I have been blessed to have this incredible cream cheese frosting that forms a nice crust so it is ideal for decorating cakes. It tastes so good that i’ve been using this recipe more than any other frosting recipe i have.
Decorator’s Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of shortening
1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter @ room temp
1 8oz bar cream cheese @ room temp
1 tblsp white vanilla extract
2 lbs shifted powder sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
Cream together shortening, butter, and cream cheese until nice and smooth. Add vanilla into mixture and combine. Sift together sugar and salt, and slowly add to shortening, butter & cheese mixture. Make sure that all sugar is incorporated. Enjoy!
-
- *If to stiff of a consistency use less sugar but all the salt or gradually add milk to make the perfect consistency!
Decorator’s Cream Cheese Frosting, 9.4 out of 10 based on 114 ratings
68 Responses
chefjennalee
September 10th, 2009 at 4:58 am
How much does it make?
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
This is very delicious. I added about 1T of milk and about 1 dropper full of Lorann’s Vanilla Butternut flavoring.
Chefjennalee it makes approx 6 cups of icing.
RisasCakes
October 8th, 2009 at 8:14 am
WOW! This turned out great, thank you for the wonderful recipe!
chefjennalee
October 21st, 2009 at 7:55 pm
very yummy on the pumpkin spice recipe listed on this site!
fairestoneofall
October 26th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Love this one! Thanks for sharing. I use it ALL the time with minor tweaks!
ksmith1012
November 7th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
does this need to be refrigerated?
katielb
November 8th, 2009 at 12:08 am
can u substitute the shortening? we dont have it here in Australia
November 10th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I also am wondering if this needs to be refrigerated? I wanted to make these for a bake sale for the school but they will be sitting on a table for a few hours.
mimisunshine
November 11th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Does it need to be refrigerated? How long can it safely stay out?
Missellyt
November 11th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Fantastic mix I love it with a bit of nutmeg sooo festive!
I left these out for a while on a buffet and they tasted jst as good after a few hours…but it wasn’t over hot in the room.
meri1028
November 11th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Sounds great! Does it need to be refrigerated?
cupcakediva82
November 16th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Hi there, is white vanilla extract the same as clear vanilla extract? Thanks!
lildutch10
November 19th, 2009 at 7:31 am
cupcakediva82: I used clear vanilla extract and this frosting came out amazing!!! I am not sure if the white is the same as clear or not, but it is sooooo good! I am not a fan of eating cake/frosting (strange I know… I just like to make them!!) but this frosting I always make extra so I can eat it straight out of the bowl… YUMMY!!!!! I was also wondering if it needs to be refrigerated?
November 21st, 2009 at 6:27 am
Hi there, I have one similar but I use sweetex for the shortening and regular white butter. and then I use cream bouqut.
leslie2748
November 21st, 2009 at 9:39 am
Same question….refrigeration?
calicopurr
November 21st, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Sandy5491
Can you PM the recipe? I have Sweetex and Cream Bouguet in my pantry.
grantrs1521
November 25th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
how many cups is 2 lbs of sugar?
daisy81382
November 26th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
katielb – you can get some vegetable fat in the butter section at Woolworths or your local grocery store. Just make sure and leave it out to get nice and soft before you use it – and make sure get the vegetable one not beef – eewww yuck! This is what I used while living there as I couldn’t find anything else like shortening.
kellycat102938
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:07 pm
how many cups of frosting does this make?
katiekonie
December 7th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
This was great!!
abra526
January 28th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Love it! I only added about half the amount of powdered sugar, and left the rest of the recipe the same to use this as a filling for a strawberry cake. It tasted delicious!
Elegant_Design_Cakes
February 18th, 2010 at 8:32 am
Does anyone who has made this know if it needs to be refrigerated???
nadia0411
February 26th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
it does require refrigeration as in anything with dairy product else it can go sour, i did a quick search on net and they confirmed it.
it makes enough icing to fill and cover two 9×3 inches cakes.
kimmyboo925
February 26th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
I am thinking it doesnt need to be refridgerated… I have been working with someone who makes red velvet all the time with cream cheese frosting.. and i have left it out for 2 days with no refridgeration… but to each is own…. and two pounds is 16 cups of sugar.. someone asked
frankdiabetes
March 4th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Actually, my 2 pound C&H bag of powdered sugar says it contains approximately 7 and 1/2 cups unsifted powdered sugar.
LovinMyLilFam
March 9th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Thank u for sharing this recipe. I tryed it last month for an aunts bday cake. Everyone enjoyed it. Delicious!!!
Linzobean
March 16th, 2010 at 6:40 am
So from a professional baker’s opinion does a cream cheese frosting have to be refrigerated? When decorating a cake it can be out for a substantial amount of time. Also, who wants to leave their cake in the fridge too long, it might dry out?!?
