Most cream cheese frostings end up too soft and runny, unstable, or too sweet from an excess of powdered sugar added to thicken them enough for decorated layer cakes. Fear not: with a change in technique and an easy recipe, you can make thick cream cheese frosting to decorate cakes and with a lot less sugar!
Cream cheese frosting is notoriously unstable. The water in the cheese tends to separate out, creating a runny, loose frosting. Most people choose to add more powdered sugar to remedy the situation, but I've found a new way to mix the ingredients that yields a thick cream cheese frosting with half as much powdered sugar as the classic recipe. Another option is to make this thick cream cheese frosting without powdered sugar, sweetened with white chocolate instead of icing sugar.
Jump to:
- The Science Of Cream Cheese Frosting
- The Trick To Thick Cream Cheese Frosting
- Ingredients To Make Thick Cream Cheese Frosting
- Ratios For Stable Frosting
- Substitutions And Variations
- Technique To Make Stable Cream Cheese Frosting For Cake Decorating
- Cream Cheese Frosting FAQs
- Dessert Recipes With Cream Cheese Frosting
- 📖 Recipe
The Science Of Cream Cheese Frosting
Typical recipes for cream cheese frosting have you cream the butter and the cream cheese together, then add A TON of icing sugar. Cream cheese frosting recipes call for so much powdered sugar because, without it, the frosting tends to be runny, unstable, weepy, and soupy.
Why It's So Unstable
To understand why cream cheese frosting is unstable, you need to think about two things:
- Water content: A block of cream cheese contains a lot more water than the same weight of butter. Remember that most grocery store butters have roughly 80% fat, while cream cheese is half that, around 40% fat. What remains in both cases is mostly water, so cream cheese contains more moisture than butter.
- Hygroscopicity: Icing sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it pulls water from the environment. When cream cheese is creamed with butter, and then the icing sugar is added, the icing sugar draws out the moisture from the butter and the cheese. Butter has very little moisture to draw out, so you can make a thick, pipeable frosting with butter and icing sugar without much worry. But since cream cheese contributes double the moisture, when the icing sugar draws out that moisture, you end up with a soupy, runny, unstable cream cheese frosting.
You need to add a lot of powdered sugar to classic cream cheese frosting because without it, the frosting is too soft to work with. Otherwise, the frosting doesn't hold its shape when piped, and it's quite unstable. Bakers tend to overload the frosting with powdered sugar to stiffen the frosting. This is the main reason most cream cheese frosting recipes call for a large amount of icing sugar. This leads to a cloyingly sweet cream cheese frosting that doesn't taste very good.
The Trick To Thick Cream Cheese Frosting
Other recipes may rely on excess amounts of icing sugar, mascarpone, or even gelatin or cornstarch to stabilize cream cheese frosting. This version is purely a change in technique so you get the best cream cheese flavour without adding anything unusual.
If you want to avoid adding too much icing sugar to cream cheese frosting to make it lower in sugar while still creating a thicker texture for frosting a cake or decorating cupcakes, change the order in which you mix your ingredients! Here's what I mean:
- Step 1: Cream the butter with the icing sugar first, thereby coating all the little sugar molecules with fat
- Step 2: Once the butter and icing sugar are well mixed, add in the cream cheese. The sugar is coated with fat, making it more difficult to draw moisture out of the cream cheese. The cream cheese remains intact, and no water leaches out.
By following this mixing order, you can make a frosting with significantly less sugar. In fact, you end up with a frosting that tastes a lot like cheesecake, tangy and not overly sweet!
Ingredients To Make Thick Cream Cheese Frosting
You only need four ingredients to make thick cream cheese frosting:
- cream cheese: I prefer to make this frosting with blocks of full-fat Philadelphia brand cream cheese. Do not use low-fat cream cheese, which has more water and will make the frosting unstable
- butter: I bake with unsalted butter, but salted or demi-salted will work here
- icing sugar: use powdered (icing) sugar in this frosting to achieve a smooth, creamy texture. Granulated sugar will lead to a more gritty texture.
- flavourings: pure vanilla extract or almond extract work great in this recipe. You can also opt for vanilla bean paste, which will give the frosting a subtle speckled appearance.
Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.
