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.
MaddieKat
Hi! I love cream cheese frosting! Should I make a double batch for a large Bundt size?
Sam
I think this will make enough to cover a large bundt cake. 🙂
Donna Leary
I just made this for a blueberry Bundt cake. I added lemon zest and lemon juice and it was DELICIOUS. Best I’ve ever made! Thank you, I will be making a carrot cake soon and cant wait to use this cream cheese icing. Ohh and I also used 1/3 less fat block cream cheese and it was the perfect consistency.
Destiney
Good recipe!
Stella
Delicious and so easy!
Lisa Killingsworth
will this recipe be enough to have a layer between cakes if doing a 2 layer 9″ cake?
Sam
Yes. 🙂
Laura
I always use your recipe when I make carrot cake, it’s delicious, thank you!
PS
Excited to try this but once the cupcakes are frosted should they refrigerated if not all being eaten that day? Thank you!!!
Sam
It is best to refrigerate the frosting. 🙂
Raya
Honestly I used this recipe to try and make a pipe-able cream cheese frosting and I couldn’t get it thick enough to pipe and not look melted. I’m not sure what went wrong.
Sam
Hi Raya! A little more powdered sugar typically helps here. Did you use the brick style cream cheese and not the spreadable kind?
Raya
Yeah I did the brick cream cheese and stick butter, I added more powdered sugar but I didn’t want it to be overly sweet. I enjoyed the frosting I just didn’t like it much for piping on cupcakes. Thank you for sharing though.
Jackie
Can you color this frosting?
Sam
Sure thing! 🙂
Priscilla
How long can we store the frosting in the fridge? Also when piping the frosting should the frosting be cold or at room temperature?
Sam
Hi Priscilla! it will be good for 4-5 days in the refrigerator. It’s probably going to be easier to pipe if it has warmed a little bit.
Terri
This frosting is fantastic! Maybe it’s my imagination, but 4 cups of powdered sugar didn’t make it too sweet. It seemed to reach a sweetness threshold at 2 cups and the additional sugar just thickened the frosting.
Jan
Sam,
Would dairy-free cream cheese work with this recipe? Any adjustments on measurements?
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Jan! I haven’t personally experimented with dairy free cream cheese so I’m not sure how it compares. If you do try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Jessica A Dolberg
I made it yesterday for National carrot cake day! my husband doesn’t really like frosting but he said this ine was great! (I didn’t use the full 4 cups). It has a great consistency for spreading and piping.
Justice
Best cream cheese frosting I’ve ever had! Thanks so much for this, Sam!
Melissa L
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar was plenty. Otherwise great recipe.
Mary Ann
Thank you for giving the weight/measurements in grams. I always bake with a scale and really appreciate the accuracy.
Pam Sparks
Made it! Wish I’d read the whole thing first and weighed it! 😂 it’s yummy on pumpkin bread! Thank you!