The perfect Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting for piping beautiful swirls onto cakes and cupcakes that's versatile and yummy enough for all of your favorite treats!
Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting
This recipe was a long time coming, and just in time for Red Velvet cupcakes for Valentine's Day and Carrot Cake for Easter! This is the Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting that I use eeevvvery time I need cream cheese frosting. I love this recipe because it's thick enough to pipe, but it's easy to adjust to make it gooier, just by adding a tablespoon or two of extra milk.
Use this Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting on these tasty treats:
- Moist Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
- Ginger Brown Sugar Cupcakes
- Carrot Cake Pops
Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- ½ cup shortening
- 2 blocks cream cheese, room temperature (8 ounces each)
- 3 pounds powdered sugar about 11 cups
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1-2 tablespoons cream or milk
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, shortening, and cream cheese.
- Slowly add in powdered sugar and continue beating until well combined and creamy.
- Add vanilla and 1 tablespoon of milk and beat again until combined. If mixture is still too thick for your liking, add an additional tablespoon of milk and beat again until you reach you desired consistency.
Notes
Nutrition
Did you like this Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting recipe? Find more on my Cakes & Cupcakes and Desserts boards on Pinterest!
If you liked this Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting recipe, you might also like
Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
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Munchkintime says
Michelle this cream frosting looks amazing, cant wait to learn how to decorate cupcakes. Pinning it! Thank you so much for sharing!
Visiting from A Little R &R!
Paula Speekman says
Will this frosting remail pipable when using just butter in stead of butter and shortening?
Paula Speekman says
Sorry, previous comment: remain pipeable!
Brittany says
It'll be pipeable but not stiff. You won't be able to get good peaks or a good crust when it dries. If you don't want to use animal fat, use vegetable shortening by Crisco and get the same effects as lard.
Misty H says
I just made a batch of this icing, I added 1 tbsp. milk and it is way too soft now. When I try to make peaks they just flop over or "melt", should I just let it sit in the mixer for a little while? or can I add something else to it?
Michelle says
Is the butter/shortening/cream cheese hot? If any of that is hot or melted, it will affect the consistency of the whole batch. Otherwise you can add in some more powdered sugar to stiffen it up.
Stephany says
Thank you for sharing this recipe. How many cupcakes would this work for? It seems like a lot. I don't want to make too much. Thinking of making half, but want to make sure I'll have enough.
Michelle says
I usually use this for a full cake (filling and outsides) or for about 50ish cupcakes. So I would definitely cut it in half if you only have a couple dozen.
Robyn Cooper says
Could I tint this frosting?
Michelle says
Absolutely! I always recommend gel coloring so that it doesn't change the consistency of the frosting.
Marwan says
I'm making a 12x18 2 layer sheet cake, will this be enough to fill and cover that size cake or should I make more?
Michelle says
Yes, I believe this will be enough for a cake that size for filling and covering.
Sarah W says
Do I need to refrigerate the cupcakes to keep the frosting good overnight? Just made the frosting and it tastes great. Just don't know if I need to stick them in the fridge until my sons party tomorrow.
Michelle says
I generally recommend keeping cream cheese frosting refrigerated. You can take them out of the fridge about an hour or so before you need them so that the frosting softens and comes to room temp.
Linda says
Will this icing crust?
Michelle says
Yes, it does.
Lisa says
Can I make it a day or two in advance and refrigerate it.
Michelle says
Yes. You'll want to keep it covered in an air tight container, and let it come to room temperature before trying to use it (It will stiff when cold)
MR says
Does it freeze well? Would it work for a wedding cake?
Michelle says
I've never frozen it, but it works just like buttercream. I've honestly never frozen buttercream either. But whatever you would normally do with buttercream, you can do with this frosting. It's delicious and it holds up perfectly.
Danelle says
How well does this frosting work without the shortening? (Just butter and cream cheese) ? Will it still be pipeable?
