Learn how to make sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting with this easy recipe. This favorite frosting is creamy and thick, holds its shape when piped, and tastes incredible on carrot cake, spice cake, and so much more. You only need 5 ingredients, but make sure you use a brick of cream cheese, not cream cheese spread.
Do you need that little something *extra* for your desserts?
And are you tired of vanilla buttercream all the time?
Cream cheese frosting is my #1 favorite frosting for cakes, cupcakes, quick breads, and more. In fact, it’s the most common frosting used in my kitchen. I use it on everything from spice cake and carrot cake cupcakes to banana cake, red velvet cake, pumpkin cake, and more.
It’s smooth, creamy, and spreads onto baked goods with ease. Its flavor is the perfect balance of sweet and tangy and you only need 5 ingredients total!
This Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Isn’t as cloyingly sweet as buttercream
- Is smooth as silk
- Isn’t runny (thank goodness!)
- Has a tangy, yet sweet flavor
- Is my creamiest frosting ever
- Can be piped with piping tips!
How to Prevent Runny Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream cheese frosting will be thin and runny if you’re not careful about the type of cream cheese you use. Make sure you use an 8 ounce (226g) brick of full-fat cream cheese, not low-fat cream cheese and not cream cheese spread sold in a tub. Save cream cheese spread for bagels and low fat cream cheese for cooking.
The #1 reason bakers end up with runny frosting is because they’re accidentally using cream cheese spread instead of a brick. There’s a HUGE difference! For the best, thickest, and most successful frosting, use the bricks of real cream cheese.
Only 5 Ingredients
- brick cream cheese
- butter
- confectioners’ sugar
- vanilla extract
- salt
You will want room temperature butter and room temperature cream cheese before beginning.
Can This Cream Cheese Frosting be Piped?
Cream cheese frosting is difficult to pipe because it’s so creamy. However, I learned a little trick a few years ago and feel free to borrow it. Cream cheese frosting will hold its decorative piped shape if you refrigerate it prior to piping. Fit your piping bag with a piping tip, fill your bag with the frosting, then refrigerate it for 20-30 minutes before piping.
However, don’t expect it to be as sturdy as buttercream. Cream cheese isn’t super stable, so save intricate piped designs for vanilla buttercream. Instead, stick with a basic round tip.
Cream Cheese Frosting Flavors
Flavor spruces everything up, so feel free to have fun with this recipe. A dash of cinnamon (like the frosting on these banana cupcakes) or brown butter (like the frosting on this banana layer cake and zucchini cake) are excellent, but chocolate cream cheese frosting might be my very favorite. You can even add some “strawberry dust” as shown in my strawberry cake.
Other flavor ideas:
- Pumpkin Spice: 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (depends how much spice flavor you want!)
- Lemon: 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- Chai Spice: 3/4 teaspoon chai spice mix (just like chai latte cupcakes)
- Coconut: 1 teaspoon coconut extract
Simply add these ingredients to the recipe below.
For something lighter and less sweet that still pipes amazingly well, I recommend my whipped frosting. It’s the same frosting we used on this cookies and cream cake with the addition of Oreos!
Uses for Cream Cheese Frosting
It tastes phenomenal with spiced cakes and cupcakes, but don’t limit yourself. This stuff is so versatile! Here’s plenty of recipe inspiration for your next batch:
- Spice Cake or Apple Cake
- Banana Bread
- Homemade Brownies
- Zucchini Bread or Zucchini Cake
- Banana Cake
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Sugar Cookies
- Blueberry Cupcakes (pictured above)
- Pumpkin Cake (pictured above)
For taller layer cakes, I usually add a little milk, extra cream cheese, and extra confectioners’ sugar to produce more volume. My carrot cake and red velvet cake recipes show this higher ratio of frosting. And sometimes I add extra butter for a stronger, more buttercream-like frosting. My lemon cake and coconut cake show the buttercream variation.
PrintFavorite Cream Cheese Frosting
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: about 3 cups
- Category: Frosting
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: American
Description
Homemade cream cheese frosting is super creamy, soft, smooth, and tangy. It’s so easy to make and the uses are endless!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups (360g) confectioners’ sugar, plus an extra 1/4 cup (30g) if needed
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, the vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. If you want the frosting a little thicker, add the extra 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar (I add it).
- Cover and store leftover frosting for up to 5 days in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing, thaw in the refrigerator then beat the frosting for a few seconds so it’s creamy again.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand)
- Quantity: This recipe is enough to frost 12-18 cupcakes or one 9×13 quarter sheet cake. 1.5x the recipe for a double layer cake or add extra cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, and a splash of milk or cream as shown in my carrot cake and red velvet cake recipes. (Doubling the recipe would be far too much.)
- Chocolate: Here is my chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe.
This was an easy and flavorful frosting. I used it on a gluten free carrot cake and everyone loved it.
Is it worth sifting the confectioner’s sugar?
Hi Rosemary, it doesn’t hurt to sift it, especially if yours seems a bit clumpy. Hope you enjoy the frosting!