Ratios For Stable Frosting
After many tests, I have concluded that the best ratio of butter:cream cheese:icing sugar for stable cream cheese frosting is 85-90 grams butter to 109 grams icing sugar to 250 grams cream cheese (1 block).
Substitutions And Variations
- Use blocks of cream cheese, not the kind in tubs: The type of cream cheese you buy affects this recipe. Cream cheese sold in the tub is formulated to be spreadable, and with that softer consistency, it may have a higher water content! Cream cheese sold in the tub has slightly less fat and more water than cream cheese sold in blocks, which is much firmer. Do not use any sort of low-fat cream cheese.
- Orange/lemon flavour: to add citrus flavour, use the zest, not the juice! Alternatively, you can add orange or lemon extract, or orange or lemon oil,
- Chocolate flavour: I have not tested a chocolate version of this recipe, but I would likely use Dutch-processed cocoa powder to maintain the creamy texture. Melted chocolate hardens as it cools, and may cause the frosting to thicken excessively, altering the texture.
- Colour: You can colour it with gel food colouring for decorating, and reader Michelle suggested trying a powder food colouring, which is brilliant.
- Brown butter: Try browning the butter, then cooling it to room temperature before using it to give the frosting a nutty flavour.
- Cinnamon: If you'd like to flavour this cream cheese frosting with cinnamon, start with 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, then taste and adjust as needed. I suspect you might even need 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.
Any substitutions and variations you make need to be tested. Do a trial run on a small batch to work out the kinks before making frosting for a cake, or you may run into problems.
Technique To Make Stable Cream Cheese Frosting For Cake Decorating
I prefer to make it in a stand mixer with a paddle, but you could also use a handheld electric mixer:
Step 1: Combine the icing sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (image 10). Cream the two ingredients together really well until the mixture is smooth with no lumps (image 11).
Step 2: Add the cream cheese to the mixer bowl (image 12) and beat it in until smooth, creamy and fluffy (image 13).
Cream Cheese Frosting FAQs
The brand and type of cream cheese make a HUGE difference in frosting recipes. You should use Philadelphia full-fat cream cheese, sold in 250-gram blocks (the block weight varies by country).
Any other brand may result in a different taste and mouthfeel, as some have more gums or different stabilizers, which can affect taste and texture.
Also, in some countries, cream cheese is sold exclusively in tubs. Cream cheese sold in tubs may contain more water. I recommend straining the cream cheese by placing it in a strainer lined with a few layers of paper towel or cheesecloth to remove the excess water before proceeding with the recipe.
Change the order you mix your ingredients in, and your frosting will be thicker and you won't need as much sugar! Mix the butter with part of the icing sugar first, then add the cream cheese and the rest of the sugar (or as much to achieve the right flavour). You'll see that you won't need so much if you mix the ingredients in this order!
I do not suggest substituting any other type of sugar in this frosting recipe. The smooth texture of cream cheese frosting has as much to do with the butter and cream cheese as it does the icing sugar. You can't replace it here with anything else. This is not a baking substitution that I would recommend. If you would like a cream cheese frosting without icing sugar, try this white chocolate cream cheese frosting!
Cream cheese frosting is very versatile and tastes great with most types of cake. I love to frost chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, and of course it goes well with carrot or spice cake. It's great on cupcakes too, as you can see in the photo!
Yes, you should definitely store frosted cakes in the fridge. If you aren't a fan of cold cake, slice it cold and let the slice come to room temperature for about 30 minutes before enjoying.
Yes, you can, but don't leave it out for too long. I wouldn't suggest storing it on the counter for more than a day. Cream cheese frosting contains butter and cream cheese. Both of these ingredients spoil at room temperature, so refrigerate as much as possible for long-term storage. Take the frosting out to bring it up to room temperature before using. Take the frosted cake out of the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before serving.
Dessert Recipes With Cream Cheese Frosting
Once you have mastered this thick cream cheese frosting recipe, you will see that it is so thick you can use it to make layer cakes and decorate them. I've used this recipe for:
- eggless carrot cake
- berry chocolate cake
- cranberry layer cake (I also do this white chocolate cream cheese frosting without powdered sugar)
- spiced apple cupcakes
- pumpkin whoopie pies
- chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting
You know this recipe is good because this cream cheese frosting works great in layer cakes without the risk of sliding layers and weeping frosting! There are so many ways to get creative with this frosting. You can also use this frosting to fill whoopie pies.