Michelle says
I'm not sure as I've never tried it. Shortening is more hardy than cream cheese, so it definitely gives it some structure. Plus removing it without replacing it with more butter or cream cheese will mess with the wet to dry ingredients ratio.
Janet Charleston says
I am trying to learn how to piping but it is very hard to do because I was with cerebral palsy so do any idea how to help me to do the piping Janet Charleston
Michelle says
My cousin told me about a piping gun when I was telling her I was having hand cramps decorating cupcakes. There are a couple different kinds. This one you squeeze kind of like you are pulling a trigger. Or this one is more like pushing down on a syringe. You can use either to hopefully make it a little easier.
Mary says
Cuisinart makes a small hand held but electric appliance that can be used for piping or spritz cookies. I too have trouble with my hands
Jackie Tobolski says
Hi! This looks delicious! I wanted to make the pipable cream cheese frosting & vanilla frosting... this will be my 1st time making frosting.. Do these recipes call for unsalted butter? & heavy cream? Thank you so much for sharing???
Michelle says
Yes and yes! Good luck!
Olya says
Would this be a good frosting recipe to use if I wanted to pipe flowers on cupcakes?
How would this hold up vs buttercream?
Michelle says
In my experience, it holds up comparably to buttercream. It is very thick. I have burnt out a hand-mixer motor or 2 mixing it up.
Lorraine says
Hi, thanks for sharing your recipe
I’m planning on using it to make “turf” for my son soccer field birthday cake. Do you think this recipe will work?
Looks so easy.
Lori says
Hi, thanks for sharing your recipe
I’m planning on using it to make “turf” for my son soccer field birthday cake. Do you think this recipe will work?
Looks so easy.
Michelle says
Yes, absolutely! I made this "fuzzy" kitty cat cake for my daughter's birthday using cream cheese frosting, and it worked perfectly. Just make sure it's slightly cooler than room temp. Soft enough to handle, but not warm.
Liz says
Where is the pineapple in this recipe?
Michelle says
It is PIPE-able. Meaning you can pipe it in a decorators bag without it melting. It is NOT PINEAPPLE. Sorry for the confusion
Lillian Boudreau says
I am making a 4 tier weddiing cake and the bride wants carrot cake on the bottom layers and white for the top layers. Would I be able to use this icing on both cake types? She also might want the one cake bottom to be false ( using starfoam block) would I be able to use this
Icing for this as well.
Michelle says
I've never made a wedding cake, but I would imagine so. I use this frosting recipe for everything I want cream cheese frosting on.
Mimid says
Thanks for posting this recipe it is definitely a nice firm cream cheese icing really works great!! The only changes I made was I didn’t add the water and I added 1 tablespoon of meringue powder it really worked great and tasted great as well will definitely be using this again. Thanks again for posting it!!!
Juliann says
How would I go about converting this into chocolate cream cheese frosting?
Michelle Edwards Gardner says
I lost my mom's recipe for cream cheese icing that was so good and was my go to. Then I came across your recipe and decided to try it because it had an air of familiarity. 😊 It turned out perfect pipeable consistency! I'm very happy. Will be using this recipe from now on. Always hard to find good recipes that actually works and taste great. Thanks so much!😊
Michelle says
I'm so glad you found what you were looking for! Happy to help 😊
Jen says
I want to use this recipe for a cake that calls for keylime cream cheese frosting. Should I add keylime juice or key lime extract? I don't want to thin it out
Michelle says
You could probably add up to a table spoon of juice, but I'd probably add keylime extract to get more flavor. Or add some keylime zest.
Melissa says
Hi, is the butter salted or unsalted? Thank you
Michelle says
Unsalted! 🙂
Norma says
Just wondering could this recipe be made as a chocolate cream cheese icing? If so how? Thank you so much ♥️
Brandi Gates says
This recipe is absolutely perfect! Not overly sweet and somehow holds ita form! Thank you so much for sharing!!