Cream Cheese Frosting

Five ingredients and about 10 minutes of mixing give you a smooth, fluffy cream cheese frosting that spreads, pipes and colors well.

This fluffy cream cheese frosting recipe takes five simple ingredients and about 10 minutes of mixing. It's smooth and tangier than a classic vanilla buttercream, with enough body to spread on a sheet cake or pipe onto cupcakes.

It's the homemade frosting to reach for with carrot cake, pumpkin bread, spice cakes and red velvet. Below, you'll find how to make it fluffy without letting it turn runny, how to thicken it for decorating, how to color and flavor it, and how to store and freeze it.

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cream cheese: Use full-fat brick cream cheese at room temperature. Whipped, spreadable and low-fat cream cheese hold more water, and they'll make your frosting runny.
• Unsalted butter: Soften it to room temperature so it beats smoothly into the cream cheese without lumps. Unsalted butter lets you control the salt.
• Confectioners' sugar: Also called powdered sugar, it sweetens the frosting and gives it body. Adding more makes the frosting stiffer, which is how you thicken it for piping or filling.
• Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract gives the cleanest flavor.
• Salt: A small amount balances the sweetness and brings out the tang of the cream cheese.

Set the cream cheese and butter out about an hour before you start. Cold cream cheese is the most common cause of lumpy frosting. See my tips for how to get butter to room temperature quickly.

How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat the softened butter and cream cheese together on medium speed, using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, for about 2 minutes. Look for a completely smooth mixture with no lumps of cream cheese or butter, and scrape down the sides of the bowl so nothing stays stuck at the bottom. Then mix in the salt and vanilla.

Turn the mixer to low and add the confectioners' sugar ½ cup at a time. Keeping the speed low while the sugar goes in stops it from flying out of the bowl.

Once all the sugar is in, scrape the bowl again, raise the speed to medium, and beat for 2 more minutes until the frosting is smooth and fluffy.

For a stiffer frosting, add more sugar ¼ cup at a time. For a softer one, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time.

How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting Fluffy

The fluffy texture comes from two things: soft ingredients and the final beat. Room-temperature butter and cream cheese blend smoothly and hold air as they mix, while cold cream cheese stays in lumps that no amount of beating will fix.

When you scrape down the bowl, go all the way to the bottom and flip the frosting over, since sugar can hide there unmixed. Mix again until everything is incorporated. The 2 minutes on medium speed after all the sugar is in is where the frosting gains its volume, so don't skip it.

Where most cream cheese frosting goes wrong is beating too long once the cream cheese is in. Cream cheese softens and loosens the more you work it, so a frosting beaten for several extra minutes turns soft and runny instead of fluffy. That's why this recipe uses timed steps rather than "beat until light."

The same thing happens with whipped, spreadable or low-fat cream cheese, which start out with too much water. If your frosting is fluffy but softer than you'd like for piping, chill it for 30 minutes to firm it up.

Paddle or Whisk for Cream Cheese Frosting?

Use the paddle attachment. A whisk whips extra air into cream cheese frosting, which leaves air pockets that show up as holes when you spread it on a cake or pipe it. The paddle still gives you a fluffy frosting, just with a smoother texture that holds its shape.

If you're using a hand mixer, the standard beaters do the same job as the paddle.

How to Thicken Cream Cheese Frosting

The easiest way to thicken cream cheese frosting is to add more confectioners' sugar ¼ cup at a time, mixing after each addition until it reaches the consistency you want. If you'd rather not make it sweeter, chill it for 30 minutes instead. The butter firms up in the fridge, and the frosting becomes stiff enough to pipe.

One caveat: if the frosting was too loose to begin with, chilled piping can lose its shape as your cake or cupcakes sit out over those 2 hours, so use your judgment on this one.

Runny frosting usually comes from one of three things: butter and cream cheese that were too warm, whipped, spreadable or low-fat cream cheese, or beating too long after the cream cheese went in. Starting with a full-fat brick at room temperature and sticking to the timed steps prevents most of it.

If you're using it as a filling between cake layers, make it a little thicker than you would for spreading, adding more sugar ¼ cup at a time, so it doesn't squeeze out under the top layer.

To thin it instead, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time.

Can You Pipe Cream Cheese Frosting?

Yes. Cream cheese frosting is softer than buttercream, so it won't hold its shape quite as long, but it pipes swirls and flowers well. Fill your piping bag and chill it for about 20 minutes before you start. A round tip is the easiest choice for cupcake swirls, while a star tip gives you flowers like the ones on the carrot cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting for Cake Decorating

This frosting spreads smoothly and holds up well enough for simple decorating, so you can use it as a crumb coat, a filling and a piped finish on the same cake.

For a layer cake, spread a thin crumb coat over the whole cake to trap loose crumbs, chill it until the frosting is firm, then add your final layer. For the filling between layers, make the frosting a little thicker with extra sugar, as described in How to Thicken Cream Cheese Frosting above.

The flowers on the carrot cake in the photos were piped with an Ateco star tip in size 4. Start in the center of each flower and swirl outward.

The sides and top rim of this six inch gingerbread spice cake were piped with an Ateco round #804 tip.

How to Color Cream Cheese Frosting

Yes, you can dye cream cheese frosting. Use gel food coloring, and add it once the confectioners' sugar is fully mixed in. Start with a small amount and mix it in completely before adding more, so you don't overshoot the shade you want.

Natural food dye gels work too if you prefer to skip artificial colors. Liquid food coloring thins the frosting, which is why gel is the better choice.

Flavored Cream Cheese Frosting

This frosting is an easy base for other flavors. For a simple change, add ½ to 1 teaspoon of an extract such as coconut, almond or lemon along with the vanilla extract. For more variations, try one of these:

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting: Add 3 teaspoons of ground cinnamon along with the confectioners' sugar.

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting: Add ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice along with the confectioners' sugar.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting: Add ½ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder along with the confectioners' sugar.

Cookies and Cream Cream Cheese Frosting: Crush 8 to 10 chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, in a food processor, then stir the crumbs into the finished frosting. This is the frosting on my Cookies and Cream Chocolate Cake.

How Much Cream Cheese Frosting Do You Need?

This recipe makes about 2 cups of frosting, which is enough for:

• a 6-inch cake, with some left over
• a thinly frosted 8-inch cake 
• 12 cupcakes with modest height

How to Store Cream Cheese Frosting

Store leftover cream cheese frosting in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Before using it again, let it soften at room temperature and beat it for about 10 seconds to bring back its smooth texture.

Because it's made with cream cheese, the frosting shouldn't sit out for more than 2 hours, which is the FDA's guidance for foods made with cream cheese. That includes cakes and cupcakes once they're frosted.

How to Freeze Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese frosting freezes well for up to 3 months. Spoon it into an airtight container, then thaw it overnight in the refrigerator. Beat it for about 10 seconds before using it so it's smooth and spreadable again.

What to Use Cream Cheese Frosting On

Cream cheese frosting is a natural match for spiced cakes, quick breads and anything with fruit or pumpkin. Try it on:

• Moist Apple Spice Cake
• Decorated Pumpkin Roll Cake
• Sweet Potato Cake
• Butterscotch Pumpkin Cake Bars
• Key Lime Cupcakes
• Churro Cupcakes, with the chocolate variation

Some of these recipes include their own cream cheese frosting instructions, but this updated version works for all of them.

Looking for a different frosting? Try my Classic Chocolate Fudge Frosting, Strawberry Buttercream, Peanut Butter Buttercream or Salted Caramel Frosting.