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.
Brooke
Can this icing stay at room temperature overnight? My brother wants me to make a red velvet grooms cake for his wedding, but I need to finish the cake the day before the wedding. I’m not sure the fridge will be large enough to store the cake over night? The recipe looks great!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Brooke! We generally recommend refrigerating this frosting since it contains cream cheese. Hope this helps!
Katie
Made this to ice a cinnamon roll cake instead of the glaze it called for…oh my, so good! Had to keep myself from just eating it straight from the bowl. And very quick and easy to whip up.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love to eat it by the spoonful, so you’re in good company here Katie! 😉 Thanks so much for letting us know how it turned out for you!
Gegee
It tast so delicious can’t wait to make it again. My picky daughter actually liked it.👍🏽
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad it was a hit, Gegee!
Amanda
Cream cheese frosting and whipped cream frosting are the only 2 I like. Buttercream is too heavy. And sweet. I’m making a red velvet cake this evening and am using your recipe for the frosting. I don’t like store bought Frosting either. It’s mostly Palm oil now days and that stuff causes inflammation. Go figure right. Well thank you so much for everything, and I appreciate all you have done and continue to do!!! You rock!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We hope the frosting was the perfect match for your cake, Amanda! ❤️
Aznasimage
I have made this recipe several times and it is a favorite.
Each time I make it my husband begs me not to change a thing.
How easy is that? I feel like I am cheating somehow.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy it’s such a hit 😊
John
I love this, it tastes soo good, I made a double layer carrot cake and didn’t have any milk and started panicking thinking I couldn’t frost my cake, but I stumbled across this resipe without milk and made it, and it works soo well.
100/10
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you found our recipe, John! Sounds like it was perfect for your cake 😍
Rebecca Tate
can I make this a day before I frost my cake?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! Just store it in the fridge in an airtight container 😊
Rebecca Tate
Thank you! Making this today!
Anne Gabris
I put this frosting on some home-made sticky buns and it made them so much better. This cream cheese frosting in quintessential!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum! We love that combination. Thanks for using our recipe, Anne 😊
Astoria
Hi! New baker here. 🙂 if I can’t find the brick cream cheese, will the spreadable one work?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Unfortunately spreadable cream cheese may not hold up or be quite as stiff as intended. 🙁
Tina
hi, does this frosting slightly crust over like decorating frosting?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Tina! This frosting will crust like a buttercream 😊
Lulu
Hi there so I just made this frosting and it’s so good!! But can I store it in the fridge for an hour or two without it getting to hard?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Lulu! It will firm up some in the fridge, but it shouldn’t get too hard in that amount of time. If it does, you can let it soften at room temperature for a few minutes 😊
Alyssa
Amazing!!
Michelle Watson
Fantastic recipe! I used it on my carrot cake. It was so delicious and not heavy at all. This will be the only cream cheese recipe I will use. Thank you!
Kelly
I love this frosting! I make it often 🙂 next time, I want to add a lemon flavor to it. How do you think I should do that?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Kelly! We’re so happy you like it! We do have a lemon frosting that’s a bit different than this one. If you don’t want to use that recipe you could probably substitute some lemon extract and some lemon zest, but without having tried it we can’t give you exact measurements.
Erin
Hi Kelly! I made mine into a lemon frosting last night by just adding lemon juice and a smidge extra powdered sugar. It’s a light lemon taste! I used my eyes to measure but I’m sure it was at least 2 tbs of lemon juice 😊
Ricki Dresel
can I use whipped cream cheese
Sam
I don’t recommend it. It likely won’t turn out the same.
Kara
Hi! I will be making this recipe in a few days and love that it doesn’t use as much sugar as other buttercreams. I would like to make it ahead of time and then frost the cupcakes an hour or two before serving. Will this hold in the fridge and then be able to frosted onto the cupcakes? Would you recommend it be out of the fridge for a while until it’s time to frost? Thank you!
Sam
Hi Kara! Yes this frosting will keep in the fridge but you will definitely need to let it soften at room temperature for a while (and likely even stir it again) before it will be easy to pipe again. Exactly how long will depend on the temperature of your kitchen and how you store it (smaller container will take longer to soften all the way through, etc.), but I would suspect at least an hour and quite possibly longer. Make sure when you store it you place plastic wrap directly in contact with the surface of the icing to help keep it smooth. I Hope that helps!
Shannon Sylvia
Hello can I make this frosting in advance and store it in the fridge until ready to use?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! Just make sure to store it in an airtight container. Enjoy!
Rajvi Shah
Hi! I’m planning on using this recipe to decorate my heart cake, and I wanted to ask approximately how many cups of frosting does this recipe yield?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Rajvi! We haven’t measured it out, but it will cover a two layer 8 or 9 inch cake 🙂