I’m so excited I can’t even handle it!! I am finally sharing with you my most favorite and perfect Cream Cheese Frosting. It’s the best ever. Did you even see how long it takes you?!

Difficulty: Level 1 (easy peasy)

Total Time: 10 mins

I have made you the perfect cream cheese frosting. This is to go with me perfect sugar cookies. And you can make these easy rose cookies! But really cream cheese frosting goes with so many things. Like cupcakes, red velvet cake, maybe this giant cinnamon roll, graham crackers (um, best snack ever btw).

I don’t think I could ever get sick of cream cheese frosting. When you get tired of the usual old buttercream, just whip up a batch of this and it will change everything.

It will take those typical sugar cookies from good, to extraordinary. It will take your cupcakes to an entirely new level. And who doesn’t want cream cheese frosting on their cinnamon rolls?

Easy. Delicious. Can go with like 5,38,483 different desserts, breakfasts or snacks. Like totally O.M.G.

Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting
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Ingredients
  1. 8 oz cream cheese - softened
  2. 1/2 cup butter - softened
  3. 1/2 cup sour cream
  4. 1 tsp vanilla
  5. One, 2lb bag powdered sugar (or 8 cups)
Instructions
  1. In a standing mixer, mix together the cream cheese and butter.
  2. Add in the sour cream and vanilla, mix well.
  3. Turn the mixer on low and slowly add in the powdered sugar.
  4. Continue mixing until all ingredients are incorporated and you have the perfect frosting texture.
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82 Comments

  1. I was making a strawberry cake and was all out of heavy cream and milk so I found this recipe and oh my gosh this is my new favorite recipe, next week I’m going to make a red velvet cake and use this delicious frosting, thank you for the recipe!

      • Thank You for the awesome recipe!!! I added a few things, at the end I added 2 tablespoons cinnamon and grated a little nutmeg then I folded in 2 large spoonfuls of whipped cream. It was amazing and there was plenty to frost both cakes! Thank you again

  2. I made this over the weekend and it turned out fantastic! Tastes terrific! But I didn’t need as much as it made, so I went ahead and froze what was left. Have you tried freezing it and did it thaw out alright? Thank you for a great recipe!

  3. Glad I found your recipe, the only one with sour cream! Even my husband who seldom like frosting liked it. I agree with your comment, the sour cream cuts the sweetness just enough. Just frosted 48 cupcakes! They won’t win any decorating contest, but the kids I made them for won’t notice.

  4. Sorry if this has already been asked. But how firm would you say this frosting is. I was looking for a not so sweet frosting for a carrot cake. This sounds like it would be perfect if it’s firm enough.

    • Hey Marie! This frosting is a little less firm than buttercream. But it would be delicious on carrot cake!! If this is a casual cake you are making, I would say it’s probably fine. But if it’s a nice display cake or a wedding cake or something, or if it’s going to be sitting in the sun (because it will melt so fast!), I would say you can use this frosting as the filling, but use a stiff buttercream on the outside of the cake šŸ™‚

  5. The addition of sour cream really takes cream cheese frosting from something I really feel eh about to something I could eat the entire bowl of! Yum! Thanks for the recipe! And for those of you who are asking if it really changes the flavor much, I would say no. But there is some taste that I don’t really care for in regular cream cheese frosting, and the addition of sour cream blended that away for me.

    • Yay I’m so glad!! I agree, it doesn’t change the flavor drastically, but just cuts the super sugary sweet taste of cream cheese frosting down a little bit. Glad you like it!

    • It adds a little bit different flavor and cuts down on the super sweetness of cream cheese + powdered sugar. But it works ok if you don’t have sour cream too!

  6. Hi! I am planning on using this recipe for a large party that I am hosting, and I was wondering how long this frosting keeps? I have about 150 cupcakes to make and would like to make the frosting early, but I am not sure how early I should in case this doesn’t keep very well.

    • I keep this frosting in the fridge up to 4 days. Don’t keep it at room temperature for more than a few hours though! šŸ™‚

    • Hi! So I have never used it to frost a cake so I can’t say with 100% surety, but I believe it would cover a two layer cake. It makes about 3-4 cups of frosting so it should be enough!

    • Hey Janet! You can definitely use a hand mixer if you have one of those. If not, you can always use some good old arm strength to make that frosting smooth šŸ™‚ the key is to mix the butter and cream cheese first until it is super smooth or else you will have clumpy frosting! But even if it turns out a little clumpy, it still tastes delicious šŸ˜‰

    • Hey Emily! This frosting does not get hard. It kind of gets a crust if left out, but does not get completely hard. As for the refrigeration, (great question by the way! I definitely should say something about this in the post) there is some debate on whether or not cream cheese frosting should be refrigerated. I have left these cookies with the frosting out overnight and have never had any problem. If you think it will take longer than a day or two to eat them, I would refrigerate them. Or if you live in a really hot place, I would refrigerate them as well. Hope this helps!!

  7. Would this frosting be good to frost a cake with and then decorate or would it not set up correctly? It sounds delicious and was wanting to do a homemade cream cheese frosting (as opposed to the canned) for my daughter birthday cake but wasn’t sure how it’d set up or if it would “melt” if it sat out the day of the party. Thanks!

    • Hey Sarah! I have never used this on a cake so I can’t say for sure! If this cake is sitting out in the sun or someplace warm, it may tend to melt. But if it is inside in a cool place it may be fine! It would work great as a filling for a cake either way, I just don’t know about frosting the outside of the cake. Let me know if you use it and how it works! Thanks!

  8. Most cream cheese recipes don’t have the sour cream in it. What does it do to make the frosting different from others?

    • Hey Ashley! This is adapted from my grandmas recipe and she always used sour cream. It is totally random and different than most recipes! But I think it makes the frosting smoother and balances out some of the powder sugar flavor. Let me know if you try it and how you like it!

  9. Thank you for the suggestions! I think I will try the microwave tip next time. I think when I am baking I just get too impatient and add items before the cream cheese is smooth.

        • Hi Yen!! Well that is the most confusing way I could’ve written that – I am so sorry for the confusion! It is actually ONE 2 pound bag. I just changed it in the directions so it wouldn’t be as confusing. Again, I am so sorry for that and hopefully it now makes sense!

  10. I’ve never made cream cheese frosting, but think that I could tackle this! How long does it take to “soften” the cream cheese. I left mine on the counter for a different recipe for an hour and it seemed soft, but when I used my mixer to cream it, it left little chunks.

    • Great question! I should put something in there about “softening”. So I usually cheat, I put the cream cheese in the microwave! I start at about 20 seconds and it seems to do the trick šŸ™‚ If you are experiences chunks of cream cheese, just keep mixing on step 1 – sometimes I have to mix it up to a minute to get it really smooth. Or, you could even start mixing just the cream cheese by itself before you mix the other ingredients into it. Let me know if this helps and if you have any other questions!

    • Lol thank you Elizabeth! I am sure that the sour cream is the secret ingredient to making this cream cheese frosting AMAZING! Thanks for pinning, I hope you enjoy!

  11. You can spread cheesecake on a box and I would probably try to eat it! Lol! Cheescake frosting is my all time favorite, yumminess! I’m a horrible baker, but will give this a try. =)

    • Hi Kathy! I’m sorry you are having problems printing the recipe! No one wants ads all over their recipe šŸ™‚ If you click on the “print” button in the recipe box, it should only print out one page. Please, let me know if this doesn’t work and you are still experiencing problems. Thank you!

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