I originally published this recipe along with my recipe for Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting but I think it is sensational enough to deserve its own post.
After many, many years in Austria and countless batches of runny, drippy frosting that were only suitable for the garbage can, I have FINALLY found a recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting that turns out EVERY TIME.
It’s actually not so much the recipe itself as the METHOD for making the frosting using European cream cheese, which contains more liquid than the American cream cheese that is available in blocks or bricks in the U.S. The cream cheese in Europe is essentially a cream cheese spread. Even the Philadelphia brand cream cheese is a spread.
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How do I know if my cream cheese is a spread or not? If your cream cheese is in a plastic tub with a peel-back foil lid, it's a spread and you need to use the method below for making Cream Cheese Frosting. If your cream cheese is wrapped in foil (like plain butter is packaged), it is brick-style cream cheese and you should use a traditional American Cream Cheese Frosting recipe.
The problem is that when you add sugar to cream cheese spread, it draws the liquid out of the cream cheese, resulting in the soupy consistency I mentioned earlier. Normally, adding some additional powdered sugar would thicken up an American buttercream like this one. But that doesn't work in this case. No amount of powdered sugar can rescue a runny cream cheese frosting. Believe me, I have tried!
The key to success is binding the powdered sugar with the butter first and THEN the cream cheese can be safely mixed in without the sugar drawing the liquid out of the cream cheese. Applied physics!
I am so excited I finally found the key to making my favorite frosting with European Cream Cheese! The taste and texture are just right. You can pipe it or use it to fill and frost cakes. If you use a stand mixer it’s really easy to make. Try it!
The cupcakes featured in these photos are my Perfect American Vanilla Cupcakes, absolutely dreamy light, moist and fluffy vanilla cupcakes. Cream Cheese Frosting is the best frosting for Carrot Cake as well as Banana Cake, Red Velvet Cupcakes, Chocolate Cupcakes and much more.
On to the recipe!
After beating the butter and powdered sugar together you will have a very stiff buttercream. Then you can beat in the cream cheese. The result is this heavenly frosting.
How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting with European Cream Cheese (or Cream Cheese Spread)
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (250 g) butter room temperature
- 5 ½ cups (600 g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 10 ½ ounces (300 g) cream cheese spread full fat
Instructions
- Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, one third at a time, and beat on high speed for several minutes until mixture is light and creamy. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process until all of the powdered sugar is well incorporated. Beat in vanilla. You should now have a very stiff buttercream.
- Add the cream cheese and beat on high for a couple of seconds to incorporate. Scrape bowl and beat on high again for a couple of seconds.
- The frosting can now be spread on cake or cupcakes or chilled until it is firm enough to pipe. This amount is enough to frost and fill a two-layer cake or generously frost 24-30 cupcakes. Store frosting and frosted baked goods in the refrigerator.
Notes
Jess from Oslo
You have no idea how maddening this issue was for me! Thank you so much, works great.
Krista
Hi Jess,
Great to hear! Thank you so much for your feedback and kind words!
All the best,
Krista
Anne Graff
You saved my pumpkin bars, thank you ever so much! My husband does our shopping and when I asked for cream cheese, I'm thinking the blocks, but he bought the spread. I've been wondering what to do with it, then decided, why not use it to make cream cheese frosting. Thought I'd try just adding the powdered sugar, rather runny, added more powdered sugar, really runny. Put it on my pumpkin bars anyway, but couldn't pick them up for the runny frosting. It was at that point that I turned to google and found your article. Can't believe what a difference that made, perfect consistency and delicious. Just had to scrap the first frosting off before adding the good stuff. Now I know. Thank you, thank you.
Krista
Thank you for your comment! Glad you were able to save your frosting! 😚
Romi
Thank you so much!!! I'm from Switzerland and want to try a cream cheese frosting so I was looking just for this!
One question though: wouldn't the small triangle shaped Frischkäse like the "Kiri" brand work for the frosting? The consistency is like the one of cream cheese and contains around 30% of fat. Those taste like the spreadable cheese we have (like Philadelphia). Did you ever try it?
Oh!! And I've also read about using Mascarpone as an American cream cheese substitute for the frosting. What's with that?
