Most cream cheese frosting can end up too soft and runny, unstable, or too sweet from an excess of powdered sugar added to thicken it enough to use on decorated layer cakes. It's a problem that most bakers face. Fear not: with a change in technique and an easy recipe, you can make thick cream cheese frosting that you can use 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 of mixing the ingredients that results in a thick cream cheese frosting made with half the powdered sugar than the classic recipe. Another option is to make this thick cream cheese frosting without powdered sugar, sweetened with white chocolate instead of icing sugar.
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Why Cream Cheese Frosting is Runny or Too Sweet
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 the extra powdered sugar, cream cheese frosting tends to be runny, unstable, weepy, and soupy.
Why It's So Unstable
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 in them, while cream cheese is half of that, around 40 % fat. What remains in both cases is mostly water, so cream cheese contains more moisture than butter.
When the cream cheese is creamed with the butter, and then the icing sugar is added in, the icing sugar draws out that 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.
This is the main reason why most cream cheese frosting recipes recommend a huge amount of icing sugar. Without all the extra powdered sugar, the frosting is too soft to work with. 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 leads to a cloyingly sweet cream cheese frosting that doesn't taste very good.
How to make thick cream cheese frosting that is stable and can be piped
Without resorting to adding an excess amount of icing sugar, to make a thicker cream cheese frosting that can be used to frost a cake or decorate cupcakes, the solution is simple: change the order you mix your ingredients in:
- 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, THEN you add in the cream cheese. The sugar is coated with fat, therefore making it more difficult to draw out the moisture from the cream cheese. The cream cheese remains intact, and no water leeches 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!
Cream cheese in the tub versus blocks of cream cheese
The cream cheese product you buy has an impact on this recipe. Cream cheese sold in the tub is formulated to be spreadable and that softer consistency comes the 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.
That extra water in the tub product means your cream cheese frosting will be more prone to breaking down or becoming too soft. If you can, buy the cream cheese sold in blocks and make sure to buy full-fat cream cheese, preferably Philadelphia brand.
What recipes to make with it
Once you have mastered this thick cream cheese frosting recipe, you will see that it is so thick that you can use it to make layer cakes and for decorating. I've used this recipe for:
- eggless carrot cake
- berry chocolate cake
- cranberry layer cake
- 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 alo use this frosting to fill whoopie pies and you can also colour it with gel food colouring for decorating. Try browning the butter, then cooling it to room temperature to give the frosting a nutty flavour.
Cream Cheese Frosting FAQs
The brand and type of cream cheese makes a HUGE difference in frosting recipes. You should use Philadelphia, full-fat cream cheese, sold in blocks of 250 grams (roughly, though the weight of the block depends on the country).
Any other brand may lead to a different taste and mouthfeel as some have more gums or different stabilizers which has an impact on taste and texture.
Also, in some countries, cream cheese is sold exclusively in tubs. Cream cheese sold in tubs may have more water in it. I recommend straining the cream cheese by placing it in a strainer lined with a few layers of paper towel or cheese cloth to try and drain 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 spice cake and carrot cakes. 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, and both of these ingredients spoil and go bad at room temperature, so opt to refrigerate as much as possible for long term storage.
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 well mixed, then you can add the cream cheese, all at once. Beat for several minutes until you have a thick, smooth frosting.
- Feel free to add vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste at this point to add a little flavour!
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).
- This is enough to frost a three-layer 6-inch cake.
- Calories calculated based on one tablespoon.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.
Arron says
Oh help! Your recipe sounds amazing, but I've already made my cream cheese frosting. Actually, Egg Nog cream cheese frosting. It was soooooo sweet that we could only drizzle it on the cupcakes. Now, I'm left with a bit of a runny frosting (as I made too much). I'm wanting to use it to decorate sugar cookies. What can I add that will thicken it and prevent it from running?
Janice says
Hi, I would try chilling it overnight in the fridge, then see about rewhipping it tomorrow. This *could* work. As for the sweetness, it’s hard to undo without adding more butter or cream cheese, unfortunately…
Let me know how it goes! Good luck!
Leslie says
I have never left a comment on Pinterest before, but I am over the moon excited about finding this technique and recipe! It is just the right amount of sweetness and thickness! I have bounced around from recipe to recipe, and no one has ever suggested using this technique with less sugar, and every time I have ended up with either sickly sweet frosting or frosting that is too runny to hold its shape. But this recipe is a winner! I will use only this from now on!
Gillian says
My powdered sugar is 30g for 1/4 cup, which means 90g for 3/4 cup. The recipe states 3/4 cup or 218 grams. Which is correct? My icing sugar can’t be that different than everyone else’s. Thank you.
Janice says
Oh thank you for pointing that out! You are right! There's a conversion error in the recipe card. It should say 1 and 3/4 cups. The 1 is missing! Go with the weight. So sorry about that. I've just fixed it now!
Claire says
I love this recipe! Thank you so much for your explanation of why this works.
When I measured out the icing sugar (3/4 cup)it weighed less than 100grams. I decided to go by weight instead of using measuring cups and it worked out wonderfully.
Kathleen says
I’m going to use this for a red velvet wedding cake. Will the frosting stay firm in the fridge after I’ve frosted the cake? Thank you!
Janice says
Yes! It absolutely will stay firm and won’t weep! I recommend taking the cake out of the fridge for a good 30 minutes before serving to soften it up a little. Hope that helps! Let me know how it goes!
Angela B. says
I tried your recipe today and it's delicious! I was looking for low sugar and am so happy with the result. My kids loved it! Thank you for explaining the importance of the proper order for mixing the ingredients. It's so helpful to know!
Wi says
This was a game changer!!!
I decreased the amount of sugar and the frosting still held. I will never ever have runny frosting ever. Thank you!!!
Pam Sherman says
I would like to use this to fill macarons but I was wondering if I could add some lemon curd to increase the tartness and reduce the cloying sweetness of the macs?
Donna says
I just made this cream cheese frosting and it really was thick! I filled and frosted a four layer carrot cake with it and there were absolutely no bulges between the layers at all! Amazing stuff and tastes just like my old recipe because the ingredients are the same. Just a different order of mixing them! Try it, you won’t be sorry! Thank you for this wonderful tip! A game changer!
Beth says
Janice
This is fabulous! I sell cupcakes and have always struggled with getting cream cheese to pipe as anything other than a blob of frosting. I had read the only way to firm it up, was to add more sugar. Some recipes even start with as much as 6 cups of powdered sugar! And I never saw much of an improvement with adding more sugar. But, I made several batches of this yesterday for pumpkin cupcakes and I am here to say this method worked! I was finally able to pipe cream cheese frosting with my Wilton M1 and it piped well and held up nicely!
thank you so much - wonder why no one else seems to know about this??
🙂