If you tried this recipe for thick cream cheese frosting (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Thick Cream Cheese Frosting for Layer Cakes and Piping
Ingredients
- 173 grams unsalted butter room temperature
- 218 grams icing sugar sifted after measuring
- 500 grams Philadelphia cream cheese (full fat, regular) cold
- 5 mL pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (both are optional)
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and the icing sugar first until they are fluffy and creamy.
- When these two ingredients are smooth and creamy, add the cream cheese all at once. Beat for several minutes until you have a thick, smooth frosting.
Notes
- Please use Philadelphia brand cream cheese because it's the best! The taste and texture of the frosting won't be as good with other brands.
- Where I live, a full-size block of cream cheese is equivalent to 250 grams (0.55 pounds).
- Do not use spreadable cream cheese in a tub or low-fat.
- This is enough to frost a three-layer 6-inch cake. For an 8-inch cake, readers have made scaled up to a 1.5x batch (make 1.5 times the recipe) - to be safe, just double it because it's better to have too much than too little.
- You can freeze leftover frosting. Defrost it in the fridge overnight before rewhipping and using.
- For lemon or orange flavour, add the zest of citrus fruit. You can also try adding an extract or lemon or orange oil.
- For cinnamon, start by adding 1 teaspoon (5 mL) of ground cinnamon. Taste and adjust accordingly.
- For chocolate frosting, use Dutch-processed cocoa powder. I have not tested this yet, but cocoa powder would work better than melted chocolate, which hardens as it cools.
- Calories calculated based on one tablespoon.
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.
Sarah says
works beautifully every time!
Bonnie Campos says
This is the recipe that I’ve been searching for! Finally!! A stabilized cream cheese frosting that is pipe-able. Mixing the butter and sugar together first - then adding the Philly cream cheese has to be the solution. It’s science! I’ve failed so many times at c.c. frosting - runny, too soft, cakes shifting - but not today! My cake came out beautifully!! Thank you! I’d love to share a photo.
Michelle Stiekemap says
Sounds promising.
Could I include about a tablespoon of lemon juice in the frosting?
Janice Lawandi says
Yes! That will work, and some lemon zest will also work great in this recipe for adding lemon flavour without any liquid.
Brandy says
Tasted amazing!! People went nuts over this icing. The cake I made required a lot of intricate piping and it held up well. I did find that the icing got a little soft as my hand warmed the piping bag. I put some ice in a zipper bag and kept it there on the counter and sat my piping bag down on the ice bag for a minute or two when i noticed the icing getting soft then resumed piping. The piping held up well sitting on the cake table indoors. I don’t know if I would recommend it for outdoors in the heat.
LMK says
It worked beautifully! Almost not sweet enough. Perfect for piping.
Gina says
I’m SO happy to have found your recipe!! After a very frustrating week where I made at least 3 other recipes, which were all too sweet and too soft!! Your recipe is PERFECT!!! I am making 48 cupcakes for my daughter’s baby shower tomorrow! ! Can you please send a quick reply to tell me how much I will need? I want plenty for piping! Thank you!!!
RoseHatcher says
Love this Cream Cheese frosting. It’s perfect in my macarons. Best I’ve ever tried.
Krissie Staddon says
My go to cream cheese recipe!
mick says
What other flavourings will this recipe work with? Would a really thick orange syrup, for example, risk splitting it? (A lot of microplaned zest will be going in, but I really want to ramp up the orange)
IDL says
I reduced powdered sugar by 1/2 cup; however, still too sweet. I would recommend either orange or lemon zest.
Lisa says
I have used, bragged, used again and again, and bragged a lot more about this recipe! It's amazing! I don't like buttercream frosting, I like cream cheese frosting. And now I can decorate any cake with cream cheese frosting, just like I would with buttercream. THANK YOU!! Oh the pictures I could send of cakes I've decorated with this recipe. Flowers, Mexican embroidery, summer outdoor anniversaries, it has proved itself time and time again. Did I say: THANK YOU!!