Cream Cheese Frosting

Article by: Krissy Downey

Buttercream often steals the spotlight, but it doesn’t always have to be all about butter and sugar. Cream cheese frosting offers a tangy alternative with its unique flavor and velvety texture, and our recipe has minimal ingredients and is easy to make at home. We’ll walk you through all the basics, share our expert tips and give you an easy recipe you’ll use again and again.

Ingredients In Our Cream Cheese Frosting

Butter: Unsalted butter is always best for baking, unless the recipe says otherwise. Cream cheese does all the work balancing the sweetness of the sugar, so no salt is needed here.

Cream cheese: Of course, this is the star of the show. Be sure to use full-fat cream cheese bricks.

Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar, also known as confectioners’ sugar, is very fine and dissolves easily, making it the perfect choice when making frosting.

Vanilla extract: In any baking recipe, vanilla extract enhances the flavor of all the other ingredients.

How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting Like a Pro

Use full fat cream cheese. Avoid cream cheese spread or low-fat cream cheese. The higher fat content ensures the frosting is smooth, stable and able to hold its shape when spread or piped. Lower fat cream cheese often contains added water or stabilizers, which can make your frosting runny.

Make sure the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature. This will help the sugar mix in smoothly and avoid any lumps. Make sure it’s also not too soft, or the frosting will be runny.

Sift the sugar if piping it onto your baked goods. Sift the powdered sugar through a fine-mesh sieve if you’re planning on piping it to ensure there are no tiny lumps in the frosting that could get caught in your piping tip. If you’re planning on piping, refrigerate the frosting in the piping bag for about twenty minutes to make sure it is stable.

When to Use Cream Cheese Frosting Instead of Buttercream

Buttercream is quite sweet, so cream cheese frosting is an excellent choice when you want to balance out the sweetness of a dessert. If the dessert has a rich, sweet flavor, cream cheese frosting offers a more savory option that will cut that sweetness. We love it on all kinds of different cakes, like red velvet, carrot, and fruit-flavored cakes.

How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting Thicker

If your frosting feels a bit runny, add more powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time to achieve the right consistency. Our best cream cheese frosting recipe should get you there on the first try, but if it is a particularly warm day or your butter or cream cheese softens too much, the frosting may need a little extra sugar to thicken it up.

Does Cream Cheese Frosting Need to be Refrigerated?

Yes, think about it just like you would cream cheese sitting on the counter. It can spoil if left at room temperature for too long, so it should be stored in the fridge. For the best texture, let your dessert sit at room temperature for about thirty minutes after it comes out of the fridge before serving to slightly soften the cream cheese frosting.

What to Do with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese frosting pairs particularly well with baked goods that have warm, spiced or rich flavors like carrot cake, red velvet cake, pumpkin desserts, or banana bread. It also pairs nicely with fruit-based desserts like berry-filled cupcakes or citrus cakes where its tanginess complements the fruity notes. Everyone has different preferences when it comes to dessert, so it may be fun to experiment with different dessert and frosting pairings to decide what your favorites are. For a crowd, we love to make a big sheet cake, make cream cheese frosting in advance and top the cake with cream cheese frosting just before serving.