Carrot cake with classic cream cheese frosting
Cream cheese frosting is one of those mainstays in a baker’s repertoire that we take for granted. Its a critical topping for some of those richer, flavour packed cakes like Carrot cake or Hummingbird cake, and some folks say for Red Velvet cake (I like to use a lighter “Ermine” frosting, but that is another blog post).
If you go on a search for Cream cheese frosting recipes, you will find most are pretty vague as to the method – which I find puzzling, as its one that most people have resigned themselves to something that tastes good, but has a gloppy, spreadable consistency rather than being perfectly pipeable. Most of the “fixes” you will see out there range from
- Adding less cream cheese and more butter – a less than optimal fix, since what’s cream cheese frosting without cream cheese!
- Adding more icing sugar to firm it up – also a less than optimal fix as it makes the cream cheese icing too sweet, dulling down the cream cheese flavour
- Beating for only a few seconds – also not ideal, since you end up with lumps of cream cheese in your frosting, which is not so attractive or practical when you are piping!
- Using only Philadelphia brand cream cheese – this one has some merit, but isn’t always ideal if another brand of cream cheese happens to be on a super-sale.
Given all of the above, and given I make quite a bit of cream cheese frosting each week, I thought I would share my proportions and method for making pretty bombproof cream cheese frosting that pipes like a dream. This doesn’t have a lot of sugar in it, and uses science to give you a bit of a buffer on the slump factor.
The fact is that even the best quality cream cheeses contain water, which when combined with confectioners sugar, seeks out the water molecules and bonds immediately causing a liquid – in technical terms, sugar is hydrospcopic. THIS is what causes your cream cheese frosting to get all weepy on you!
In order to circumvent this little bit of science, you need to add some fat into the mix to jam up the works, so to speak. By creaming the butter and confectioners sugar FIRST and very well, you effectively disrupt this natural affinity of the water in the cream cheese for the sugar molecules. If you do this first, you can then add your cream cheese, and still be able to beat it to a nice smooth, fluffy consistency. Here’s the process (and amounts to frost 1 9″ layer cake or 1 9×13 slab cake)
- 227 grams (1 cup) butter + 3 bricks (250 grams each, OR 750 grams total) full-fat (55% milk fat)cream cheese – do NOT use light cream cheese, it has too much water in it
- Make sure your butter and cream cheese are at room temperature!
- Place in a stand mixer with 2 cups of confectioners sugar and 1 tsp or so of vanilla extract. Beat at low speed until the sugar is mixed into the butter, then turn the mixer to medium speed and beat for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy (it will actually get near-white in colour). You may need to scrape the bowl of your mixer part way through to make sure the butter is fully incorporated.
- Cut the cream cheese into 1″ cubes and add in stages to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat at medium-low speed for about 1 minute, until the frosting is nice and smooth. Don’t beat beyond this point. Even with this method, it will become a bit runny if you overdo it!
- Load your frosting into a piping bag and frost away!
- If you are not going to use the frosting immediately, store in the fridge. Let it come back to room temperature before using.
- Happy piping!
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Your frosting looks sooo good, thanks Janice!
Was wondering what you used on your stacked cake to get that design… can’t figure it out… did you use a fork and to swirl around it?
If I remember correctly Freda, I piped that on horizontally with an open star tip
Hello! I followed your recipe and still had a runny consistency. Maybe I should have refrigerated before piping, and keep it refrigerated until ready to serve? I’m worried about transporting cupcakes that I pipe it on though. Aside from that, this is the best tasting cream cheese that I’ve made so far – thanks to you for sharing this recipe. Yum! 🙂
Thanks for the feedback re. the icing. yes, refrigerating it before piping will help, but it will start to droop if you have to transport them anywhere warm. Did you use Philadelphia brand (full fat) cream cheese? Normally brands don’t make a difference, but in this case it does help with the stability. The other thing you might try next time is to cut down the mixing time once you add the cream cheese to no more than 1 minute
Hi Janice – I live in Cape Town, South Africa – temperatures at the moment are around 24-28 degrees Celsius (75-83’F). Will this icing handle that kind of heat? And if it goes over 30 degrees? (86’F) Thanks!
Hi Melissa, its been fairly hot here (for Victoria anyway), and I’ve found the icing holds ok to about 27-28 C although I wouldn’t want to leave it out for an extended period of time. If the temps go above 30C you would be better off keeping your cake in the fridge.
