The Best Cream Cheese Frosting | Easy Low-Sugar Recipe
This cream cheese frosting recipe is the best! It is incredibly delicious as it uses 50% less sugar than regular cream cheese frostings, making it tangy, refreshing, and full of flavor. Plus, it holds its shape beautifully, making it perfect for layering tall cakes and other desserts. For the best results, pair this delightful frosting with spiced cakes.
Equipment
- 01 Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer with a paddle/whisk attachment
- 01 Weighing Scale
- Spatulas
- Bowls
- Knife
- Chopping Board
- Air-tight container or Zip lock bag
- 01 Sifter
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 175 grams Unsalted Butter*
- 370 grams Brick-style Cream Cheese*
- 20 ml Heavy Cream approx.
Sugars
- 218 grams Icing Sugar
Dry Ingredients
- 02 grams Salt
Flavourings
- 02 ml Pure Vanilla Extract or 01 Vanilla Bean
- 08 ml Lemon Juice freshly squeezed
Instructions
Preparing the ingredients
- Bring out the butter and cream cheese and let it soften. Chop the butter and cream cheese into even-sized cubes before using. See notes.
- Weigh the butter and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set aside.
- In a bowl, weigh the cream cheese.
- Weigh the icing sugar and salt in a bowl and sift well.
- Weigh the lemon juice and set it aside.
- In another bowl, weigh the heavy cream and set aside.
Making the cream cheese frosting
- In a bowl attached to a stand-mixer with a whisk/paddle attachment or hand mixer, cream the chopped butter and vanilla on a medium speed till pale and soft.
- Add the icing sugar in three additions.
- Mix on a low speed for 30 seconds till just combined.
- Increase the speed to medium and cream the butter and icing sugar till just combined for the first two additions. Avoid overbeating.
- For the final addition, add the icing sugar and salt together and mix till just combined and soft
- It should be soft but still hold its shape.
- Add in the cream cheese and mix until just combined. Avoid over-mixing.
- Once the cream cheese has blended well, add in the lemon juice and a tablespoon of the heavy cream.
- Cream till just combined. Add in more of the heavy cream till it passes the texture test mentioned in the post.
- If it passes the texture test mentioned in the post, transfer the frosting to an air-tight container or zip lock and chill in the refrigerator till ready to use. Refer to the notes for more instructions.
- You can also use immediately or chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before using.
- This recipe can be used to frosting 12 cupcakes or a two layered cake generously.
Notes
- Unsalted butter - As mentioned in the tips section, experiment and observe how long the butter comes to the right temperature and texture. Depending on the time it takes, weigh out the recipe or bring out the butter mid-way through prep.
- Cream cheese - Use good quality full-fat block-style cream cheese for this recipe (fat content - 30-35%). Read the blog post for more details.
- Storage & freezing Instructions -
- This frosting stays fresh for about a week in the refrigerator and for 2 months in the freezer.
- To freeze, I prefer transferring it to a zip-lock bag and labeling it (name, date of preparation and best before date). Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using it the next day. You can also freeze it in an air-tight container.
- Brown Butter cream cheese frosting
- Ingredient Substitution & Weighing Guide - Read it here