The Best Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
This is my family’s favorite cream cheese frosting recipe, which I’ve been making for years and it goes great on Carrot Cake, Red Velvet Cake, and just about any other flavor cake or cupcake you can imagine.
If I had things my way, every cake and cupcake would be smothered in a mountain of cream cheese frosting.
Although I have a delicious buttercream recipe coming up on the blog next month, cream cheese frosting will always win over my heart, even over my favorite chocolate frosting, which is alarming given my sweet tooth, as I often turn down cake or sky-high frosted cupcakes because buttercream makes my teeth hurt.
Although buttercream frostings tend to be too sweet for my taste, I find cream cheese frosting absolutely delicious—it’s versatile, sturdy, pipe-able, can be dyed, and I could easily eat it by the spoonful.
Tips for Making Cream Cheese Icing:
Unsalted butter – I prefer this for complete control over flavor; omit added salt if using salted butter.
Softened ingredients – Allow your cream cheese and butter to soften for a smooth, lump-free frosting.
Powdered sugar – Sift before mixing to avoid lumps that can clog piping tips.
Is cream cheese frosting suitable for piping?
- Yes,This frosting is nice and thick, pipes beautifully, and holds its shape well in photos, although it can melt in hot weather.
How can I thicken my cream cheese frosting?
- What I love about this recipe is that it already creates a nice thick frosting, but if you want it even thicker, you can add about 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar at a time until you reach your desired consistency, or you can use cornstarch as mentioned below.
Is it possible to incorporate cornstarch into my cream cheese frosting?
- Yup! If you need a particularly stiff frosting or want to thicken it without increasing the sweetness, you can add cornstarch—starting with one tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired thickness, though I don’t recommend adding more than a few tablespoons.
In my humble opinion, while cream cheese frosting goes great with everything, certain cakes and cupcakes complement it particularly well, and on Wednesday, I’ll be sharing one of my favorites with you—the exact cupcakes seen in the photos above.
Can you guess what flavor they are??
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Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 24 cupcakes 1x
Description
This is my family’s favorite cream cheese frosting recipe, which I’ve been making for years and it goes great on Carrot Cake, Red Velvet Cake, and just about any other flavor cake or cupcake you can imagine.
Ingredients
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (113 g)
- 8 oz (226 g) cream cheese, softened (brick-style, not spreadable)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups powdered sugar (500 g)
Instructions
- Combine the butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer bowl (or an electric mixer) and beat until the mixture is creamy, well-combined, and free of lumps.
- Add vanilla extract and salt, stirring well to combine, then gradually add powdered sugar with the mixer on low until completely mixed, and use this to frost your completely cooled cake or cupcakes.
Notes
- This sturdy and pipe-able frosting, which is comparable to buttercream in texture and holds its shape well for decorating, is less sweet but can be adjusted by using less sugar to taste, though you’ll need at least two cups.
- Frosting that is too thick and sweet, often due to over-measuring the powdered sugar, can be thinned by gradually adding a splash of heavy cream or milk until the desired consistency is reached.
- If you plan to pipe the frosting with a small tip like the Ateco 848 used for the cupcakes in these photos, I recommend sifting the powdered sugar after measuring.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/24 batch
- Calories: 146kcal
- Sugar: 20g
- Sodium: 56mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Trans Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 21mg