Hello Janice, Do you think this icing would survive a 26C-27C day being outside for 6 hours or more? Or do you think I would be better off with a buttercream/shortening combination. I have already tried to make a cream cheese one with extra butter and sugar, and it still flopped… I have just seen yours, but I don’t want to keep wasting ingredients… 🙂 Thanks so much
Hi Rhianna, I think that even this icing will start to get a little droopy after an extended time out at hot temperatures. It is easy to scale up/down for smaller if you wanted to test out a smaller amount on something like cupcakes
I always have problems with Cream Cheese frosting and is a daunting task whenever I have to make it but I after trying your recipe/method I now have a different outlook on it. It has wonderful consistency. I did not have to refrigerate for long and I live in Jamaica so it is usually quite warm here. Thanks a lot. I am really glad you posted this.
Christina
Thanks for letting me know Christina! I’m so pleased it worked out so well for you – Jamaican heat and all 🙂
Thank u Thank u Thank u
I just made it today & finally this is the exact taste & consistency I’ve been trying to reach for 2 years..
This is by far the best, most delish & most perfect cream cheese recipe ever..
God bless u dear ??????????????????
thanks for letting me know Yasmin! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Great recipe! Would it ice 24 cupcakes?
Hi Elizabeth. You should be able to get frosting for 24 cupcakes out of this. It makes an ample amount for a 3 layer cake
Thank you 🙂 I’m a little nervous of overbeating, so might mix all cream cheese and sugar by hand and then beat with mixer for 30seconds. Sound like a good idea? Also can you freeze this frosting?
Made it and loved it! I creamed butter and sugar as per recipe but in a separate bowl gently mixed the cream cheese and then added spoonful by spoonful to butter & sugar mix with one turn of the spoon until all was mixed and then beat for approx 45 seconds. Thank you again for what is truly Perfect Pipeable Cream Cheese frosting! 🙂
Awesome! I’m so glad to hear it worked out for you Elizabeth!
I used this recipe because I was making a flower bouquet and cream cheese frosting never holds up for it but my mom doesnt like butter cream she loved the taste of this icing! Theyre harder to pipe then buttercream but way better then traditional cream cheese frosting. LOVE IT! thanks for your recipe!
What a beautiful frosting. Just made it for my little boys birthday cake and the consistency is perfect !
OMG, OMG, OMG! From this day forward this will be my ONLY cream cheese frosting recipe. This turned out SOOO good! The consistency is just right for piping, the sweetness level is just enough, it is perfect!
I’m so glad the frosting worked out well for you Olga! Happy piping!!!
Will this frosting hold for a Barbie doll birthday cake?? My little ones hates buttercream icing.. She’s different!
I think it should work for a Barbie cake Sheena – I use this for 3 layer cakes frequently with no problems. (Nothing wrong with a little cream cheese frosting <3!) Hope your little one has an awesome birthday
Do you think it’s OK to add lemon juice to add some tartness to the frosting? I’m afraid the liquid may make the frosting runny??
yes, extra liquid will make the frosting runnier. If you want to make it tarter, you might try adding a little bit of citric acid (comes as a powder) or even better, lactic acid powder
I have been baking for years… and although I don’t usually like frosting, why can’t you just add more powdered sugar to the soft frosting to stiffen it up for piping?
Hi Brent! normally you would be able to add more confectioners sugar to get the desired consistency, however with the cream cheese icing, the cream cheese contains too much water and you will find you have to add a LOT of sugar to get a pipeable texture, and you’d find the resulting icing will be far too sweet
I’m gonna try this recipe this weekend. Would it be an idea to drain the cream cheese first? For example overnight? And if I would want to color the frosting, what would you recommend? Thank you!
Hi Merel, there is no need to drain the cream cheese – just make sure you are using the full fat version (NOT the lite versions). If you want to colour the frosting, a gel colour should work just fine – the colours in them are quite concentrated, and shouldn’t affect the texture at all.
Hi Janice. I really appreciate you for sharing your expertise with us. I happen to have Neufchatel cream cheese … is this one of the low-fat, watery cream cheeses you were warning not to use? Thanks.
Hi Janice. Just wondering if there was to substitute the sugar for honey or will it just get too runny? I’m trying to fond a good recipe for my daughter’s birthday that I can pipe onto red velvet cupcakes. Thank you!
Hi Shaz – yes, unfortunately if you use honey the frosting will be too runny to pipe. If you want to use all honey for the sweetener, you might try using more butter relative to the amount of cream cheese – beat the honey and butter together until light and fluffy, and go easy with the honey. I would stick with no more than a 1:1 ratio of butter:cream cheese
Hi Janice,
Thank you for sharing this recipe. Would you know if a small amount of powdered gelatin help stabilize this frosting? Thanks 🙂
Hi Angela, I don’t think that adding powdered gelatin would do too much to help stablize it – gelatin needs to be cooked to activate its thickening properties. If you are wanting a stiffer texture, you could try something like powdered psyllium husk (a couple of tsp for the amount in the recipe). Psyllium expands on exposure to moisture, and provides a bit of bulking properties. If you use the powdered form, it pretty much disappears, texture-wise.