NikkiB912
April 4th, 2010 at 2:59 am
This is a great recipe! I didn’t have any butter so I used 1 cup of shortening and a little butter flavoring…and I only used about 7 cups of sugar (I had an already opened bag and I didn’t want to open another one). It was sooo yummy! I used it to make cupcakes with my friend and she couldn’t stop eating it! It’s delicious on red velvet!
azeboi2005
April 8th, 2010 at 10:49 am
A far as refrigeration, after icing a cake I don’t refrigerate…then again my house is always at a cool temp. This icing holds up well to hot temps (essential for south TX) I just wouldn’t put it in direct sunlight. Crusts beautifully, glad you all enjoy it as much as I do!!
Grammaonthego
April 12th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
What is sweetex…and where can you find it ??
preciosa225
April 20th, 2010 at 8:35 am
While this recipe crusted up BEAUTIFULLY, I found it to be VERY sweet and you can’t taste the cream cheese at all. I used hi ratio shortening, Hotel Bar unsalted butter, Dominos powdered sugar and Philly Cream Cheese. I don’t know if any of those had anything to do with the outcome.
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:08 am
Is this stiff enough so that you can also decorate with it? Or do you just frost the cake and use regular buttercream or royal for the decorations?
rcolson13
May 6th, 2010 at 7:11 am
My go to creme cheese frosting. It tastes great and crusts nicely. A half-batch makes 2 cups of icing approximately
Manotas
May 14th, 2010 at 9:17 am
I think the recipe is great, when I add 1/2 of the sugar I take a bit to use it as filling.
I also found it to be too sweet but I just use it to crumb coat before applying fondant, so it wasn’t too bad.
tonjaa6
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Love this recipe but I add another 8oz package of cream cheese as i like the cream cheese flavor to stand out more!
tammycakes58
June 6th, 2010 at 10:52 am
This sounds great going to try it! Ive been looking for a cream cheese frosting, all that I have tried has been to loose, Cant wait to try it!
traci_doodle
June 7th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
I love this recipe! I just can’t get enough of it! I thought it was too sweet, so I doubled the salt and traded out half the extract for milk. It even tastes great with reduced fat cream cheese!
MsCeci31
June 12th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Wonderful recipe, thanks for sharing.
dixiechick0225
June 15th, 2010 at 9:16 am
I just made this recipe last night and I love it! I couldn’t stop licking the bowl!
erichazann
July 4th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I just made a double recipe of this. My bowl measurements say just over 4 pints or right at 20 deciliters.. which is ~8 1/2 cups. I didn’t add any milk, because the consistency is already thin enough for icing. I don’t think this recipe makes 6 cups!
cakelace
July 11th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
SUPER DELISH!!!! I wish I had this one when I was making a summer wedding cake with cream cheese icing. I opted to use fondant but this would have topped the cake beautifully! Used this with the Waldorf Astoria red velvet- OMG
Now I’m tempted t add some cocoa powder to make it Chocolate cream cheese on my pound cake. So yummy, so yummy.
And it crusts beautifully!
MicheleG
July 15th, 2010 at 6:58 am
Can this icing be frozen? I have to make 300 cupcakes for a wedding in three weeks. I would like to go ahead and make my icing ahead of time so I can already have it ready to ice the cupcakes. This sounds like this recipe would be awesome for the Red Velvet cupcakes.
jenate04
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Does anyone know if I would need one or two batches to ice and decorate a 11X15 sheet cake? I’ve used this recipe before but it’s been so long I don’t remember! Thanks!
MommaDukes
August 8th, 2010 at 6:01 am
I made this and it is so YUMMY.
margeann
August 30th, 2010 at 10:08 am
1 pound of confectoners’ sugar is approximately 4 dry cups. (8 cups =2 lbs.) Most packages will tell you this on their containers. With all perisable products you have about 4 hours outside of refrigerator. It has alot of sugar and may look good but please be safe and beaware of a foodborne illness. you CANNOT leave cream cheese products out for days.
microbiology1
September 3rd, 2010 at 1:17 pm
has any one used food coloring in this recipe? I wanted to use it for a red velvet cake but was hoping it could be tinted green.
lorik19
October 5th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I made this recipe along with the Straight Up Carrot Cake recipe on cc and it received so so SO many positive reviews. The combination of recipes made a killer cake – fantastic! I did add an extra bar and a half of cream cheese as I wanted the frosting to have the cream cheese taste. It crusts nicely and did a great job with adding coloring for decorating. I did, however, have to add an extra pound of confectionary sugar to have a stiffer consistency. Definately use immediately, if you place it in the fridge for storage it hardens up and you’ll have to throw it back in the mixer to soften it up – I felt doing this was a mistake of mine as it lost some of the stiffness that was there prior to refrigeration.
chynna301
November 18th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Ina Garten from the Barefoot Contessa says you should have your ingredients out at room temp before baking and she says she leaves her butter and cream cheese out overnight on the counter before she uses them. I guess its safe to be out for a few hours but you probably have to refrigerate the leftovers.
