We all need one good cream cheese frosting recipe to make a red velvet cake, carrot cake, pumpkin spice cake, cheesecake, macaron, cupcake, bread, cookies, etc. - Today, I’m sharing how to make my favorite cream cheese!
It's smooth & not overly sweet. It works great for any cake and dessert.
💛 I love this cream cheese frosting because:
- It's not overly sweet.
- It's so simple to make. - Whip it up in 5 minutes!
- You can taste the cream cheese enough, but it's not overpowering.
- It's stiff enough to frost a cake and pipe decoration on top.
💬 I love tangy and luscious desserts. Besides plain buttercream, I often use this one and lemon buttercream frosting!
📖 In this post, you'll learn essential baking tips such as:
- The temperatures (texture) of butter and cream cheese we should use.
- The causes of loose cream cheese frosting
- A few ways to make your frosting stiffer and fluffier
- Comparing 2 kinds of butter with less and more butter
- How to store it properly
... and so on!
Let's get started!
Jump to:
📌 What's In Cream Cheese Frosting?
4 simple ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Use soft butter to make it successfully. Leave it at room temperature beforehand.
- Powder sugar
- Sift it ahead if it looks very lumpy.
- Salt
- It adds more depth in flavor.
- Cream cheese
- Use cold cream cheese. (Leave it at room temperature for 15 - 30 minutes to soften it a little bit.)
- Vanilla extract (Optional)
- Use any extracts or flavors you like.
📌 How To Make Cream Cheese Frosting
The 3 Simple Steps:
- Whip soft butter, salt, and powdered sugar at medium to medium-high speed until it looks very fluffy for about 5 mins.
- Clean the bowl and paddle on the way.
- Add cold cream cheese (left at room temperature for 15 - 30 mins, depending on the room temperature) and whip at high speed until evenly incorporated.
- Clean the bowl and paddle on the way.
- Whip it for another few minutes at medium speed to make it fluffier [Optional].
- Be careful not to whip it too much so it does not get too airy.
- If you prefer glossier, softer buttercream, you don't need to whip it more.
- When I make it with more butter, I whip it for about a minute. (The detail is in the post.)
📝 More Tips With Images
Now, let me share detailed tips on each step, which are all crucial for making cream cheese frosting successfully.
Step 1: Whip soft butter, salt, and powdered sugar until it looks fluffy.
💬 Use soft butter so that it whips a lot better to create a fluffy texture. Butter can not contain a lot of air when it's cold or melted partially.
💬 Start mixing at low speed first so that the powdered sugar is not scattering everywhere. (...speaking from experience😁 I made lots of mess!)
Gradually turn up the speed and start whipping at medium to medium-high speed until it looks fluffy.
I usually whip for about five minutes with one batch.
💬 I always add all the sugar at once.
But when making a bunch at once (ex. 3 - 4 batches), the powdered sugar can scatter everywhere even if you mix at low speed. In that case, I like to turn off and on the switch quickly to pulse. (I call it peek-a-boo motion😁) and works perfectly each time!
It's important to clean the bowl and paddle on the way to make an even and smooth frosting.
Once it looks nice and fluffy, add cream cheese. 👇🏻
Step 2: Add cold cream cheese and whip at high speed until it is evenly blended.
👩🏻🍳 Cream cheese gets softer when it's at room temperature and gets stiffer when it's cold. That's why the frosting is much stiffer while the cream cheese is cold.
Very cold cream cheese doesn't blend well with butter, so leave it at room temperature for a short time (15 - 30 mins) to soften it.
Mix at high speed until it looks smooth.
💬 High speed is needed to break down the cream cheese.
Again, clean the bowl and paddle on the way:
Step 3: Whip more at medium speed for a fluffier frosting [Optional]
I usually whip for about a few more minutes at medium speed.
💡 If you like glossier, softer frosting, you don't have to whip further. Stop as soon as the frosting is blended.
Before whipping more:
Look how the texture changes in just a few minutes!
After whipping for a few minutes:
It is stiff enough to frost a cake and pipe decorations:
📌 To Make The Frosting Stiffer
When I want an even stiffer frosting, I add one more stick of butter and one pinch of salt to the original recipe:
- Unsalted butter + 1 more stick!
- Powder sugar
- Salt ⅛ teaspoon + a pinch
- Cream cheese
- Vanilla extract (Optional)
All the other amounts of ingredients stay the same!
💡 With this stiffer frosting, I do not whip it too much after the cream cheese is blended. I usually whip it for about a minute at medium speed (You can adjust it as you like!).
It gets too airy when I whip it for a few minutes due to the double amount of butter.
It might be harder to see the difference between the images, but this frosting is a bit stiffer and fluffier than the first one:
👩🏻🍳 Adding more sugar is another way to make stiffer buttercream. I didn't do that today to make not-so-sweet cream cheese frosting.