You can also use a few tablespoons of cornstarch.
I have tried so many recipes and always runny. You figured out the trick. Icing was perfect and so easy to pipe. Looked like buttercream but tastes amazing. Thank you
thanks Vanessa! I’m so glad to hear the recipe worked out for you
Janice would a cornflour help to stiffen the the mixture a tad?
Cornflour will stiffen it, but bear in mind that it won’t be cooked, so might leave a chalky aftertaste in the frosting. If you are concerned about it slumping at all, stick with the Philadelphia brand cream cheese as it is more reliable in my experience.
Do you prefer the paddle attachment or the whip attachment on your stand mixer for this recipe?
Hi Denise – I use the paddle attachment for this one. Cream cheese frosting is one where you want it a little denser textured, and the whisk will introduce quite a bit of air, even with a 1 minute spin in the mixer
That was my thought process as well…thanks for confirming 🙂
I found that this frosting holds up well, but tastes a little too buttery and not quite sweet enough for my purposes. Next time I’ll be adding more icing sugar. Also, in looking through recipes online, I’ve realized that cream cheese in North America is quite different from that in th UK (and maybe all of Europe). Apparently Europeans will want to ‘drain’ their cream cheese before use.
I’ve tried many permutations and combinations of cream cheese-butter-sugar in devising this ratio. Bear in mind as you adjust, that adding more sugar may create a sloppier consistency, especially if you hold the butter constant. The butter will only bond with a finite amount of sugar – not an issue if you don’t mind having a more spreadable frosting.
Janice, have tried this recipe once and loved it – last year for my daughter’s 3rd birthday and making it again tomorrow for her 4th! I forget if a single recipe is sufficient to make an all over rosette cake? Have you done it this way before? Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback Tyla! Sorry I missed the mark on the big 4th birthday bash but hope the party was a smash! Its been a while since i’ve had a request for an all over rosette cake, but think I’ve squeezed out enough, just go a bit more sparingly on the filling between the layers – let me know how it worked out portion-wise for you
You are the first person I have seen mention anything besides cream cheese for red cake! My grandma made it for years for everyone’s birthday and she made the most delicious light frosting to go with it. When I first tried red cake from anyone else (a grocery store) I was surprised by the cream cheese frosting it came with. Our recipe just says “red cake” and “red cake frosting” so I had no idea the frosting I grew up with was called ermine frosting, I just knew cream cheese was not it. Do you know why it was changed?
I haven’t been able to track down anything definitive on why ermine frosting fell out of favour. Pure speculation on my part, but it could be one of 2 things. 1) Ermine frosting perhaps began as a midwestern adaptation of traditional German buttercream (which uses eggs in the roux), and got supplanted with cream cheese frosting as awareness of the Red Velvet cake spread via county fairs, particularly in the South 2) kraft, which owns Philadephia Cream cheese shows records of a recipe for cream cheese frosting in some of the corporate cookbooks starting in the 1940s – its possible that postwar, they began to market cream cheese more aggressively to American housewives, and you would start to see cream cheese being replacing more “homemade” versions such as ermine frosting
My daughter’s first birthday was yesterday! I’m having her birthday party today… but I just found out that ALL I have is light cream cheese… Is there any way I can make this work to not be runny?! Because I read that you said do not use it, lol….. If not I’ll just suck it up and get some more 🙂
Sadly, no you can’t use the light cream cheese for this frosting – it just has too much water in it to make a frosting that isn’t runny. I hope the birthday girl has a great party!
Can you freeze this frosting?
Hi Pat, I haven’t tried freezing this particular frosting, so don’t know if you’d get some weeping on thawing or not.
Pat, did you freeze the frosting after all? If so, how did it turn out when you thawed it?
Can you add food coloring to the icing without affecting the structure of the icing? I want blue frosting for my son’s birthday cake. Thanks!
There should be no problem if you are using gel colors or the highly concentrated Americolor products.
Can this recipe be doubled? Or should I make two batches, separately?
you can double it, but you will definitely need a larger capacity (7-8 quart) mixer to do so.
FINALLY a cream cheese recipe that can actually be piped! I’ve tested so many recipes and this is far and beyond the best one for piping. This method is perfect -thank you you’re a genius!