Hi Sally, I’m baking from home “cottage bakery” i love your cream cheese frosting but i can not use that on my cakes because the cream cheese. do you have any substitute for the cream cheese, or what frosting you recommend for a carrot cake? thank you
Sally
Hi Mary, there is no good substitute for cream cheese here, but vanilla frosting or Swiss meringue buttercream will both go well with carrot cake.
i used half icing sugar – was fantastic
I use this recipe all the time and love it!!! My question is can it be left out for 6 to 8 hours? On cupcakes without spoiling? Thank you.
Hi Masu, that should be fine!
Why do you add salt if your using unsalted butter
Hi Jeff, this is to control the amount of salt in the recipe. When you use unsalted butter, you can control the amount of salt but when you use salted butter, you won’t know how much salt you’re using because it varies between brands. If you’re interested, you can read more about Salted Butter vs Unsalted Butter in Baking here.
Do you use table salt or kosher salt?
Hi Mark, table salt.
Please could you let me know if I can freeze the cake with cream cheese frosting icing on it?
Hi Michelle, while you can freeze cakes with frosting on them, keep in mind that any decoration may get a bit messy as it thaws. For best results, we recommend freezing the cake layers individually and then frosting once thawed before eating.
Oh my goodness, I used the roux method and it was exactly like flour dough, I even rolled it out. So excited about having a yeast dough again.
Hey Sally, Can I use this cream cheese frosting under fondant icing?
Hi Hafsa, you can, however it’s best to store this cream cheese frosting in the refrigerator while it’s typically best to store fondant at room temperature. Hope this helps!
Hi Sally, do you know what we could use in the UK? Our cream cheese seems to all be spreadable!
Hi ASLI, Yes, we know this is an issue and it’s very frustrating! Look for a soft white cheese with around 33% fat content. Not sure how easy it is to get, but you could try this one, or look for something similar: https://longleyfarm.com/collections/cream-cheese. We haven’t tested it personally, so aren’t sure of the result, but the reviews look promising. Also, some people have reported that they strain off excess liquid from the tub type of cream cheese before using. And we’ve also had UK readers report that they’ve had success subbing half mascarpone for half the cream cheese. If you try any of these, please let us know how it turns out!
HI Sally, Can this or any of your other cream cheese frostings be frozen before decorating the cake?
Hi Lindsay, yes, you can freeze this frosting for up to 3 months. After freezing, thaw in the refrigerator then beat the frosting for a few seconds so it’s creamy again.
This was another amazing recipe! I swapped the all-purpose flour for a gluten free flour and it still came out wonderfully moist and fluffy.
Does the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting need to be refrigerated for safety?
Hi Linda, after decorating anything with buttercream or cream cheese frosting, it’s fine for 1 day at room temperature. After that, we would refrigerate it. But, use your best judgment and whatever you are comfortable with – we’ve never had any problems leaving frosted desserts at room temperature for a day.
Soft, creamy, but holds up well!
Hi Sally, would this recipe be enough for a 2 tier 9” round carrot cake? thank you
Hi Olivia, we recommend to 1.5x the recipe for a double layer cake or add extra cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, and a splash of milk or cream as shown in our carrot cake and red velvet cake recipes.
Hi what quantity of this cream cheese frosting do I need if wanting to use for the 3 tiered vanilla naked cake? Thanks!
Hi Monica, if you’re going for a naked cake look, you can 1.5x the recipe, or use the ratios from our carrot cake recipe.
I’d like to make this frosting with ground, dehydrated strawberries. How much should I add to the frosting recipe?
Hi Karen, you can follow the amounts and instructions for strawberry cream cheese frosting in this recipe for strawberry cake. Enjoy!
This is so good! I made it for the first time today to decorate my strawberry cupcakes with!! Super easy!!
The taste is amazing but unfortunately the consistency is very very soft
Hi, I only have reduced fat cream cheese, so I am going to have to use it. Should I add more sugar to help thicken it up? thank you!
Hi Chaya, you can add more confectioners’ sugar as needed to achieve your desired consistency.
If I’m going to use the cream cheese frosting on bundt cake, do I need to adjust the recipe so it’s thinner, easy to drizzle?
Hi Eneida, you can use the cream cheese icing from this Bundt cake recipe: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/hummingbird-bundt-cake/
How many cupcakes would this be able to ice?
Hi Rita, This recipe is enough to frost 12-18 cupcakes.
Love this recipe but should I use Confectioners sugar with cornstarch or should i do the one without cornstarch.
Hi Brooks, we use a confectioners’ sugar without cornstarch.
So I had a quick question, do you think it’s possible to add a black cocoa powder to this recipe? If not, am I able to dye the frosting black?
Hi Rosabelle, you can use our chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe and use black cocoa powder if you wish.
How would I turn it into a lemon cream ch÷se frosting?
Hi Jenn, you could add lemon extract, a bit of lemon juice and/or some lemon zest.
Great recipe but way WAY to much powered sugar and I love sugar the 2nd time I only used one cup powered sugar ❤️❤️❤️❤️ it’s was great
My daughter loves yout pistachio cake, so I’m making it for her bridal shower and wedding, with two additional bought cakes. Will the cream cheese frosting hold up to some simple piping, and will it be okay to be outside for hours? It’s a June wedding, not super hot yet here in Ca, probably low 70’s.
Hi Nancy! Cream cheese frosting isn’t the best for piping intricate designs. If you refrigerate the frosting BEFORE piping, it holds its shape better. And, likewise, holds its shape better when kept cold. We would keep it cold before serving.