter and cream cheese together ever. I do butter first for about 3 minutes on low using a hand mixer rather than my stand mixer. I just find it easier to “feel” when the consistency is just right. Then I add the room temperature cream cheese and carry on to adding in sifted icing sugar a half cup at a time. 2 tsps of cornstarch diluted in a LITTLE milk can help stiffen the icing if it won’t hold its shape the way you’d like. I’m a long way from being an expert baker or chef but I have figured out frosting!!
Shannon Andretta
What type of cream cheese brand do you recommend? Is Philadelphia cream cheese in the foil okay?
Sam
Hi Shannon! I prefer Philadelphia cream cheese if it’s on sale. The one sold in the block form, it’s in a box and then wrapped in foil. Enjoy! 🙂
Annatoli P Palombo
So yummy I added some milk to mine but taste just like cheesecake
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it , Annatoli! 🙂
Ella
Can I add different food colorings to it to?
Sam
Absolutely! Enjoy! 🙂
Tracey
Hi, I have followed ingredients and method exactly as explained but the frosting is runny regardless of not overworking the mixture, where am I going wrong 😣😣😣
Sam
Hi Tracey! Did you use the brick-style cream cheese or the spreadable kind in the tub?
Lady Shema
It has to be the BRICK STYLE to support the thick consistency of the frosting and the integrity of the cream cheese flavor.
Lorena
This recipe is perfect explained and it turns so well for the cupcakes, I made it the night before and left at room temperature, so well, thanks for sharing it. I made extra , how long it can be in the fridge to be able to use it?
Sam
Hi Lorena! The frosting is good for several days covered in the refrigerator. You will need to let it warm back up at room temperature and then mix it up a little bit afterwards. Enjoy! 🙂
SarahK
If you use this to frost cupcakes, does it need to be done the same day you are serving them? If I make a day ahead of time, does the frosting need to stay refrigerated or will it be ok on cupcakes sitting overnight? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Sarah! You can leave them at room temperature in an air tight container overnight without any issues. 🙂
Annette
Where I live in Sweden I can’t find the bars of cream cheese, only the soft spreadable kind. Is there anything I can add to be able to use the spreadable cream cheese successfully?
Sam
Hi Annette! Unfortunately I don’t have a good substitute for you here. With the spreadable cream cheese, the frosting will be too soft, and almost liquidy. I’m sorry. 🙁
Karen Jakab
I read on another blog a suggestion to use a cheesecloth and squeeze the liquid out of the spreadable cream cheese.
Alex
Go
To
A cheese shop
And ask for Neufchâtel cheese. That’s what cream cheese is. It is not an American invention!
Sam
Hi Alex! Cream cheese and Neufchatel actually aren’t the same, cream cheese has a higher fat content (and actually is an American invention, a failed attempt at replicating Nefchatel). However, they are similar and it’s likely that this recipe would work well with Neufchatel.
Olivia F.
Hi, Sam!
I’m looking for enough frosting to use for a 3-layer cake, and it will be between the layers, as well as the entire outside. Will I need to double or 1.5x this recipe for that amount, you think?
I want to make sure I have enough ingredients, while also not making SO much that I can’t use it. (Well, I suppose that would be a good excuse to try your cupcakes as well, right?!)
Thank you!
Sam
Hi Olivia! This frosting recipe makes enough for a 2 layer cake, either 8 or 9 inches. If you increase the recipe by 50% you should have enough to cover a 3 layer cake, but there is no such thing as too much frosting if you ask me! 🙂
Olivia
Perfect, thank you! 🙂
Barb
This tasted delicious! I added lemon instead of vanilla. It didn’t hold up too well in our Aussie heat as it just slid off the cake but it was over 100 degrees (38 degrees) so I don’t think anything was going to!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the frosting Barb! 🙂