Cream cheese frosting for piping and decorating cakes/ cupcakes because your bakes deserve a heavenly touch and nothing can taste more amazing than cream cheese frosting.
My very first sweet post of the year is here . Rich and creamy cream cheese frosting that is not runny. I love this silky smooth frosting on about every dessert. You may say I am a bit obsessed .I have been getting a lot of requests to post a workable and pipeable cream cheese frosting. As Valentine’s is around the corner I thought of sharing an elaborate post on ‘All about successful cream cheese frosting. ‘ I hope to share everything that I have learnt about cream cheese frosting over years. You may also like my posts on buttercream frosting , ganache , stabilized whipped cream.
Few years ago when I baked in New York ,bakes with cream cheese frosting were the most popular ones amongst my clients. You will notice that most of the fruit based or special occasion cakes are frosted with cream cheese. And why not , it’s light, creamy and rich in taste . It is sweet but lighter than buttercream.
So what is this cream cheese frosting made of?
It’s made of cream cheese , butter/ veg shortening and lots of powdered sugar and extracts/ flavoring if desired.
I like to add little bit of lemon juice or zest to cut off the sweetness and add more flavor.
Cream cheese alone cannot hold the shape so some butter is always added.
When the weather is warm / hot then I like to make cream cheese frosting with combination of cream cheese and veg shortening and not butter. This makes the frosting more stable and is more likely to hold shape.
We all have had our share of curdled or runny cream cheese frosting and believe me its totally heart breaking.
Making cream cheese frosting is very easy but it’s important to follow few tips and tricks mentioned below-
Always use room temperature cream cheese. It should be soft to touch . Never use cream cheese melted or straight out of the fridge. I leave it out on the kitchen counter for 4-5 hours or overnight.
Butter should be soft to touch as well and not melted or runny .
Using cold cream cheese or butter will curdle your frosting.
Using melted one will make runny frosting.
So be patient and remember that if it starts well it will end well 😉
Use good quality butter and full fat cream cheese.
Always sift the confectionary/ icing sugar before adding to the cream . It makes a lot of difference.
Once you are done making the frosting refrigerate it for at least 1-2 hours or more to set before piping.
Important tip
Over the time I have realized that for making a nice frosting butter needs to be beaten well and longer than cream cheese.
Initially when I started making cream cheese frosting I used to beat cream cheese and butter together and by cream cheese would thin out considerably. After looking up a lot online I found a great tip on Cake Central. The tip was to beat the butter for 2-3 minutes and add cream cheese later . And since then there wasn’t any looking back . This one tip changed my cream cheese frosting. It help shape and was perfect to decorate cakes.
Be sure to check my in-depth posts on buttercream frosting , ganache , stabilized whipped cream.
You might even like my post on sturdy whipped cream cream cheese frosting. It is light , airy and less sweeter than this classic cream cheese frosting.
cream cheese frosting for piping and decorating cakes/ cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup /8 ounce package cream cheese/ 226 grams, at room temperature (soft to touch but not melted )
- 1/2 cup softened butter/ 113.5 grams at room temperature ( firm but soft to touch and not melted )
- 3– 4.5 cups confectionery sugar/ icing sugar sifted (important)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract/ essence
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice optional I love it as it cuts the sweetness
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest optional
- 1/4 teaspoon salt - Only if u are using unsalted butter.
- 1 teaspoon room temperature cream / milk/ liquid only if frosting is very thick
Instructions
- Use electric hand held mixer or stand mixer ( beater attachment and not whisk )
- Beat the butter on medium setting 3 mins until it's light in color and creamy.
- Add in cream cheese and beat it on low setting 1 minute until blended and smooth.
- Add salt ,vanilla extract, lemon juice and zest.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time on the lowest speed.
- Use 3 cups sugar first. All the sugar needs to be added on low speed until combined .
- Once combined increase the speed to medium and beat the frosting for 1 minute.
- Check the consistency at this point.
- Scoop some frosting with a spoon or a spatula and turn it over gently to check if it holds peaks. Soft peaks are ok. As it will get more sturdy after refrigeration.
- Enjoy this creamiest frosting ever .
- If it seems too soft, go ahead and add a little more sifted powdered sugar.
- Add liquid only if the frosting seems thick . ( won't be needed though!)
Notes
Frosting recipe can be doubled or tripled.
Please go through the entire post for important tips and tricks.
Sometimes due to weather conditions frostings tend to thin out.
Don't worry pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes or more.
And it will be perfect workable consistency.
Tint it in the color u like.
Add flavor variations of your choice.
Nutrition
Vegan version of cream cheese frosting
Use vegan cream cheese.
Use non hydrogenated veg shortening / margarine – plant based.
Use vegan / organic powdered sugar.
All of the above are easily available in store or online.
Try this vegan strawberry cake with vegan cream cheese frosting
Storing bakes frosted with cream cheese
Cream cheese frosting is perishable. Always keep your cakes / cupcakes frosted with cream cheese in the fridge.
The bakes will stay good upto 4-5 days refrigerated.
Storing leftover cream cheese frosting.
Make an easy ice- cream or you can refrigerate it up to a week or freeze it up to 2 months. If you have made a big batch and have lots leftover. Store in portion size one time use ziplock bags or freezer safe airtight plastic containers. Once thawed and used it cannot be frozen again.
For thawing place it in the fridge overnight or for 8-10 hours . There may be slight change in texture of frozen cream cheese frosting . You need to re beat it for 1-2 minutes and then use.
