All of the tangy cream cheese flavor you love in the classic frosting, but sturdy enough to be piped and hold it’s shape. This decorator’s cream cheese frosting is the best parts of buttercream and cream cheese frosting combined.
It has been at least a week since I last shared a frosting recipe with you, so it is overdue! This frosting is worth the wait.
It has the tang of cream cheese but it is perfect for piping into swirls, rosettes, shells and more.
There are a few kinds of cake that just beg to be slathered with cream cheese frosting. Carrot cake and banana cakes are two obvious choices, but cream cheese also goes well with chocolate cake and many more.
The problem is the standard cream cheese frosting isn’t great for doing much more than spreading over the cake. It is soft and doesn’t hold it’s shape well.
It is absolutely delicious, but not great for piping. And for frosting lovers like myself, sometimes a little bit of frosting spread on top of a cupcake isn’t enough.
(It’s never enough!) Bring on the fluffy swirls of frosting!
Luckily this recipe allows you to have the best of both worlds. It pipes like and American buttercream dream but has that familiar cream cheese taste we love.
The final product does form a slight crust, especially if chilled, that makes transportation a lot easier. It also helps it hold up to a little more warmth than a standard cream cheese frosting.
For even more stability, you could substitute some shortening in for some of the butter. The higher melting point always helps to keep things a bit more resistant to temperature.
You can definitely taste the cream cheese in the final product without any help. If you feel like it needs a little more though, a teaspoon of cream cheese emulsion will help drive the flavor home.
After several batches of this frosting in the past month, I can assure you that this frosting will be a hit. You’ll see it featured on some pretty cookie stacks I’m sharing and also some super fun summer cupcakes.
Go ahead and make a practice batch of frosting now so you’ll be ready for those when I share them!
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a review in the recipe card below!
Decorator's Cream Cheese Frosting
All of the tangy cream cheese flavor you love in the classic frosting, but sturdy enough to be piped and hold it's shape. This decorator's cream cheese frosting is the best parts of buttercream and cream cheese frosting combined.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened*
- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk
- optional: 1 teaspoon cream cheese emulsion
Instructions
- Beat together butter and cream cheese until super smooth and creamy.
- Add salt, powdered sugar, vanilla and cream cheese emulsion if using. Mix until combined.
- Add a tablespoon of milk and continue to mix for at least 2 minutes. Adjust final consistency with more milk or powdered sugar.
- Spread or pipe immediately or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Notes
*For added stability, substitute 1/4 cup of shortening for some of the butter
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
30Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 101Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 55mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 0gSugar: 15gProtein: 0g
All nutritional information is estimated and will depend on the exact ingredients you use.
Mary
Wednesday 15th of June 2022
Is 1 lb of confectioner's sugar equal to 4 cups? Do you sift the sugar prior to or after measuring for the amount of cups required? Thank you for your answer. Beginner here.
Mary
Wednesday 15th of June 2022
@Carlee, Thank you so much for the information. My plan is to bake some key lime cupcakes and to flavor the icing lightly. This icing should be good for some simple swirls with some pearl decos or a dusting of glitter. Thank you, again.
Carlee
Wednesday 15th of June 2022
A pound of powdered sugar is just over 3.5 cups. I don't usually sift the powdered sugar before I use it in buttercream, but if you want to use about 4 cups of already sifted powdered sugar.
Lori
Wednesday 1st of June 2022
Hi, I made this frosting to decorate a 3 layer carrot cake plus a single layer cake and it was a great recipe. It was fast and easy to make and tasted great. I made a triple batch of the frosting, one teal coloured the other bubblegum pink. The icing spread nicely between the layers and on the outside and worked well for the piping. The cake looked great for my niece’s 13th birthday cake. All the kids loved the flavour as well. Thanks for a great recipe. I will recommend this to others.
Carlee
Wednesday 1st of June 2022
That sounds amazing! I am so glad you liked it.
Steve
Monday 18th of April 2022
I made type for my Easter Carrot Cake Cupcakes. Excellent results! I doubled the recipe and used the minimum amount of milk & no emulsion. That made enough+ for 24 cupcakes.
Carlee
Monday 18th of April 2022
Yay! I am so glad you liked it!
Rachel
Friday 15th of April 2022
I am looking forward to trying this. It is so great to find a cream cheese frosting recipe that is pipeable! How many cups of frosting does this recipe make?
Rachel
Monday 2nd of May 2022
@Carlee, thank you so much!
Rachel
Sunday 1st of May 2022
@Carlee, Thank you so much. I would also like to make this into an orange flavor to go on a Creamsicle cake. Would I replace one teaspoon of the vanilla with one teaspoon of orange extract? Thanks.
Carlee
Friday 15th of April 2022
It is the best of both worlds, cream cheese taste with buttercream versatility! It makes between 3-4 cups. It is plenty to do a batch of cupcakes or a layer cake if you don't go super thick.
Mekiya
Wednesday 6th of April 2022
I know this may sound like a silly question but what kind of butter would you use? Unsalted, salted, “normal everyday day butter”
Carlee
Wednesday 6th of April 2022
I have used both salted and unsalted with great success. I tend to use whatever I have on hand. If you use salted, just hold back on the extra salt a little bit until you taste it. Then add a little more if you need to.