Sharing my Best Cream Cheese Frosting recipe made with 5 simple ingredients! This sweet and tangy frosting is perfect spread on top of a cake or cupcakes!
Looking for more frosting recipes? Try my amazing Chocolate Buttercream Frosting!
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Quick & Easy Icing Recipe
Who doesn’t love Cream Cheese Frosting? It has the perfect balance of mild tangy-ness to help balance out the sweet in cakes, cupcakes and even some breads! It is wonderfully smooth, creamy and frosting with it is a dream!
This Cream Cheese Frosting recipe uses just 5 simple ingredients and comes together in just a few minutes. The hardest part for me is not sneaking several spoonfuls while I am waiting for my cake to cool!
Looking for ways to use this frosting? Here are some of my favorites: Pumpkin Cake, Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake, Churro Cupcakes, Pumpkin Cupcakes and Gingerbread Cake!
What You’ll Need
This Cream Cheese Frosting is one of the quickest and easiest homemade frostings to pull together. It takes just a few minutes and 5 simple ingredients.
- Butter
- Cream Cheese
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Powdered Sugar
Looking to use this on a fall-flavored recipe?
Add the ingredients below to my standard recipe to create an amazing Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
How to make cream cheese frosting
In order to make this homemade frosting, you will need a hand mixer or stand mixer. Or, you can do it by hand if you have arms like Thor.
- Cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth
- Add the vanilla and salt and beat to combine
- Then add the powdered sugar in separate batches and beat until light and fluffy
How to store frosting
If you are not using this frosting right away, refrigerate it until ready to use in an airtight continuer. You may need to re-beat it to make it fluffy again before frosting it on cupcakes or a cake.
You will need to store any frosted cake or cupcakes in the fridge. The cream cheese in this recipe can not go without refrigeration. It is fine to sit for an hour or two on the counter at a party, but any longer than that, back into the fridge it goes!
Tips for the best cream cheese icing:
- Make sure to use regular full fat cream cheese, not low fat cream cheese or cream cheese spread. This can lead to runny frosting or one with less flavor.
- Beat well after each addition to make sure the final frosting is well combined and light and fluffy.
- Make sure that both the butter and cream cheese have fully softened – otherwise you can end up with small lumps of butter in your frosting!
- If the frosting is too thick, add a tablespoon of milk at a time to thin it out. On the other hand, if the frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar – ¼ cup at a time!
How to pipe cream cheese frosting?
Cream Cheese Frosting will never be as beautiful as a standard buttercream frosting when piped. However, there is one way to make it hold a little better for piping. Before piping the frosting, refrigerate it for at least an hour.
To do this, I like to transfer the prepared frosting to a piping bag and then place the entire piping bag in the fridge to chill. This helps later so I don’t have to move a stiff frosting to my piping bag.
Once it’s stiffened up a little in the fridge, I just grab the bag and start piping it onto the cupcakes or cake. Work fast and make sure to store the finished cake/cupcakes in the fridge until you are ready to serve!
You will find so many recipes where you can use this Cream Cheese Frosting year round! It is a versatile recipe that can be tweaked to meet your needs based on what you are baking!
This has been my go-to for years and it has never let me down! Please leave a review or comment below letting me know how it turns out for you!
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 12 oz (1 1/2 packages) cream cheese, softened
- ¾ cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- pinch of salt, optional
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Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Add in vanilla extract and salt, beating to combine.
- Gradually add powdered sugar, a couple of cups at a time, mixing in between each addition. Beat until light and fluffy.
- Frost cupcakes or cake with frosting or store in refrigerator for up to a week in a covered container.
Notes
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Nutrition
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Yummy. Thank you for sharing.
I am making the cupcakes and frosting today. My husband’s favorite and just in time for Father’s Day. When I found your recipe I changed my dessert plan!
Hope he enjoyed them Geri!
I would love to try that frosting, it’s so simple and easy and the ingredients are not hard to find