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.
Cricket
My son forgot this was cream cheese frosting and didn’t refrigerate it. Guess what it was still fine a day later. I didn’t expect that. I love this. I only ever have salted butter. No problem whatsoever. I’m making it today (for the third time in two weeks) I’m going to try adding a bit more cream cheese because this person likes that cream cheese flavor. I’m wondering, can you add rum to this recipe?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Cricket! You have to be careful adding rum here, as it can make the frosting curdle. We don’t recommend adding more than 2-3 teaspoons, which may not give you quite the flavor you are looking for.
Cricket
good to know about the rum. I love this recipe as is!
Dianna
Maybe try rum extract instead??? You wouldn’t need to add much and it should give you the rum flavor you want. I’ve seen it in the stores so maybe you could try that instead of the real thing.
Mikaela
I always use this recipe for all my cream cheese frostings
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like it, Mikaela! 🥰
Old_MK
Love the ease of this! Will be trying it very soon…
I am wondering if it would be OK to add a tablespoon or 2 of lemon curd to the frosting…?
Just call me Ms-gotta-experiment-can’t-leave-well-enough-alone. The cake flavors I’m mixing are an experiment as well…
Sam
I haven’t tried adding lemon curd. I think it would be worth a shot, but it could thin out the frosting a good bit.
Jazmin Ruiz
100/10 I love love love this cream cheese frosting I could eat it straight from the bowl. The taste and texture are very nice and it holds up nice on a cake
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like it, Jazmin! 🩷
Kitty
Absolutely the best cream cheese icing ever, easy love the control of sugar amount, tried after 3 cups and was perfect. Thank you for word to trying other recipes of yours. Thanks
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you enjoyed it, Kitty! Thanks for giving our recipe a try 🩷
Ennj
Whips up great but wasn’t cream cheese-y enough for me so I added 1/2 block more. As is, doesn’t hold piping shape so now will try adding corn starch.
Amanda Crawford
About to try out this recipe! Just need to know how it pairs with fudge brownies?
Sam
Hi Amanda! It sounds good to me! 🙂
Savannah
I may not have enough of a sweet tooth for this recipe, but I’ve made it with only a cup of sugar and it’s still incredibly sweet. Besides that, it’s great! I get tons of compliments on everything I’ve baked with this frosting. So far, carrot cake, pumpkin muffins, and brownies have all been a hit.
Lissie
Definitely cream cheese frosting! I opted for less sweet (2 cups of powdered sugar) and it was still pretty sweet. I think maybe using double salt or even salted butter instead might balance it out a little better. I loved the consistency though and it still taste incredible with strawberry cake!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed it, Lissie 😊
Stephanie
I actually used salted butter because I didn’t have unsalted and it didn’t seem to sweet so I bet you’re right! I’m very picky about my frosting and I can’t stand the bakery sweet frosting.
Kailee
MY FAVORITE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING RECIPE EVERRR 🙂 How long does this store in the fridge?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you love it, Kailee! We’d say it will last for up to a week in the fridge 😊
Tracy
Can you freeze the frosting? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Tracy! This frosting can be frozen. 🙂
Travis Downs
frosting ended up being runny
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear that happened, Travis! Did you make any substitutions? Did you use full fat brick style cream cheese? Normally this can be easily thickened with a little more powdered sugar. 🙁
Erina
nice consistency came out pretty good I think
Terry
Excellent atop of my carrot cake.
Katt
Great icing recipe!! It makes a ton!!
Sarah
I doubled the cream cheese and found it to be more like the consistency and flavor you would traditionally find in a bakery…also doubled the salt.
Isla
Can you use unsalted sweet cream butter?
Sam
Sure thing! 🙂
Maggie
Can I use shortening instead of butter? I only have salted butter on hand.
Sam
Hi Maggie! I’m not sure that shortening would work the same. You can use salted butter. You will just want to omit the salt. 🙂
Maria
Can I colour this frosting with food colouring like I would a buttercream?
Sam
Sure thing! 🙂
Maria
Can I ask a silly question, how long will this frosting stay good for out of the fridge? Thanks in advance
Sam
Hi Maria! While I am personally comfortable leaving it out for longer stretches, it should be refrigerated within a few hours due to the cream cheese. If it’s really warm, it should be refrigerated sooner. 🙂