Cream Cheese Frosting is terrific on just about any kind of cake and is especially good on Carrot Cake and Italian Cream Cake.
Cream cheese gives the frosting a tangy flavor and reduces the powdered sugar's overall "sweetness" factor. The combination of ingredients is perfect. You can also add chopped pecans to the frosting.
Image Credit: Kathy Owen
This easy-to-make frosting is fantastic and takes only 15 minutes to make. Add chopped pecans to the frosting for Italian Cream Cake to add a savory element to the sweet cake. If you have never had Italian Cream Cake, you don't know what you are missing!
The icing or frosting has just five ingredients: cream cheese, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and a little bit of milk. Six ingredients if you add the nuts.
The butter and cream cheese should be softened for easy whipping. This frosting is so good I could eat it with a spoon.
Cream Cheese & Powdered Sugar Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 8 ounce packages of cream cheese softened
- 2 sticks of butter softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 boxes powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk or half and half
- 1 cup chopped pecans optional
Instructions
-
Cream all ingredients together.
-
Spread frosting on cake.
-
Keep refrigerated.
It is hard to find powdered sugar in a box, and the 32-ounce size bag is perfect for this recipe since it calls for two 1 lb. boxes of powdered sugar.
You definitely need an electric mixer so the frosting turns out light and fluffy. I use a small hand mixer for the frosting and my KitchenAid mixer for things like sausage balls and Martha Washington chocolate balls because the dough for these recipes is so stiff.
This cream cheese frosting recipe makes enough icing for a three-layer cake. I frost the top of the cake layers, then do the sides.
You may have extra frosting if your cake is only two layers.
The frosting will keep in the refrigerator for two or three weeks, so save it for cupcakes or even banana bread!
Cream Cheese Frosting With Powdered Sugar
Author: Recipe Idea Shop
Ingredients
- 2 8 ounce packages of cream cheese softened
- 2 sticks of butter softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 boxes powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk or half and half
- 1 cup chopped pecans optional
Instructions
- Cream all ingredients together.
- Frost the cake
- Keep refrigerated.
Kathy acquired the blog, Recipe Idea Shop in 2024. She was raised on a farm in Arkansas where having a big garden and good food to eat was the norm. She shares recipes for homemade comfort food and new trending dishes.
Kathy began her blogging journey in 2011 when she founded PetticoatJunktion.com, a home décor blog focused on repurposing and upcycling furniture, and thrift store finds.
