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 brown butter cream cheese 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.
Print
Favorite 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
So good! Thank you Sally! I love it! (and so does my family)
Hi! I’m trying to make maple cream cheese frosting to put on the spice cake. Can I just add Maple Syrup to this recipe? Thank you for the advice! 😉
Hi Molly, we haven’t tested a maple version of this frosting. We would try adding some pure maple syrup or maple extract if you have it. It may take some tinkering to get the exact taste you’re looking for. Let us know what you try!
Thank you so much, Trina! I ended up taking out about a 1/3 cup of the powdered sugar and substituted it with 1/8 cup maple syrup and 1/8 teaspoon maple flavoring. It was a little looser than it would’ve been, but it was stiff enough to stay on my cake!
I am driving about six hours. Can I make a pumpkin cake and frost it with your frosting and freeze it? Will your frosting hold up as I travel. Thank you for your advice.
Hi Ellen, Yes you can freeze cakes decorated with this frosting. Traveling with it should be fine. After decorating anything with buttercream or cream cheese frosting, it’s fine for 1 day at room temperature. After that, it’s best to refrigerate it. As always, use your best judgment and whatever you are comfortable with.
I tripled the recipe and I only use 4 cups of sugar because it felt sweet enough to me. Will that be a problem?
The frosting will be thinner with less sugar.
What do you recommend for making/piping ahead of time? Would it be ok to pipe onto red velvet cupcakes the day before serving and refrigerate or to do day of? If I do day of can they stay in refrigerator for several hours (covered?) before serving? Thank you!
Hi Didi, Yes, you can cover and refrigerate the cupcakes with this frosting if you need to pipe them the day before serving.
Hi Sally+ team! I have a friend’s bday cake request for strawberry cake w cream cheese frosting. I will ofc make your strawberry cake recipe… for the frosting, do you think it would work to add some ground freeze dried strawberries to the cream cheese frosting to make a strawberry cream cheese frosting, instead of just regular cream cheese frosting?? If so, how much ground freeze dried strawb would you add (with the proportions in this recipe)? Thank you!
Hi Becca, you’re in luck! Our Strawberry Cake is frosted with strawberry cream cheese frosting as-written.
This recipe is so easy and so delicious. The finished result is smooth and creamy and oh so tasty. Can this frosting be frozen? Thank you.
Hi Judith, absolutely! Frosting can be stored for 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. So glad you enjoyed it!
So lovely and a fluffy texture! It went well with the apple spice cake that I made.
Sally Sally Sally oh how I love you. Once again, you have saved the day with yet another gorgeous recipe. Perfectly silky. Perfectly sweet. Perfectly scrumptious . Thank you for your service. You never let me down.