3 Ingredient Cream Cheese Frosting (No Butter!)

Made with only a few simple ingredients, this 3 Ingredient Cream Cheese Frosting is fluffy, sweet, and perfect for your favorite dessert! No butter? No worries! You don't need it in this easy recipe!

Slather your sourdough pumpkin cake with this delicious frosting!

Carrot cake and red velvet cake must have a cream cheese frosting on them! It adds a sweetness but also a tang that you can't get from standard buttercream frosting. You can't make sourdough discard carrot cake or sourdough chocolate cake without this frosting!

Don't save this frosting just for cakes though! You can add this homemade cream cheese frosting to red velvet cupcakes or your favorite sourdough discard cinnamon rolls.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• It only have 3 ingredients! I can't tell you how many times I've decided I wanted to make cream cheese icing and then realize I don't have any unsalted butter. For this recipe, you don't need it!
• It's so delicious! This might be the best cream cheese frosting recipe for the outside of your cakes. It's great on all cakes, not just red velvet and carrot cake! Try it on chocolate cake, pumpkin cake, quick breads, any type of cupcakes, and even added to cookies!
• You can make it ahead of time! This is a great recipe to make ahead of time so you can save time on the day that you need it.

Ingredients to Gather

• Cream cheese. You'll need two bricks of full fat cream cheese. They should be at room temperature to reduce any lumps in the frosting.
• Powdered sugar. Also known as confectioners' sugar. For a thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar to the bowl.
• Vanilla Extract. This adds a little bit of flavor and balances out the tanginess of the cream cheese.

Be sure to check out the printable recipe card for full recipe information on ingredients and quantities.

How To Make 3 Ingredient Cream Cheese Frosting

Place the room temperature cream cheese in the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or the paddle attachment. Turn the stand mixer on medium speed and mix until light and fluffy.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the powdered sugar and vanilla. On low speed, mix until the desired consistency is reached. This should take about 2 minutes. Continue to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Tips and Tricks

• Make sure to scrape down the sides of the stand mixer after the cream cheese is whipped. You'll also want to scrape down the sides of the bowl again once the cream cheese mixture comes together.
• This is not a very sweet frosting since it has less sugar than a regular buttercream frosting would have. If you prefer a sweeter frosting, feel free to add 1 cup of powdered sugar instead of ½ cup.
• If you don't have a stand mixer, use an electric mixer and a large bowl. This easy cream cheese frosting recipe will come together perfectly with a hand mixer and a large mixing bowl.
• Smear this easy frosting with an offset spatula or you can put it in a piping bag and pipe it onto your cakes. Either way is great!
• Flavor the icing too! Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder for a chocolate cream cheese frosting, or cinnamon for a cinnamon flavored icing.

Storage Info

You can make this frosting in advance. Put it together entirely and then place it in an airtight container. Keep it refrigerated for up to 48 hours before you need it.

When you are ready to frost your layer cake, take the frosting out of the refrigerator and place it on the counter to take the chill off. To whip it again, place it in the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment as whip it on medium speed until it is light and fluffy.

You can freeze this butter free cream cheese frosting too! Place it in a freezer safe container and freeze it for up to 3 months. When you are ready to use it, defrost it in the refrigerator and then use it to frost your favorite cakes.

Keyword FAQs

More 3 Ingredient Recipes