Cream Cheese Frosting

A simple cream cheese frosting recipe that has the perfect combination of sweetness with a little tang. Made from just 4 ingredients, this recipe is perfect for carrot cakes, cupcakes, banana cakes and more.

5 from 5 votes

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Course: Cakes

Cuisine: sweet

Prep Time: 10

Total Time: 10

Servings: serves

Calories: 259kcal

Author: Lucy - Bake Play Smile

Cost: $10

Equipment

Beaters, stand-mixer or Thermomix

Ingredients

250 g cream cheese full fat
115 g butter
360 g (3 cups) icing sugar powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Conventional Method

To make the cream cheese frosting, beat the room temperature cream cheese and butter on high speed until smooth, pale and creamy (approximately 3 minutes).
Add the sifted icing sugar and vanilla and mix on low speed, slowing increasing to high speed for 3 minutes.

Thermomix Method

To make the cream cheese frosting, add all of the frosting ingredients to a clean Thermomix bowl and mix for 30 seconds, Speed 5 or until smooth.

Video

Notes

RECIPE NOTES & TIPS

Ingredients Info:

cream cheese – I recommend using full fat cream cheese (not light or spreadable). Personally I like Philadelphia brand the best.
butter – I prefer to use salted butter as it cuts through the sweetness of the sugar. However, unsalted butter works just fine in this recipe too.
vanilla extract – choose a good quality vanilla extract if possible as the flavour of the vanilla really does come through in the cream cheese frosting.
icing sugar (powdered sugar) – also known as confectioners sugar. Sift your icing sugar before using for a smooth and creamy frosting.

More Recipe Tips:

Use room temperature ingredients – This helps the butter and cream cheese to easily mix into a smooth and creamy (lump-free) frosting.

Sift the icing sugar (powdered sugar) – for lump-free frosting.

Add a little milk if the frosting is too thick – I very rarely find this to be a problem, but if you do happen to find the frosting is too thick, add up to a tablespoon of milk and mix through.

For piping thickness – add extra sugar and beat until you have your desired thickness. Pipe the frosting onto all of your favourite cupcakes!

Store in the fridge – this frosting can start to melt when kept in warm temperatures. Once frosted with cream cheese frosting, I recommend keeping your cakes and cupcakes in the fridge and then removing them 30 minutes before consuming to allow them to come to room temperature. This ensures that the frosting holds it’s shape.

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