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Cream Cheese Frosting

Posted by Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic on Feb 2, 2008

Filed under Bakery, Dessert

Cream Cheese Frosting

Quick and easy cream cheese frosting brought to you by guest author Garrett McCord, the cupcake king. ~Elise

Cream cheese frosting is a baking basic. It's perfect for practically any cake and any leftovers are great dolloped onto some freshly cut fruit. This is the basic recipe, you can reduce the amount of butter if you want a bit more tang, and increase or decrease the sugar according to your taste. Dress up with ginger, vanilla bean, or coconut flakes. I've listed some of my favorite variations at the end of the recipe.

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Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
  • 8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
  • 2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Method

1 With an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

2 Add the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness.

3 Either spread on with a blunt knife or spatula, or spoon into a piping bag to decorate your cake or cupcake.

Variations:

  • Adding a teaspoon of Chinese Five Spice is always great for exotic chocolate cakes.
  • Adding freshly ground ginger helps spice up a carrot cake.
  • Freshly ground chai spice or even the contents of a bag of earl grey tea are heady and aromatic.
  • The scrapings from a vanilla bean can be very sweet and heavenly for red velvet or dark chocolate cakes.
  • Freshly grated or dried, flaked coconut mixed in makes it perfect for a coconut cake.

Indexed: Cream Cheese, Cupcake, Frosting

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23 Comments

OK, this is just flat-out weird.

Five minutes ago I pulled out these exact ingredients to make frosting for some carrot cake bars for tonight's Super Bowl party.

I think I need to call the bookie and up my bet on tonight's game ;-)

Kidding. Remember kids - NEVER gamble. Even on office football pools.

Posted by: jonathan on February 3, 2008 5:56 AM

I particularly like white chocolate cream cheese frosting. It tastes quite good on white chocolate cakes with fruit in the middle. Delish!

Posted by: Delilah Hinman on February 3, 2008 10:09 AM

I like adding grated orange or lemon peel to cream cheese frosting, with a little of the juice. Good on banana muffins, lemon cake, etc.

Posted by: Barbara Hillmer on February 3, 2008 1:03 PM

I love making cream cheese frosting with freshly grated ginger...elevates it to a whole new level of goodness!

Posted by: jennbec on February 4, 2008 6:56 AM

I made something just like this yesterday! We dont have cream cheese anywhere near me. (It's hard to find in France.) So I used yogurt cheese that I made by straining yogurt and some salt in cheesecloth. Then I added the butter and powdered sugar as normal. In a pinch I have been known to use a soft fresh goat cheese in place of cream cheese too. Both work wonderfully.

Posted by: Riana on February 4, 2008 10:04 PM

I love carrot cake with cream cheese icing but always find the icing too sweet, this is because when I lived in South Africa the cream cheese icing was always slightly sharp and 'cheesy' and a lovely contrast to the sweetness of the cake, but I have never been able to replicate it. Any ideas?

Well, having no idea what South African cream cheese is like, I would suggest reducing the amount of sugar and butter to your own taste which sould up the cheese and tang flavors. Cheese heavily depends on the animal producing the milk and what they are feeding on (which is then further based on the geography and terroir). Based on that, I am not sure if an American cream cheese will ever be as spot on the to the South African cheese taste you want. ~Garrett

Posted by: Lulu on February 5, 2008 4:31 AM

I have an easy cream cheese frosting recipe. The twist to this recipe is that although it is simple cream cheese frosting, it is sweetened with agave rather than sugar.

Elana

Posted by: Elana on February 5, 2008 5:35 PM

I just made the Red Velvet cupcakes last night and put my twist on them (and the frosting). I added a tsp. of almond extract along with the vanilla in the cakes and frosting both. I also doubled the cocoa in the cupcakes (more chocolate is always better, isn't it?).

Great recipe!
Jody

Posted by: Jody on February 6, 2008 9:11 PM

Another great way to flavor a classic cream cheese recipe up is to add lemon juice and lemon rind or orange.