📌 Uses For Cream Cheese Frosting
Enjoy making many kinds of desserts with this cream cheese frosting, such as:
- Whole cakes
- Frost any of your favorite cakes, such as red velvet cake, carrot cake, strawberry cake, chocolate mint cake, pumpkin spice cake, hummingbird cake, orange cake, etc!
- Cupcakes
- Frost smaller cakes such as cupcakes, muffins, and pound cakes.
- Cookies
- Enjoy frosting many kinds of cookies, such as pumpkin cookies, sugar cookies, whoopie pies, cookie sandwiches, and gingerbread cookies.
- Cheesecake
- Spread or pipe it on top of a cheesecake to add a unique decoration.
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Spread it over a homemade cinnamon roll and enjoy it with a cup of coffee in the morning.
- Macarons
- Use it as a filling for your macarons! Add different toppings, such as dried fruits, nuts, jam, etc, for a little twist.
- Custom Frosting
- Mix it with other flavors, such as pumpkin spice powder, mint extract, ganache, and strawberry jam, to create a new frosting for your custom cake!
I frosted my chocolate cake with it this time!
📌 Frequently Asked Questions
Store in an airtight container. This frosting needs to be refrigerated, especially because it contains cream cheese.
You can store it for up to 5 - 6 days in the fridge or a few months in the freezer.
Yes, you can add any extracts or flavors you like!
Use thick full-fat cream cheese. I like to use Philadelphia cream cheese for its taste.
1. The common cause is the temperature of the butter and cream cheese:
- Use soft butter because it whips a lot more to make the fluffy texture (See step 1).
- Use cold cream cheese so the frosting gets stiffer (See step 2). The frosting gets softer when you make it with cream cheese at room temperature.
2. Or, it might be because the frosting is not whipped enough. This is not a problem if you want softer, shinier frosting. But whip more if you like stiffer, fluffier frosting!
3. Lastly, were the tools or environment not warm while you were working on the frosting? Working in a cooling space is ideal to prevent the cream cheese and butter inside the frosting from getting soft quickly.
You can! But please be mindful that the sugar helps to make stiffer buttercream: The frosting gets softer if you reduce powdered sugar too much, especially as it sits at room temperature for some time.
For this recipe, I cut off sugar as much as I think it's durable without losing too much consistency.
📌 VIDEO: Watch How To Make It!
Watch this video to learn how to make the madeleines visually and have a deeper understanding of all.
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📌 Printable Recipe
💬 If you loved this recipe, please share your feedback on this post! I always love to hear how you enjoyed it with your friends and family.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- Stand mixer with a paddle or a bowl and hand mixer
Ingredients
- 4 oz Unsalted butter (soft) 1 US stick (2 sticks for the stiffer buttercream)
- 9.1 oz Powder sugar about 2 US cups
- ⅛ teaspoon Salt (Add one more pinch for the stiffer buttercream.)
- 8 oz Cream cheese 1 US block
- ½ - 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract Optional. I did not add it this time.
Instructions
- Whip soft butter, salt, and powdered sugar at medium to medium-high speed until it looks very fluffy for about 5 mins. Clean the bowl and paddle on the way.4 oz Unsalted butter (soft), 9.1 oz Powder sugar, ⅛ teaspoon Salt
- Add cold cream cheese (left at room temperature for 15 - 30 mins depending on the temperature) and whip at high speed until it's evenly blended. Clean the bowl and paddle on the way.8 oz Cream cheese
- If you like fluffier frosting, whip it for another few minutes at medium speed. * You don't need to whip it more if you prefer glossier, softer buttercream.* Be careful not to whip it too much so that it does not get too airy. * When making it with 2 sticks of butter, whip it for about a minute to avoid it from getting too airy.* Add vanilla extract as an option.½ - 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Video
Notes
-
- Unsalted butter 226 g | 8 oz (2 US sticks)
-
- Powder sugar 260 g | 9.1 oz (about 2 US cups)
-
- Salt ⅛ teaspoon + a pinch
-
- Cream cheese 226 g | 8 oz (1 US block)
-
- Vanilla extract ½ - 1 teaspoon (Optional. I did not add it today.)
How to store it:
Store in an airtight container. This frosting needs to be refrigerated, especially because it contains cream cheese. You can store it for up to 5 - 6 days in the fridge or a few months in the freezer. ** For best results, measure ingredients with a scale. All recipes are designed with weighed ingredients using grams/ounces. Cup measurements are provided for your convenience. **Nutrition
📌 Other buttercream
Also, check out a list of my buttercream recipes, including Swiss buttercream, Italian buttercream, lemon buttercream, etc. Find the best frosting for your next baking project!
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Pin it if you love this recipe, and find so many other recipes on my Pinterest page!
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