Cream Cheese American Buttercream
Cream cheese American buttercream is a simple type of frosting made using cream cheese, and this recipe is adapted from Sugarologie. Cream cheese is a tricky ingredient to work with in frostings due to its high water content, which brings it closer to heavy cream than butter (cream cheese has around 50% water, while butter has only 18% water). While the stabilizers make cream cheese look more like butter, they are thixotropic, meaning the cream cheese becomes runnier as you stir. Combined with the highly hygroscopic powdered sugar, which pulls water from the cheese, the frosting turns runny. To address these issues, this recipe starts by first combining butter and powdered sugar, then mixing in cream cheese at the end. This way, the sugar particles are coated in milkfat, which prevents them from absorbing as much water when the cream cheese is mixed in. The final frosting thus remains thick, creamy, and suitable for piping.
- Time
- 10–15 minutes
- Yield
- 4 cups (750 g)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (225 g) block-style cream cheese, cold
- 1 stick (113 g) unsalted butter, cold
- 3½ cups (425 g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Method
- Put the cream cheese in a bowl and mix just enough to smooth out lumps. Do not overmix. Set aside.
- Cream the butter in another bowl until smooth and creamy.
- Beat in powdered sugar in 3–4 batches. It may look crumbly at first, but don't worry—it will come together into a ball, like a dough.
- Beat in salt and vanilla.
- Add all of cream cheese and mix in until smooth. Do not overmix, as it can make the frosting runny.
Equipment
- 2 mixing bowls
- Electric mixer or spatula