Cream cheese frosting

Cream cheese frosting

15 min
A delicious and fluffy frosting with cream cheese and butter. Decorate your cupcakes with frosting, use it to fill and stack a layer cake or top your best carrot cake with this cream cheese frosting. It is the most delicious way to brighten up your cakes or muffins. And the best part is that you only need a handful of ingredients to make this homemade silky lemon cream cheese frosting in under 15 minutes.
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https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/recipes/cream-cheese-frosting/

Instructions

  • Whisk icing sugar and butter light and fluffy with a hand mixer for approx. 3 minutes.
  • Add cream cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest and whisk together quickly.
  • Decorate, frost or crumb coat your cakes with cream cheese frosting.
Enjoy!
Tips

Fear not if you have leftover cream cheese frosting. For example, bake our classic thin pancakes and spread the frosting on them before folding; it makes for a fun and delicious surprise. To save the leftover frosting for later, store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or up to 2 months in the freezer.

Tips

There is more than one secret behind a silky and smooth cream cheese frosting. To get it perfectly silky-smooth, use softened butter and cream cheese as cold ingredients might make the frosting lumpy. Take the ingredients out of the fridge 1-2 hours in advance. If you still get lumpy frosting, check the icing sugar for lumps. To avoid lumps of sugar, sift it before adding it to the frosting.

Questions about frosting

Frostings are a delicious and beautiful way to top any cake, and with our cream cheese frosting recipe, it is pretty simple. Below you can read more about the creamy topping, how to store it and how you can change the texture of the frosting.

Can you freeze cream cheese frosting?
While some frostings are not freezer-friendly, frosting with cream cheese can be frozen, although you might experience some splitting. Store the frosting in an airtight container for up to 2 months in the freezer, let it thaw in the fridge and then let it come to room temperature on the counter. Give it a whisk for a couple of minutes until it has the right consistency, and then spread it on top of your cake or cupcakes.
How long can cream cheese frosting sit out?
Cream cheese frosting can sit at room temperature for a couple of hours before it needs to be refrigerated. If you leave it out for too long or if it is too warm, the frosting will thin and lose its soft, silky texture, and you will not be able to pipe it onto your desserts.
How to make cream cheese frosting thicker?
Is your frosting too thin? Try adding more icing sugar to the frosting, but only a teaspoon at a time until you have reached the desired consistency. Alternatively, you can use more cream cheese to add to the frosting. You can also beat the frosting for a few minutes until you get the right texture. Give it a try!

Ingredients

Icing sugar (approx. 4 dl)
200 g
Soft butter
100 g
Cream cheese, natural
200 g
Freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest
1 tsp
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Silky cream cheese lemon frosting

When life gives you lemons, make a lemon cream cheese frosting. It perfectly balances sweet and tart with a fresh citrusy flavour. Using freshly squeezed lemon juice to give the frosting its fresh flavour makes the frosting the perfect companion for desserts and treats.

Adding the sour and citrusy flavour also helps balance out the intense sweetness from the icing sugar and butter. It creates a tangy, silky cream cheese frosting with just the right amount of sweetness. Get your lemons out and give it a try!

Decorate cakes and muffins with frosting

The frosting is the cherry on top of every cake and muffin and is the perfect choice for topping. Give your baked goods a final flourish using different piping tips and techniques to create stars, dots, shells, or flowers. Not only will decorating with frosting give your cakes or muffins a beautiful and impressive look, but it will also elevate the flavour and be a delicious complement to the cake and muffin with its sweet and fresh flavour.

If you need inspiration for what to do with your cream cheese frosting, just have a look at our different recipes for cakes and muffins. For example, use your freshly-made cream cheese frosting for banana muffins, a classic chocolate cake traybake, or a dense and intense creamy coffee cake.

Buttercream vs cream cheese frosting

Buttercream and cream cheese frosting are popular toppings for desserts and cakes, which is why there are so many different flavours and types. Although almost the same, cream cheese frosting has, as the name suggests, cream cheese as the main ingredient in addition to buttercream’s two main ingredients: butter and icing sugar. There are different variations for both types of frosting, including the addition of, for example, lemon or vanilla, but the basic recipe for buttercream has butter and icing sugar, while our cream cheese frosting recipe has butter, icing sugar, and cream cheese.

Cream cheese frosting with butter and lemon zest

Dress up your cakes and cupcakes with a lemon-infused frosting. Our recipe for cream cheese frosting is quick and easy and takes you to a lemon frosting wonderland. Combine softened butter and cream cheese for a nice smooth consistency. Add some freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest for a delicious citrus flavour. This savoury frosting is sweet, tangy, and bursting with lemon flavour, making it perfect for sweet and scrumptious cakes.

Experiment with frosting flavours

Time to get creative! Add different flavours to the frosting to complement your cake. For example, add 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste and 2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter to the frosting for a creamy and fluffy peanut butter frosting. You get pure peanut butter but with a much creamier and silkier texture. It is the perfect topping for a fudgy brownie.

Are you looking for a sweet berry-flavour? Blend blueberries into a purée and add it to the cream cheese mixture and a teaspoon of vanilla powder. This juicy blueberry frosting would be great on a vanilla cake or on our delicious pound cake.

You can also use the basic cream cheese frosting recipe and add food colouring to give your cake or cupcake a beautiful look. Use gel-based icing colour to make the colours pop.

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