This Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe is perfect for piping beautiful swirls onto cakes and cupcakes…
How much frosting does this recipe make?
If you’d like to pipe frosting onto your cupcakes just like the photo shows above, you’ll have enough frosting for about 18 cupcakes. If you just want to spread frosting onto cupcakes without piping it on in a decorative way, you’ll have enough for 24 cupcakes.
If making a cake, you may wish to make a recipe and a half. You should have enough to frost the cake. But then you’ll also have some extra to pipe frosting in a decorative way on top.
Tips for making the best frosting for piping:
Don’t over-mix the ingredients. You’ll beat the butter with an electric mixer. Then you’ll add slightly chilled cream cheese and combine those until they are evenly combined. Then STOP MIXING them together. Add in some vanilla, and then you’ll mix in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time just until it’s mixed in. Some people have commented that they like to refrigerate the frosting for a while before piping it onto their cakes and cupcakes.
Keep cupcakes and cakes that are frosted in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
If you’re looking for more frosting recipes, you might like to try some of these:
- Coconut Buttercream Frosting
- Classic White Frosting Recipe
- Chocolate Frosting Recipe
- Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting
- Cookies and Cream Frosting
- Orange Buttercream Frosting
- Sweetened Condensed Milk Buttercream
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
- Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature for 10 minutes
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter; beat just until creamy. Then add the cream cheese and beat until combined. IF YOU BEAT THE CREAM CHEESE TOO LONG, THE MIXTURE WILL BE TOO SOFT FOR PIPING.
- Mix in the vanilla, then gradually add the powdered sugar- 1/2 cup at a time. Mix until the frosting ingredients are completely combined- do not over-mix. Check the consistency at this point. If it seems too soft, go ahead and add a little more sifted powdered sugar. If it seems too thick, mix in a teaspoon or so of milk. Use the frosting to frost your cake or cupcakes immediately- either by spreading or filling a piping bag, or store in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use (should be used to frost the same day).
- I can't stress enough... if you over-mix, the frosting will be too soft for piping. Adding more powdered sugar will just make it softer.
Notes
- Nutritional information is for the frosting only-- not the entire cupcake.
- If you spread the frosting on the cupcakes instead of piping it on tall like the pictures show, you'll be able to frost 24 cupcakes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Im a little confused with the addition of powdered sugar. You mentioned if it seems too soft, go ahead and add a little more sifted powdered sugar. .. Yet later you said Adding more powdered sugar will just make it softer.
So what are the steps if the icing seems to soft for piping? More sugar or less? Thank You!
If you overmix– the frosting will be soft, and trying to add more powdered sugar to it at that point will make it softer. In the process of making it, if it’s not overmixed, adding more powdered sugar can help with a thicker consistency.
Would I be able to use this under fondant? So I wouldn’t want to have to keep it refrigerated?
I have no idea!
I do not think so. Better to use Ganache
Also found it piped perfectly! Made a large rosette on each carrot cupcake – beautiful! Thank you 🙂
Wow! This is the best cream cheese frosting. It’s good enough to eat with a spoon (yes, I did), and it piped perfectly!
It’s been a while since I made cream cheese frosting and I was so happy to see this recipe for pipeable cream cheese frosting. I followed all the directions, including not over mixing, and it turned out so runny and soft it is the exact opposite of what I needed. So frustrating! Wish I had read all of the comments and seen how many others had the same disappointing outcome. Now that I’m looking into it, all other cream cheese frosting recipes have 8oz of cream cheese instead of 16 oz. I would not recommend this recipe.
I’m so sorry you had trouble with the recipe. As you can see, some people had the same problem as you and some people had success. I don’t have trouble with this one, so I’m not sure what to recommend!
I was really nervous about trying this recipe after reading some of the comments. But it came out BEAUTIFULLY!! I made sure to 1) beat the butter first before adding the cream cheese 2)keep the cream cheese cold (I used it at colder than room temp) 3)not overbeat the frosting 3)added the icing sugar in 2 batches so that I didn’t end up overbeating(also decreased the amount because we don’t like it too sweet). I adapted it a little by substituting the vanilla with lemon juice. Depending on how long it takes to pipe all the cream, you might find that you’ll need to re-refridgerate the frosting to keep it from getting too melty before piping.
So excited that we were able to pipe beautiful flowers for our cupcake pull-apart cake! Here’s a picture of some of our cupcakes. https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/133208101462243679/
Thanks for the recipe! I’m so excited to have found pipeable cream cheese frosting. It’s great to see folks not scrape the blob of regular frosting off their cupcakes. 😀
Happy to hear- they look great!
I agree with Kelley; I’ve made this recipe several times and it’s been perfect. My only suggestion would be to soften the butter and use the cream cheese from the refrigerator in order to not over beat. I do re-refrigerate for about 30 minutes before piping. I’ve had many compliments on this recipe.
I wish I would’ve read the comments before going at this recipe. Came out a little runny, but not ebough to trash it for what I was going for. Maybe beat the butter first, add the sugar, then fold in the creamcheese? I’ll try this next time…
You should whisk butter first till light and fluffy. Butter should be 21C and afterwards add cream cheese slowly
I’ve used this recipe several times, and it comes out perfect every time. For those having problems…you need to understand that cream cheese buttercream is NOT like any other buttercream. It takes lots of patience. I only let the buttercream and cream cheese sit out for an hour or two, not completely room temp. You should blend the butter and cheese on STIR setting just until incorporated. I stopped the stir every 5-10 seconds and would scrape down the paddle and sides. Do the same when adding sugar, scrape the sides and paddle often. This allows better blending without overbeating. Once well blended, I turned the mixer to setting 2, one level faster than stir, and allowed it to blend for 30 seconds…DON’T go longer. This got rid of any remaining cheese lumps. It tastes super yummy and is super sturdy for piping. I don’t even need to keep refrigerating it. It’s even sturdy enough to hold decorations!
Thank you for your tips!
Hi Guys, I read a lot of these comments & thought I would tell you what I did with great results! Butter needs to be soft, I whipped this up first & then added the cream cheese only out of the fridge for 10mins so still cold, I also upped to 500gms (2pkts Philly/Coles block) & whipped only for maybe 30secs at most then added the sifted icing sugar (powdered sugar) in 3 parts only & whipped only long enough for the sugar to incorporate (may 15-20secs) I feel adding the sugar in more parts runs the risk of over whipping, then added the vanilla & 3tbsp thickened cream to lighten a little again only mixing 20-30secs & the result was thick and pipable. Remember pipable cream cheese frosting will always be softer than a buttercream. Hope this helps!
Thank you for your tips!