SweetArt5
January 29th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing I changed was I didn’t sift the powdered sugar, i didn’t think it was necessary. Also less sugar next time, I had to add water to loosen it up a bit. Overall really, really good!
ginascakes
February 9th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
This definitely needs two 8 oz. bars of cream cheese in order to taste like cream cheese frosting (in addition to the shortening and butter). As the recipe is written, it tastes like a zippy vanilla buttercream
Baby06
March 20th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
has anyone tried it with a plain white cake? how did it turn out?
KarolynAndrea
April 25th, 2011 at 11:10 am
I’m not a fan of CC icing, but this is really good. Finally, one that isn’t too runny. I doubled the recipe and followed the directions and it turned out great. I will use this as a filling, I’m a little nervous to ice with it.
KJF1985
April 30th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Oh. My. Gosh. I just made this icing to use with an Italian cream cake. Instead of using all vanilla, I used 2 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp cocnut flavor. YUM!! I can’t stop eating it!!! This is a keeper! Thanks!
jewordsoflife
May 10th, 2011 at 10:54 am
I’m wondering if this will hold up under MMF Also, it sounds like I may want to add additional cream cheese to it so that it will taste more like cream cheese (according to some of the reviews) but if I do, would that change the consistency to where I can’t use it under MMF That’s providing I can without adding additional cream cheese. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I need to know asap. I have to make a cake this week and I’m REALLY needing a crusting cc bc that will hold up under MMF I don’t have time to try allot of recipes
THANKS!
JackieDryden
May 15th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
This was really good on a red velvet(just box mix) for a last minute bridal shower cake. It is a “you wanna lick the bowl clean” kind of icing. I also reduced the sugar content on the second batch just to decrease some of the sweetness and increase some of the cream cheese flavor. Either way-as written, or 2 less cups of PS it is scrumptious!
sarahaha
May 21st, 2011 at 11:44 pm
oh…my…gosh. i will never buy icing again! i did add an extra half a bar of cream cheese, just to cut some of the sweetness, but this icing is AWESOME!!!
SheriCakes4u
June 29th, 2011 at 9:21 am
Will this icing hold for borders? Does it smooth like Sugarshack’s Frosting? I did a cream cheese frosted cake recently and the frosting I used slid down the sides of the cake some! I also wasn’t able to smooth it out like I like to because it didn’t crust!
Antoinettebc
July 3rd, 2011 at 2:41 am
Hello….also curious in response to the shortning question….is there any substitute. I also live somewhere a small island to be exact we have no shortening. Sugetions please TKU….Im trying to introduce these peoples to cupcakes
rosscountrygirl
July 4th, 2011 at 8:47 am
Made this this morning worked great but did change it up a bit, I added almond flavor instead of vanilla and I added 1 extra block of cream cheese (to a doubled batch) I had enough icing to ice 6 dozen cupcakes and a small single 8in. This frosting is WAY sturdier then normal cream cheese frosting and crusted up nicely. (I have pics of it on my 4th of july cupcakes the red & blue ones)
Aya1
July 14th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Awesome!!!!!! GReat Taste, Easy to decorate with!!! l
Niki3795
August 17th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
LOVE this recipe, thanks so much!!
nelly78577
September 13th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
Tryed this frosting for a 6 tier wedding cake and it came out great. Easy to frost. Delicious. Although I did make some changes. I added one more stick of butter and 8oz more of cream cheese and added 1/2cup of sugar. Its a great recipe.
Viennagirl
September 28th, 2011 at 4:22 am
This is a great recipe and it tastes soo good too. i added a little almond flavoring.
Thanks for a great recipe!
Ahma4
October 11th, 2011 at 7:58 am
I do not work in a bakery but love to bake for my family. Is there a way of making this frosting without having to use 1/2 of shortening? All that fat, freaks me out.
Pearl645
November 4th, 2011 at 6:27 am
Has anyone tried this with Margaine? I am thinking of using that instead of butter.
cupcakemeg
March 8th, 2012 at 3:59 pm
I have made this frosting a few times and it comes out great every time! My new favorite frosting!
seann11
April 15th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Does anyone know if this would be good on a brownie cake?
moniel
May 2nd, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Frosting turned out great! Soft after being handled too long but has a great consistency while cold. Great recipe
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