This no butter cream cheese frosting is light, fluffy and melts in the mouth just like whipped cream. A simple and easy recipe that gets done in less than 10 minutes. Perfect for cupcakes or your favorite carrot cake recipe.
Have you ever wanted to make a cream cheese frosting with just cream cheese? How about a cream cheese frosting without butter? right?
The best part it's rich, delicious, creamy and melts in the mouth. While I should not favor one of my recipes over another, I will say that this is my favorite cream cheese frosting.
Don't get me wrong both my cream cheese frosting recipes are good and I love them both. There are times when you just want frosting without butter. Right? The truth is I love cheese and I can eat it by the block.
About this frosting
It is light and airy like whipped cream. Delicate in texture with a strong cream cheese flavor.
The secret to making this frosting successfully is to use full-fat cream cheese. The fat in the cream cheese works similar to butter and gets whipped up with the powdered sugar which results in this wonderful airy texture.
The one important thing to note when working with this frosting is the temperature of the ingredients. If you live in a warm place, do not cream the cheese for too long, as it warms up it will lose volume. Instead, place it in the fridge as required. In this post, you can see my images of my red velvet cupcakes as well as pumpkin spice cake using this recipe.
When to use the classic vs no-butter cream cheese frosting?
While both recipes are absolutely delicious, there are advantages and disadvantages to both
No Butter - This frosting is really light and has a whipped cream kinda consistency. Because there is no butter. You can pipe swirls and also use it to frost a cake. And yet, it's a soft icing so there are limitations to what you can do with this. If I make cream cheese frosting for the family - this is it. Light and fluffy just like whipped cream.
Classic cream cheese frosting has butter, which adds stability. Also, butter can be whipped to make a more light and fluffy buttercream kinda frosting. So you can use it in a cake covered with fondant too. It does make some nice firm cream cheese swirls on cupcakes. In addition, you can pipe borders around a cake. For my business cakes, this frosting with butter is usually my go-to recipe. Customers love it and I love working with it.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Cream Cheese - No low-fat - please, use full-fat cream cheese such as Philadelphia or Mascarpone. There is no butter in this recipe so cream cheese fat is all the stability you get in this recipe. Also, always use cream cheese at room temperature.
- Lemon - Just a tiny amount to cut the sugar. And it makes a huge difference. It does not affect the taste. So if you want the lemon flavor you will need to add more.
- Salt - Sounds like a lot but it does help cut the sugar a lot!!
- Powdered sugar - Use good powdered sugar made from cane sugar, not beet sugar. And you will never have a grainy buttercream or frosting recipe.
Step by step instructions (pin)
- Add room temperature cream cheese, lemon juice, cornstarch, salt, and whipping cream in the bowl of a stand mixer
- Whip on medium speed for about a minute until light and fluffy.
- Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until you've used all of the powdered sugar.
- Lastly, add the vanilla.
- Continue to mix on medium-high for two more minutes until light and fluffy similar to a whipped cream consistency
- Check consistency -if too soft add a little more powder sugar.If too stiff add a tbsp or more of whipping cream to lighten it up.
- The more you whip, the lighter this frosting becomes. However, do not. over-whip, as it can breakdown and curdle.
Frequently asked questions
This is probably to do with the low-fat cream cheese lecture I gave you above. You must use cream cheese with at least 32 to 38% fat or more. Cream cheese is not an extra ingredient here used instead of butter. So the powdered sugar needs to mix with the fat in the cream cheese and butter, which gives us that light and fluffy texture.
Always room temperature. This will give you a smooth texture. Cold ingredients will give you lumpy cream cheese and very sweet frosting because it has not emulsified enough.
Powdered sugar made from cane, not beet sugar. Did you ever have a frosting that feels grainy on the pallet? That's usually made with beet sugar since it does not dissolve easily in the frosting. You can make frosting with caster sugar. And yet, it really takes forever to dissolve and emulsify. Also, it does not have the same light and fluffy volume you get from powdered sugar.
NO!! This frosting is not brand sensitive but rather fat percentage sensitive which is no less than 32% fat. Of course, the cream cheese has to be unflavored so it does not influence the final flavor of the frosting.
Cream cheese is a perishable product just like milk and yogurt or whipped cream. Hence, it must be treated with the same courtesy. The high powdered sugar content does work as a preservative. So we can keep the finished product out for a few hours. And yet, in general, you must treat cream cheese just as you would milk or yogurt.
Similarly, just like whipped cream - cream cheese becomes fluffy with all the mixing, and a lot of air is incorporated in the frosting. And yet, over time it loses its volume when kept outside. Especially in warmer climates.
Actually, I prefer to use the classic cream cheese buttercream frosting under fondant because it has butter.
You want your frosting to be firm with the right consistency. If it's too soft it will not firm up in the fridge. As a result, you will not be able to drape a heavy fondant. This frosting does give you a nice consistency but it's not ideal for covering with fondant.
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Description
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450 g) Cream cheese (16 oz)
- 1 lb (450 g) Powdered sugar (16 oz)
- 2 tbsp Whipping cream
- 2 tbsp Cornstarch
- ½ tsp Lemon juice
- 2 tbsp Vanilla
- ½ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Add room temperature cream cheese, lemon juice, cornstarch, salt, and whipping cream in the bowl of a stand mixer
- Whip on medium speed for about a minute until light and fluffy.
- Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until you've used all of the powdered sugar.
- Lastly, add the vanilla.
- Continue to mix on medium-high for two more minutes until light and fluffy similar to a whipped cream consistency
- Check consistency - if too soft add a little more powder sugar. If too stiff add a tbsp or more of whipping cream to lighten it up.
- The more you whip, the lighter this frosting becomes. However, do not. over-whip, as it can breakdown and curdle.
Recipe Notes
Flavored cream cheese frosting
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting - replace 2tbsp powdered sugar with cocoa powder - mix together before you add into the mixer.
- Lemon Juice - Replace the fresh cream with 1 tbsp of lemon juice - more if you like a tart buttercream
- Peppermint - replace 1 tsp of vanilla in the recipe with 1 tsp peppermint extract to the above frosting
- Maple - Replace the cream in this recipe with Maple syrup - the syrup will lighten the frosting so you may not be able to pipe firm swirls but it will still be absolutely delicious
- Caramel - Omit the fresh cream in the recipe - Add ¼ cup thick caramel sauce (see my homemade caramel sauce recipe here) - and add the caramel sauce at the last stage and you have whipped the cream cheese frosting.
The consistency will be softer so you won't be able to pipe firm swirls. Since caramel is added sugar the resulting frosting is rather sweet. You can add salt flakes to cut some of that and get a salted caramel effect.
Personally, I prefer to make the classic cream cheese frosting recipe and then drizzle the caramel over the finished cupcake or cake as an added effect which is usually more appreciated than adding caramel into the frosting.
Equipment
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Diane P.
Week 2 Day 3 done.
Diane P.
Hi Veena, I made the above recipe and it turned out soupy. Cream cheese is full fat. Should I add more icing sugar? Thanks
Veena Azmanov
Why is it soupy Diane? Is the cream cheese melted? There is 1 lb powdered sugar in there and only 2 tbsp of whipping cream so it should not be soupy. Can you chill for a few minutes until almost set then whip again?
Diane P.
No it wasn't melted. Softened at room temperature about 1 hour. I put it in the fridge a couple of hours, but probably won't be able to pipe anything. Oh well, it still tasted good.
Veena Azmanov
Dorry Diane. Not sure what happened. But if the cream cheese if full fat it should whip just like whipped cream along with the powdered sugar.
Areeba
Hi , would you recommend making cream cheese at home ? Is it any different from the store bought one ?
Veena Azmanov
I have not tried homemade cream cheese. As long as you drain the cream cheese well it should be ok
Chana
Looks exciting since there's no butter. Should the cream cheese be whipped or block style. Also, would I be able to use dairy free (Tofutti) cream cheese. One more question, should the whipping cream be thawed or whipped. I usually by frozen whipping cream that you can defrost and then whip.
chana
Also forgot to add, can I use this to frost a layer cake?
Veena Azmanov
Hey Chana. I use dairy cream cheese by the block cooler than room temperature, not cold or warm.
Whipping cream must be chilled well, not frozen or warm otherwise it will not whip. Yes, you can use this to frost a layer cake. Thanks.
insook
can this recipe be used for macaron filling?
Veena Azmanov
Yes, insook. Thanks
Leanne Usher
This was soooo good! I was eating it by the spoonful - for breakfast!
I only had a tub of cream cheese, and did not realise there were other size recipes here, but halving it worked just fine anyway.
Thank you 🙂
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Leanne. Yes, cream cheese frosting is an addiction with me too. Thanks for coming back to write this feedback.
Cindy
Hi Veena,
You are my go to person for frostings!! I am wanting to try this one now but have a quick question. Is there any salt in this recipe? I saw it mentioned but didn't see it in the ingredients so I want to be sure before I make it. My husband and grandson love your cream cheese frosting so of course I can't wait to try this one too!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Cindy. yes, there is 1/2 tsp of salt. Glad you are enjoying my recipes. Please let me know what you think of this one. It's my favorite.
Crystal
Hi there! I’m just curious how many cups of powdered sugar I use? Maybe I missed something or am reading it wrong but does it say 4 cups in the recipe but only 2 cups in the directions? Thank you!
Veena Azmanov
Sorry, Crystal. That is a type error- It should read until you have used all the 4 cups for sugar. Just fixed it. Thanks
Kim
I am looking for a good cream cheese frosting for a wedding cake. One that is smooth and is easy to work with. Would you recommend this one or your classic cream cheese recipe?
Veena Azmanov
Hey Kim, If you use full-fat cream cheese this is smooth and creamy to work with. Having said that unlike butter cream cheese has a soft texture. It will work great to fill and frost the cake but the texture is soft so piping will not be defined. The classic cream cheese is more stable than this as it has some butter but in general, it's not recommended to pipe. So keep that in mind. I hope this helps.
Nicole Hawkins
I would give this 10 stars if I could! Love that I could make it without butter since I'm allergic to butter fat. I added the juice from a whole lemon so I could have a lemon frosting and it is by far the best frosting I've ever tasted. My daughter said even Gordon Ramsey would love it!
Veena Azmanov
Aww, Thank you Nicole and a big hug to your daughter. So happy you enjoyed this recipe. I love this over the classic cream cheese as well because I love cream cheese or anything cheese. Thank you so much for coming back to write this feedback. Love hearing from those who try my recipes. Wish you a lovely week.