❤️ About This Recipe
Hands down, this is our favorite go-to whipped cream cheese frosting made without butter. Mostly, all the popular recipes of cream cheese frosting call for butter. But in my opinion, the combination of butter and cream cheese makes the icing too rich, heavy, and sometimes greasy (you can feel it to the roof of your mouth). So I prefer to make it without butter. Still, I want to keep the frosting rich but not super heavy or greasy. So I have used heavy whipping cream. It makes the frosting rich yet light and fluffy. You’ll Love This Recipe Flavor: The proportion of cream cheese and heavy cream is perfectly balanced and it doesn’t taste like too much cream cheese.
It has just the right amount of sweetness and isn’t overly sweet like some bakeries and grocery stores! It has a perfect balance of sweet and tangy taste.
Easy to make: You’ll need just one bowl and a hand mixer or stand mixer. It’s super easy to make that even beginners can make it too.
It is ultra smooth like silk, luscious and creamy yet fluffy and light. It is thick enough to pipe and it holds its shape. It’s not runny at all.
4 ingredients only: All of them are easy to find in your grocery store. Scalable: You can double or triple the recipe if you need more amount of frosting.
🧾 Ingredient Notes
Cream cheese:
Always use full-fat cream cheese. Never use low-fat or reduced-fat as it makes the frosting runny and not pipable. Never use a cream cheese spread or tub. Always use a block of cream cheese. Make sure that cream cheese is completely softened to room temperature otherwise, your frosting will have some tiny lumps.
Powdered sugar:
It is also known as confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar. Always sift the powdered sugar to get the creamy and lump-free cream cheese frosting.
Vanilla:
Always use pure vanilla extract and stay away from imitation or artificial ones. For intense vanilla flavor, use vanilla bean paste.
Heavy whipping cream:
Use the right kind of heavy whipping cream that has more than 35% fat content so it gets whipped up nicely. If using heavy cream which has less than 35% fat content then the frosting will be runny. Keep the heavy whipping cream cold. Remove it from the fridge at the time you need it.
👩🍳 How To Make Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting?
- Take a fully softened cream cheese block in a bowl of a stand mixer.
- Attach the paddle attachment.
- Start beating until the cream cheese is smooth and creamy.
- Sift the powdered sugar into the beaten cream cheese using a sieve.
- Also, add vanilla extract.
- Again beat it until the mixture is smooth, creamy and fluffy. There should not be any lumps. If needed scrap the sides and the bottom of the bowl using a spatula and beat again.
- Now remove the paddle attachment and scrape off all the excess and add it back into the bowl.
- Switch to the whisk attachment.
- Run the mixer on low-medium and gradually add the cold heavy whipping cream.
- Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl using a spatula and run the mixture again by increasing the speed to high gradually. 11, 12) Run it until you see the frosting is smooth, fluffy and pipable and it should have a stiff peak when you lift the beater up and it holds its shape. It takes just a couple of minutes only. Do not overbeat otherwise the frosting will become runny. So keep an eye on it.
💭 Tips For Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
The temperature of the ingredients: Cream cheese must be fully softened to room temperature. While heavy whipping cream must be cold, so take it out of the fridge right before you need it. Avoid runny frosting:
Use full-fat and a block of cream cheese (not cream cheese spread). Use heavy whipping cream with more than 35% fat content. Do not overbeat after adding heavy whipping cream. Stop as soon as it reaches the spreadable and stiff peak consistency. Over beating the cream results in a curdled texture and makes the frosting runny and loose.
Make colored frosting:
Use gel food color. Avoid liquid food color, as it makes the frosting runny. Sometimes you need to add more color to make the frosting vibrant color, in that case, liquid food color is not a good choice here.
🥣 Storage & Shelf-life
At room temperature, it stays good for a day only as cream cheese and heavy whipping cream are perishable. In the refrigerator, this frosting stays good for 2 days in an air-tight container. Just beat it once or twice using a wire whisk to make it smooth again. In the freezer, it stays good for 2 months in a freezer-safe ziplock back or container. To thaw, keep it in the fridge overnight or on the counter for a few hours until defrosted. Just beat it until it comes together and becomes smooth again. Frosted cakes or cupcakes should sit out for up to 3-4 hours at room temperature (in climate control room/kitchen) or 1 hour or less if the room is hot or kept the cake outdoors in summer. Store the frosted cake/cupcakes in the refrigerator and remove them 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving. So the cake and frosting have a chance to come to room temperature.
🍽 Uses For Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: This recipe makes enough frosting for 12 cupcakes. Double the recipe to frost a 2-layer 8-inch (or 9) cake. This frosting is so versatile, it can be used for cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc. For example,
Eggless red velvet cupcakes Eggless carrot cake Eggless banana cake Eggless gingerbread cake Eggless sugar cookies
This frosting goes well with any spiced cake, cupcakes, or bread like eggless pumpkin bread. Did you try this whipped cream cheese frosting recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comment section below.
