Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe (2024)

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Last Updated On: February 29, 2024 | Published: March 18, 2010 by Melissa Diamond | 68 Comments

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You will love this simple and flavorful classic cream cheese frosting recipe!

Whether you're looking for a frosting to complement classic cakes like Red Velvet Cake or Italian Cream Cake, or our go-toCarrot Cake Recipe or Spice Cake, you cannot go wrong with this recipe. It would be a crime to use anything else! ;0)

How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting

*This simple recipe comes together in minutes. You can find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post, but here is a quick look at our steps.

First, mix the softened butter until smooth.
Next, cut the softened cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, mixing at low to medium speed until well combined.
Add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar (be careful to add the powdered sugar bit by bit or turn down the mixer so that you won't create a cloud of powdered sugar in your kitchen!)
Increase mixing speed slightly and mix just until combined and fluffy.
This frosting pipes best when slightly chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (avoid microwaving) and remix.

Cakes that go with Cream Cheese Frosting

The best part about cream cheese frosting is that it perfectly complements SO many different types of cake. A few of our favorites are Strawberry Cake, Lemon Cake, Pumpkin Cake, and Chocolate Cake, but there are so many more.

Helpful Tips

We've beenswirling& filling our cupcakes and cakes with this frosting for years but as is often the case with Cream Cheese Frosting, it is a bit on the soft side.
If you need a thicker consistency, you can add additional powdered sugar in small amounts until you reach the desired consistency. Chilling is a great way to thicken the frosting.
If your Cream Cheese Buttercream becomes increasingly soft as you pipe, to the point that it no longer holds its shape, just pop it in the refrigerator for a minute.
This could be caused by a super warm kitchen, or warm hands against the piping bag. Either way, afew minutes in the fridge will work wonders. (Just not too long or it'll become too firm!) Oh the joys of cake decorating!

More Cream Cheese Frosting Recipes

We have never met a cream cheese frosting that we didn't love. The flavor options are endless. Don't miss our roundup of the BEST Cream Cheese Frostings and Fillings! Here are some of our favorites:

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy this delicious and easy cream cheese frosting.

We would also love for you to check out our full collection of cake recipes as well as our huge section of free cake decorating tutorials!

Have you made this Recipe? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

BY Melissa and Bebe

This classic Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting tastes amazing! It is silky smooth, super flavorful, and tastes perfect with red velvet cakes, spice cakes, chocolate cakes, and more!

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Ingredients

▢ 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (226g) (Should easily dent when pressed)
▢ 16 oz cream cheese, softened (We used two 8 oz packages of full fat cream cheese.)
▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
▢ ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
▢ 6 to 6 ½ cups 690g to 747g powdered sugar

Instructions

Add the softened butter to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is smooth.
Cut the softened cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated. If you are using a hand mixer you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended. Cover the bowl with a towel to keep down the cloud of powdered sugar.
Increase mixing speed and beat until fluffy. Don't over beat or it will become too soft. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a short while to firm it up a bit.
This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
Will frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake.

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Hello, I am new to the baking scene and I am in love with cream cheese frosting. I was watching your video hoping to learn some piping skills to go on my cupcakes and cakes. However I didn't see how to do it, just your beautiful decorations. Is there a site I can go to that would help me?
Reply
Hi Beverly- Welcome to our site! You may have seen our video with several featured video clips from our site. We have lots of cake decorating videos!
You can find our free cake video tutorials here:
https://www.mycakeschool.com/
(Just look for the drop down menu so that you can select what you're interested in...we also have a free videos section).
To have access to all of the videos we've made you can also consider joining our site! (You should see our "Join" section on our home page). We've made hundreds of cake decorating videos over the years. Let me know if you have any questions!
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I love your recipes and tips! I’m making a cake this weekend and would prefer cream cheese buttercream but is this recipe the crusting type? Or would get pipeable recipe be better for smoothing?
Reply
Hi Vanessa, Our cream cheese recipes do not crust. Crusting happens when there is a higher ratio of powdered sugar to butter/shortening/cream cheese. I suppose you could add additional powdered sugar to our recipe, that would also increase the sweetness. Here is a link to a cake central Crusting Cream Cheese recipe.
https://www.cakecentral.com/recipe/2047/crusting-cream-cheese-icing
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Hi. I want to know if I can use your cream cheese frosting for piping the lace flowers as on your tutorial for the camellia cake?
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Hi Anna, The flowers that are piped around the sides of our Camellia cake are very thin so I think you would be fine to use our Pipeable Cream Cheese frosting, as it is a bit firmer than our Cream Cheese Buttercream frosting. If it does become too soft, just refrigerate your piping bag or the bowl of frosting for a short while. Do not over mix as that can make the frosting too soft. I would not try to pipe the orange flowers on top of the Camellia Cake with cream cheese.....I don't think that was your plan. Link to Pipeable Cream Cheese recipe below
https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes-tutorials/cheese-frosting-pipeable/
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Hello Melissa, I made this recipe for cream cheese frosting and have made many versions of this frosting for many years, but this time had some issues. I knew my kitchen was too hot after I made the recipe, so I did as usual and let it set in the fridge to firm up. But it never did firm up. It looks like it has firmed up when I remove from the fridge, but this only lasts for about a minute and then when I mix it up a bit, it looks runny or goopy; like a thick cake batter.
I already tried adding more and more sugar, but no change. Then tried adding cornstarch, but didn't help. Have you ever heard of cream cheese losing it's normal texture? I did use the Philadelphia, Original fat brand with good butter and sugar. It seems so strange that all the sugar I added didn't create thick consistency. I don't know what else to try.
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