Posted by: Ashley on February 7, 2008 1:27 PM

Elise, love this site.

I have made the cream cheese frosting many times but have always wondered if I have to refrigerate the cake with the cream cheese frosting on it!!
Can it stay at room temperature for several days?

Thank you, Fran.

Cream cheese has dairy. It needs to be refigerated, but the sugar will allow it to stand out for a few hours, but not extended periods of time. ~Garrett

Posted by: fran cowan on February 8, 2008 7:56 AM

Does it matter if you use reduced fat or fat free cream cheese?

Not at all. Neufchâtel is also a fine cheese to use. It's like cream cheese, but lower in fat and without the tangy flavor. ~Garrett

Posted by: Mary Russell on February 8, 2008 11:00 AM

Elise and Garrett, I like to add a bit of liliko'i (passion fruit) syrup to my cream cheese frosting when I make a very rich chocolate cake recipe using Hershey's chocolate. I also drizzle some of the syrup over the cake itself first, so it can penetrate down into the cake.

Posted by: Sonia on February 11, 2008 12:02 PM

Add: 1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup sweetened whipped cream
unsweetened cocoa powder to taste
dissolved in boiled cream cooled

Add to cream cheese icing and whip on high for a beautiful pearl like chocolate icing.

Posted by: Jan on February 17, 2008 7:17 PM

It definitely does matter if you use nonfat cream cheese. When you use it the consistency is too and I mean way too thin. I tried refrigerating it overnight and it turned into the consistency of a yeast dough. So--fat free cream cheese makes more of a fat free stringy glaze. UGH.

Posted by: Judy on March 6, 2008 10:19 AM

Tonight, after baking a cake for tomorrow's Senior Center Easter Dinner, I discovered I was low on ingredients for frosting the cake. I quickly turned to the internet. Luck was with me as your Cream Cheese recipe required only 4 ingredients--and I had all of them! The recipe was very easy to fix, the frosting spread very nicely without thinning it any (green frosting on a dark red velvet cake!). It also worked perfectly for doing shells around the edges of the cake. (I decorated the cake top with bunnies and green coconut "grass", along with flat bunnies on the cake sides.) Thank you so much for a great recipe! I plan on using this recipe regularly in the future! Have a great Easter Holiday!

Posted by: Teddi on March 19, 2008 9:17 PM

This has to be the easiest, best-tasting, fluffiest cream cheese frosting recipe I've ever seen. I realize I've never been out of the U.S., but this is perfect for use on wedding cakes or just to congratulate someone on a promotion or new home. It's stiff enough to hold a peak, but not hard like some buttercreams get after a bit. Thank you so much.

Posted by: Karla on May 26, 2008 5:31 AM

This recipe is so easy to do.

Posted by: monica on October 30, 2008 12:15 PM

This cream cheese recipe looks and sounds delicious. Garrett, I wonder if i can add food color to the cream cheese frosting without changing its taste and consistency. Any advice? Thank you.

Using dry food coloring is easiest, but a few drops of the liquid stuff should be fine. ~Garrett

Posted by: Faith on December 2, 2008 8:06 PM

How much frosting will this make? Will it be enough to frost and fill a 8in 3 layer cake? (or just frost?)

Thanks!

Posted by: Christy on December 22, 2008 10:44 AM

This is an awsome recipe, I just added a little more vanilla and it is awsome!

Posted by: cj barr on February 24, 2009 5:14 PM

This recipie is the best. I made a cake for my parent's anniversary and they loved it!

Posted by: i love pedroia on May 24, 2009 1:42 PM

Cream cheese frosting is the best. Trying it using half cream cheese & half mascarpone. SUPERB!!! The mascarpone maybe a little expensive but it makes all the difference.

Posted by: Kerri on May 31, 2009 7:33 AM

Thank you for this fast and easy recipe! Super good frosting, easy to make! Fluffy and thick, easy to spread, and holds its shape, but isn't excessively hard like some other frostings that I have made! THANK YOU!

Posted by: Brooklyn on October 19, 2009 8:28 PM

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