- If the frosting is too thick, add in a few drops of milk (about 1/4 teaspoon) at a time and stir after each addition. It doesn't take much liquid to thin it out. If you add too much milk, you'll have to add more powdered sugar to thicken it back up which will make it sweeter.
I’m not a big fan of frostings. Most of them are just waaay to sweet and completely overpower whatever you put it on. However I LOVVVVE this homemade cream cheese frosting recipe.
This frosting is sweet but not overly sweet. I can eat a spoonful without gagging. It’s quick, easy, fluffy, creamy and spreads with ease! I love that I can still taste the cream cheese in this recipe. Once you’ve made this frosting, you’ll realize what an insult store bought cream cheese frostings are.
Nothing can take the place of a frosting made with real butter baby!!! I use this homemade cream cheese frosting recipe for my red velvet cakes, carrot cakes, ice cream cakes, chocolate cakes and whatever else tastes good with a cream cheese frosting.
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| Easy, Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting |
DIRECTIONS
Watch me make this homemade cream cheese frosting from start to finish!
Easy, Creamy, Fluffy Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: Frost 3 layer cake
Ingredients
- 2 (8 oz) packs cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup milk, made need more
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Add softened cream cheese into large bowl.
- Pour in milk, butter and vanilla extract.
- Mix until well combined.
- Pour in half of the powdered sugar.
- Mix until combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar.
- Mix until smooth and fluffy.
- Use a spatula to scrape down the side of the bowl if needed.
Just made this cream cheese frosting! YUMMY!!!!! Thank you so much for this site! Love your step by step video.. had my laptop on my kitchen counter
Made this frosting yesterday. Had a terrible time with consistency. When I first finished, it seemed fine. However, it was a very humid day, and somewhat warm in the kitchen after cooking dinner, and frosting was just thin-acting and would not stay put on cake. I added, little by little, another CUP of confectioners’ sugar–didn’t help. In fact, it seemed to get thinner. Then I chilled the frosting for 2 hours. Didn’t help. Finally added another brick of cream cheese, and was able to at least get this on the cake, though the layers slid terribly when cut. Any ideas or suggestions? We LOVED the flavor and would like to use again. Thanks, Marilyn
Hi Diva,
This was GREAT frosting! Do you have a Butter Cream Frosting Recipe?
I’ve made this recipe three times with your red velvet cake recipe. Everytime it seems to be runny…what am I doing wrong??? Planning on making another cake tomorrow but I’m scared of the frosting coming out thin
The cake will be eaten regardless cause it it the BOMB….I just want my frosting to be just right
Hey Stacy! Maybe your cream cheese is too softened. how about softening one and then mixing the other straight out of the fridge?? Or both straight from the fridge? You can also try adding the milk as you go along to get the right consistency. Hope it helps! Check you butter if its too melted also!
I have been using a similar cream cheese recipe only difference too much milk. Lesson the milk amount by half.
She is right!!! Don’t use so much milk. As a matter of fact, milk is the last ingredient I use. I only add little by little if I need to loosen the frosting up some or if the frosting is too sweet. You can also use a tad bit of heavy whipping cream in place of the milk….little by little.
one word – Perfection x
Hi Stacy and Jennifer,
Are you sure you are using frosting sugar?
Frosting sugar has starch in it… that means it will help to stabilize the frosting when drying .
The more water the longer it will take to get a nice frosting concistency… (sorry my english but I’m danish!).
You can drain your cream cheese in a cofee filter for an hour or two if it is a cheap wet one. Hell you can even buy a fat youghurt and drain it and use it instead of expensive cream cheese.
Good luck… By the way I start with half the frosting sugar and ad the wet ingredients a little at a time. Then i change between adding frosting and wet ingredients, till I have the amount i need.
I will try the carrot recipe and this frosting tomorrow or monday. Looks great. and easy. Thanx!
I had the same problem with this frosting being very runny. II think the 1/4 cup milk is too much for 4 cups of sugar if you want to be able to pipe. I would cut down the milk or have a note to say slowly add in the milk a few tablespoon at a time.
i just made this frosting and realised that there is a big difference between an american stick of butter and a british stick of butter. That being said, my icing was too runny due to too much butter but i fixed it by making more frosting for cupcakes too! haha. So delicious though and just thought i’d spread the word in case someone else makes the same mistake!
I am sooo excited to make this along with your red velvet cake! I’ve got one question though, is it two 8oz packs of cream cheese or 2 packs of cream cheese totalling 8oz. I’ve got a whole big block of cream cheese so measurements by packs won’t really do much good. Heehee.
Hope to hear from you soon! Thank you!
I have the same question hahaha!
In the video, it looks as though she used 2 packages of cream cheese (16 oz total). That’s what I used and it turned out great.
Me too !! i noticed that other cream cheese frosting recipes include only 1 pack ( 8 ounces) of softened cream cheese.
