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.
Erica
Hi! Is this freezable, similar to regular buttercream (either in ziplocks or on the cake itself)?
Thanks much!
Sam
Hi Erica! You could freeze this frosting. 🙂
Erica
Thank you!
Karon
Hi! Will this be a good amount of frosting for a 9×13 cake? Thanks!
Sam
Absolutely! Enjoy! 🙂
ELVIRA WILKINSON
Truly amazing. I used 2 cups of powdered sugar to my liking. My son and I were amazed at how delicious this frosting came out. I shared with my friend who loved it too. Mis respetos.
Shanna
Yummy and absolutely perfect as it is! First time making cc frosting and this will be in my recipe book going forward! ❤️
Kimberly
This icing was super easy to make. I left my cream cheese and butter out overnight to ensure the perfect softness. I ended up adding an additional 1/2 cup of powdered sugar sifted with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to thicken the icing to my preference. It has been 10/10 kid approved! Used to to top a red velvet 9” cake. Made enough to generously ice and decorate with piping. Thanks so much for sharing! My new go to for cream cheese icing!
Karen Farley
Simple and delicious! Everyone loved it 😀
Leslie
How much frosting does this recipe make? I’m baking a 3 tier cake for my daughter’s birthday.
Sam
Hi Leslie! It makes enough to cover a 2 layer 8 or 9 inch cake. 🙂
Leslie
Thank you!!
Heather
This cream cheese frosting is absolutely the best! I doubled the recipe but only used half the powdered sugar. Perfect! The frosting was a little lose because of it but it was so spreadable and just the perfect blend of tang and sweetness….
Lynne Sandifar
I only made 12 cupcakes but already made full recipe…how long will icing be ok in fridge?
Sam
Hi Lynne! The frosting will be good for up to 5 days in the refrigerator, wrapped tightly. To use it, let it thaw and whip briefly again. 🙂
Monica Medellin
My grandson requested a carrot cake for his birthday. I came across your recipe. I just want to tell everyone if your looking for a more than perfect delicious cream cheese frosting this is the one. Look no more. Thanks for sharing.
Valeria
Love recipe!!! Easy to follow; you have control with ingredients, great taste! I piped cup cakes and added fresh homemade strawberry sauce as a topping!
Isabel
This is the best cream cheese frosting EVER! I made this for a carrot cake and everyone loved the frosting. Thank you for sharing!
Jody
I have found that cream cheese frosting isn’t all that stable at room temperature but I recently found a recipe that adds meringue powder to keep it more stable. Haven’t tried it yet but I’m wondering if you’ve tried that?
Sam
Hi Jody! I have not tried it, unfortunately, maybe someone else who has can chime in! This recipe is a pretty stable one as-is, though.
Katie
Would love to know how it’s stable. Mine was not and I followed your recipe exact. Very disappointing as i was making this for a party and couldn’t pipe it.
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this happened, Katie! A couple of things that could cause this are, having butter that’s too soft, using a reduced fat cream cheese, or sometimes you just need a little bit more powdered sugar to firm it up a little bit more. I hope it goes better next time. 🙂
michelle
Looks yummy! I’m trying it tonight!!
Stew
Made this for a banana cake ( added 3 cups of mashed bananas to a box white cake mix) topped it with chopped walnuts. It was delicious. Great frosting recipe
Alexis
Made this with chocolate cupcakes and delivered to all my neighbors around us and they were a huge hit. Definitely writing in my recipe book thank you!
Iris
Added lemon juice and it was perfect!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum! Enjoy, Iris 😊
Whitney Libal
I made this frosting added a few tablespoons of milk to thin a tiny bit. Then I folded in crushed freeze dried strawberries. Absolutely devine!!
Lilie
I also added 3/4tsp cream cheese flavoring and this frosting was amazing! Using lite cream cheese, this came out with perfect consistency. Tasted soooo good and a snap to make. Thanks for sharing this recipe.