Don’t find cream cheese in stores / difficult to source
Try finding it online or you may choose to make cream cheese at home. I have never tried making it at home but there are many recipes for the same online.
What are you waiting for ? Get going and have fun piping fancy deigns on your bake . Keep spreading sweetness and smiles around.
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Hi, have you ever tried using russian piping tips with this recipe?
Hello Julia, Russian piping tip should work with this cream cheese frosting!! Give it a try!
When substituting with vegetable shortening to make it more stable so that it does not melt in the very hot heat, how much vegetable shortening should I substitute? Is it the equivalent amount of the butter that is being substituted?
Yes zing, swap butter with equal amount of shortening to make it on hot sunny days.
I just tried to pipe cookies with it. While it was stiff enough in the beginning, I can’t stack the cookies without messing up the design. Is there any adjustment I can make to the recipe so I can pile the cookies without destroying the piping?
I am not sure that this recipe is good for a sandwich cookie.I prefer crusting buttercream for that. But you can put the frosted cookie in the freezer for 15 minutes and then add the cookie to.
Thank you so much I’m not very experienced in baking but knew cream cheese frosting would probably be runny and not pipable. I need a pipeable frosting for thanksgiving and The fiancé wants cream cheese. Thanks so much for the helpful info and recipe.
Im looking to make an ancho chili and cayenne cream cheese frosting for a mexican hot chocolate cake. Would I swap out the lemon and the vanilla do u think? Or does the lemon only cut through the sweetness..and it won’t compete with the hot chili? Thank you for the great recipe and info.
The flavor that you are using is interesting. I would say nothing can compete with chilies. You may omit lemon but for sure chili would be overpowering.
Turned out great! I have to frost the OUTSIDE of a 3-layer cake, 8-inch diameter. I’m piping it to look like a big rose. How many batches do you think I’d need? 4? Thanks!
Hi Jennica, in my experience 3 times the recipe will be fine for your needs as it is only for frosting outside and not filling.
Great thank you, I averaged it out to be about that so I should be good. It is just a basic swirl. I can’t wait to try your frosting.
Awesome, good luck!
How many cupcakes would one batch of frosting make? I have an order for 60 cupcakes. Thank you.
Hello Kirin, it all depends on how complex is the design. If it is a basic swirl then this recipe is good enough to frost 14-16 cupcakes. So for 60 cup cakes you will have to use 4 times the recipe.
I’ve been making an awesome carrot cake for years but have never been truly happy with the cream cheese icing…..until now! Thank you so much for the recipe and the tips! Absolutely perfect!!
Awesome Julie. I can imagine. Having an awesome carrot cake with not so great frosting is indeed a bummer. I am glad you found the perfect frosting recipe here.
Amazing! This is the first time to have such amazing frosting!
Last time I ended up with runny frosting..
Today I followed you advice. The only difference was that I added the sugar with butter.. then I added the cheese. It was a little bit runny but after mixing it for 1 min it became fluffy and stable:)
Thank you so much
Sounds great Bayan. Glad it worked out for you.
Hi! I wanted to make colored cream cheese frosting. Do you recommend a colored paste or something else?
Hey dana any edible color is fine. Gel, dry or paste.
How many cupcakes can this frost?
It can frost 14-16 cupcakes.
Worked well for me. I piped some shells too. Thank you. And yes I used your red velvet cake recipe with this cream cheese frosting. Everyone loved it. Thank you.
I need this cake for a graduation on Saturday and need to decorate on Friday. Will the piping hold up over night refrigerated and a 2 1/2 hour car ride?
hey Deborah, yes the piping holds up overnight in the fridge. And you can travel with it in full air conditioner on. Basically cool condition away from direct sunlight. Place it in the refrigerator all the time until you sit in the car.
I made this last night (put in fridge overnight) for a cake to be frosted today. Does it need to be room temp to make it easier to pipe? Should I just whip it some more with my mixer?
Yes it needs to be at room temperature or easily scoopable to pipe well.
can this be used to pipe flowers?
I have used this frosting to make 2D flowers as you can see in the photos. I am not sure about piping roses. Go for stiffer frosting like buttercream.
Hi just want to ask can I use this cream cheese frosting as crumb coat ?
Hey Elyse you mean crumb coating under fondant ? Then I am not sure if it works for fondant.
Hi, I tried the frosting recipe with your red velvet cake recipe. I got the best compliment ever when my regular client rated it to be even better than her personal favourite store bought cupcake. Everybody at home loved it too. The lemon zest added so much difference to the taste.
But I am surprised why I need not add 4 or even 3.5 cups of sugar. I added just 1 or 1.5 cups sugar and I felt it was just perfect. Can there really be so much difference in the quantity of sugar, going by all your other recipes have perfect sugar level as per my taste.
Hey Kirti good to hear this. The additional sugar is added to get piping consistency. I am surprised you just needed 1.5 cups sugar only..nice!!
Hello. How far in advance can this icing be made? Without having to freeze it. Thanks.
Hello Kimberly, cream cheese frosting is best when used the same day. Frost your bakes within few hours of making it. I won’t suggest freezing as it turns more runny and changes texture.
I am a home baker . Tried cream cheese frosting for the first time . This was so good . I piped roses as you have shown for my daughters birthday cake . Thank you.
If replacing butter with vegetable shortening, do I use the same quantity?
Yes Natalia same quantity.
Hey hi
How many grams would be 3-4n1/2cups of sugar ?
Hi Vipsha, upon some googling I found out that 4 cups Confectioner’s sugar is 500 grams approx.