Heeeeelp
From what I see from the video, it looks like 16 oz. of cream cheese was used in the video. 8oz per block.
Total oz’s of cream cheese: 16 ounces
I’ve use this recipe for a year and have had NO complaints! Thank you!
I can’t wait to make this, but I don’t know where I could get cream cheese ! Any ideas please ?!
So do I!
How much exactly is a stick of butter as we do not get them in sticks here. Thanks.
Could you please let me know the quantity of butter in gms?
Also, can cupcakes be made with the same recipe?
I meant, the red velvet cupcakes? hehe
How many cups is a stick of butter? 1/2 a cup maybe?
I just made this icing and it came out super runny and chunky. I followed the recipe to a “t”, and have no clue what I did wrong. I also made the red velvet cake and it turned out to be half the size of a normal cake. This was supposed to be my husband’s birthday cake. . .trying to make the best of it and making a poke cake out of it. haha
I’m confused too as the recipe says softened butter and in the video it’s melted butter I would have thought there would be difference in consistency between the two.
Hi!! I really love this recipe. I do need to ask though, for the cream chesse, the 8 oz is one pack or 2 packs combined?
Hey can you please specify the MEASUREMENT of butter instead of a stick, because over here in my country there are sticks of different quantities available, like 50 gram, 100 gram.. So which one to use? And also is is salted butter or unsalted?
Hi there! I live in South Africa and the butter and cream cheese we have here are only measured in grams. Would it be possible for you to give the measurements for these in grams please? I am really looking forward to making this, together with your red velvet cake. Thanks!
1 stick of butter is equivalent to 4 oz which is equivalent to 113.40g
For those who want a thicker frosting-This frosting is perfect if you leave the milk out all together in my opinion- it then has the perfect consistency. Make sure and leave the cream cheese cold and the butter at room temperature. Also I add 3 -4 teaspoons of vanilla- think the vanilla flavor is yummy.
Thanks for the comment about British butter VS US butter sticks but you didn’t state how much UK butter would be a suitable amount?! Please let me know as really want to make this tomorrow! thanks
I’m in the UK too and had a runny icing incident. I think it’s because we tend to have cream cheese in plastic tubs here, which is made for spreading and is naturally softer than block cream cheese. Adding it at room temperature at the first stage just causes it to dissolve the sugar, which you can’t recify with any amount of extra sugar!
So, if you are in the UK I recommend that you make this by creaming together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla first, beating it really well and then gently incorporate the cream cheese straight from the fridge. Do not overbeat once the cream cheese is in.
If you do it this way you’ll end up with perfect icing which can be piped etc.
Hi. What if I have excess frosting? Can i store it in the fridge to be used for another time? Or do i have to use it all up?
I made this recipe and it came out great my kids would rather eat this cream cheese frosting than store brought. Good job keep the recipes coming I plan to try everyone you put on this site
I made this to go with the awesome red velvet cake! YUMMMYY!!! Great recipe! A must and super easy. Just make sure the cream cheese and butter are room temperature to avoid lumps, which sometimes happens with cold ingredients.
Here’s some advice:
use just 8 oz (1 cup) of cream cheese, for those who asked.
In Spain the sticks weight 250 gr. The result was not so thick as I expected. So I added 1 more cup of sugar. The next time I’ll use just 170 gr or 150 gr.
I thought it’s a white frosting (according to the photos) but it turned to be a light creamy yellow (and I didn’t use vanilla extract to avoid adding yellow). It’s because of the butter, I know there are some butters more white so use them for a whiter finish.
my opinion: It’s delicious!
The taste of the frosting complimented the red velvet cake wonderfully, I was just not impressed by the consistency. It was kind of runny. I will try to add more powdered sugar or maybe a stabilizer of some sort.
So light and delicious. You have created a cooking monster girl! Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Horribly runny recipe. And this recipe doesn’t seem to want to post bad reviews, either. This is the third one I’ve tried to post.
This is the second time I’m trying this frosting. First time was too liquid, this time left out the milk altogether and it was much better but would still prefer it to be thicker. Therefore I’m going to take Claires advice the next time and see how it turns out.
For those asking about the stick of butter: 1 stick of butter is equivalent to 4 oz.
The frosting was delish though and MUCH better than ready made frosting. Thanks for sharing:)
Used this recipe last night…turned out amazing!! I only used a little bit of milk (free poured it) and 3 cups of icing sugar. The consistancy and taste was perfect:) Very easy and quick to whip up!! Will definatly use again and again.
As for those finding it too runny… ?? I didnt have this problem at all. I took my cream cheese and butter (I used margerine) out of fridge a couple hours befor using, and just let them sit at room temp.
**I used this frosting on the red velvet cake recipe I found on this site…it is to die for!! I highly recomend it
Thank you Monique!
Jess