Thanks again!!
Krista
Hi Romi, It's my pleasure! 🙂 You could try the Kiri, why not? I've never tried making frosting with it but if it has similar fat content it should work, I would think.
I think you could probably use mascarpone instead of cream cheese in this recipe and the consistency would be ok but the frosting would taste a lot sweeter and wouldn't be as tangy. If you want to try a mascarpone frosting recipe, I have one here that also uses cream cheese and whipping cream and a lot less sugar: https://livingoncookies.com/tiramisu-cupcakes-with-mascarpone-frosting/
I hope that answers your questions! Have a great day! Krista
Romi
Thanks so much for the quick reply!! I'm new to
baking so I have so much to learn and your blog will be super helpful. I'll check the mascarpone recipe as well! Vielen Dank☺️
Kat
How long does the leftover frosting keep and how do you suggest storing it?
Krista
Hi Kat, store frosting in an airtight container. It can be frozen for up to two months or stored in the fridge for up to four days. Allow it to thaw overnight in the fridge if frozen. Allow refrigerated frosting to stand at room temperature until it’s soft enough to use. Stir vigorously or beat with and electric mixer briefly to make it smooth again.
Trish
just made it - worked perfectly! Only thing I would add is that it is very sweet. Maybe
leave out the .vanilla? I only made 1/2 batch - put a few drops of lemon juice as one other
reviewer suggested and also added more of the spread. Sweet and delicious! Thank you for the
recipe. Easy and the spread cost very little compared to block. I put the remainder in the freezer and will use it next time.
Yesenia D
Hi, hope everything is well, if I want to make it a chocolate flavor cream cheese icing, how much cocoa do you recommend I use? and would I put less sugar because of it? Thank You!
Krista
Hi Yesenia,
To make Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, I add melted semi-sweet chocolate. For the full recipe above, mix in 7 ounces (200g) melted, cooled chocolate after the last step above. The Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting is amazing. 🙂
Shamini
I only want to make 1/4 the recipe above ie 1/4 cup butter instead of 1 cup just to pipe on an orange cake. Just wondering if that will work. Also I want the frosting to be orange flavoured. Will it b ok if I add some grated orange zest to the frosting?
Krista
Hi Shamini, yes that will work and it sounds amazing!!! If you’re making 1/4 recipe, it might be easier to really work the sugar into the butter if you use an electric hand mixer and a smaller mixing bowl.
Shannon
Oh my goodness! Thank you!
I will be trying this - I am from Wisconsin and live in Vorarlberg a decade and WHY, OH WHY don't Austrians have real cream cheese?
(Though in Vorarlberg I kind of understand it- many of the locals do not consider anything besides Bergkäse to be "REAL CHEESE". So cream cheese is not even call cream cheese - just "Philedelphia" - because it is not Bergkäse and therefore not cheese.)
As a dairy farmer's daughter - my heart grieves for thier constricted view of cheese - I love almost all of the cheeses. Bryndza, skyr, bergkäse, cheddar, gouda, oszczypek... so many cheeses....
THANK YOU!
As for the reader that is asking about Schmand - you can try to make your own.
Schmand is basically the same thing as the Śmietana / Smetana - which is the Polish / Russian version of the stuff.
I found a tutorial here where you can try to make it in different versions. Maybe it will help you reader? https://petersfoodadventures.com/homemade-sour-cream/
Krista
Thank you so much for your nice feedback Shannon! I’m sure your tip will help someone. 😍 I am from Minnesota and am familiar with Wisconsin cheese - YUM! All the best, Krista
Ana B.
I wonder if this process would work with this New York Cheesecake recipe.
It’s the closest I can find to a what I always had.
What would you do different?
https://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/594101233/the-best-new-york-cheesecake/
Krista
Hi Ana, that recipe for New York Cheesecake looks really good but I am concerned about using that much sour cream, which has a lot of water in it. Normally I would recommend reducing the sour cream to make up for the fact that your cream cheese has more liquid in it than the American kind, but I’m not sure with this particular recipe. If it helps, I developed my own New York Cheesecake recipe you could try: https://livingoncookies.com/new-york-cheesecake-with-strawberry-sauce/
All the best, Krista
Mindo Pod
I am SO GRATEFUL to you for having done the research and testing to discover this and then to share it with us. Right now there is a shortage of cream cheese here and all I could buy was the spread. I almost made the disaster you described by using it as though it were the block - one more web search led me to you and you saved the day. Thank you again!
I followed the recipe to the letter (to the gram, that is) and it came out *beautifully*.
For fellow Kitchaid standing mixer users - forget using the whip attachment and just use the standard mixing paddle all the way.
Krista
Thank you for the helpful tip and your sweet comment! You made my day! ☺️
Inez
I love your recipe. Being a fellow expat living in Austria (but Australian origin) I have struggled for years to solve this problem…I knew it was a fat issue so I tried EVERYTHING (mascarpone, increasing the fat in the cream cheese) - and here you have cracked it. You absolutely made my New Year…there’s nothing like a last minute win!
Sal
I’m wondering if I chill the frosting to stiffen and then pipe it, if it goes back to room temperature after piped will it get runny again?
Krista
No, it will be fine. It’s only occasionally a little too soft to pipe right after being made, depending on the brand of cream cheese you use, the temperature of your kitchen, etc.
Kelly
Hi Krista
I want to use this recipe of yours for the cream cheese frosting and I bought ingredients last weekend only to discover that I bought 5 tubs of creamed smooth cottage cheese instead of cream cheese, could I still use this recipe and substitute the cream cheese with the creamed cottage cheese ?
Krista
Hi Kelly, my guess is that the frosting recipe would not work because of the high moisture and low fat content of cottage cheese.
Emily
I attempted to make cream cheese frosting with european style cream cheese but it was so runny that it cant even be pumped fr a frosting bag. What should i do? Chill it 1st? Add thick cream?? My pump head is snowflake design and i didnt manage to even pump out a decent snowflake because its so liquidy.
Krista
Hi Emily, you can definitely try chilling it! Chilling often helps when the frosting is too soft to pipe. If after at least two hours in the refrigerator it is still liquidy, in my experience there is nothing more you can do to thicken it. Did you follow the recipe and directions exactly? You have to beat all the powdered sugar into the butter before attempting to add the cream cheese. If you try to mix all the ingredients at once, it will likely become runny.
Betty A.
Hi Krista,
I am planning on making a Red velvet cake with 2 9 inch pans. Would the recipe be the right amount or can I cut it in half? I don't think I will use all the frosting plus there is so much of the ingriedients and I most definetly do not want to waste it. I've made the frosting before but with homeade powdered sugar and the only downside was that my sugar wasn't fine enough so it was gritty. Next time, I'll just stick to the store-bought hehe. Other than that it was PERFECT( it was my first time making a frosting).
Krista
Hi Betty,
I have a Red Velvet Cake recipe for 2 9-inch pans here on the blog. I use the same amount of frosting as this recipe to fill and frost it but feel free to use less if you prefer. I’ve had to grind my own powdered sugar so I know there’s a graininess you can’t quite get rid of. The finer, industrial powdered sugar is so much better! Sift it too so it incorporates well. Happy baking!
Betty A.
Hi Krista,
I am planning on making a Red velvet cake with 2 9 inch pans. Would the recipe be the right amountor can I cut it in half? I don't think I will use all the frosting plus there is so much of the ingriedients and I most definetly do not want to waste it. I've made the frosting before but with homeade powdered sugar and the only downside was that my sugar wasn't fine enough so it was gritty. Next time, I'll just stick to the store-bought hehe. Other than that it was PERFECT( it was my first time making a frosting).
Cindy
I was only able to find lactose-free cream cheese (the type made from real dairy) in the spreadable format. I've had mixed experiences making cream cheese frosting from it in the past. This one was perfect! The others were too sweet because I had to add extra powdered sugar to get the texture right. This recipe was perfect! Perfect texture and balance of flavors. Thank you sooooo much!
Krista
Hi Cindy, that’s so awesome to hear - thanks for the feedback! 😃
Hannah
Thank you so much for this recipe! It worked to a T and saved my husband’s 40th birthday.
Krista
I‘m so glad! Thanks for the feedback!