Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
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This strawberry cream cheese frosting is perfectly creamy and fluffy and loaded with strawberry flavor! I’ll show you the trick to how to achieve the perfect consistency for this frosting recipe. This homemade strawberry cream cheese frosting recipe takes only a few minutes to mix up and just a few simple ingredients!
I’ve been wanting to make a strawberry cream cheese frosting recipe on the blog for awhile now. So when I set out to create this strawberry cake recipe, I knew this frosting had to be a part of it.
To create this frosting I used my cream cheese frosting recipe as the base because frankly I think it’s downright perfect. But to get maximum strawberry flavor, I used my secret ingredient from my Strawberry Buttercream Frosting – freeze-dried strawberries.
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Freeze Dried Strawberries!
The key to making a strawberry buttercream with true strawberry flavor is freeze dried strawberries. I’ve tried different variations with jam (too sweet!) or a puree (too liquid-y and way too time consuming!). So enter the freeze dried strawberries. By using freeze-dried strawberries you get maximum strawberry flavor but without adding an extra liquid to it.
I find the freeze-dried strawberries usually in the health food aisle of my grocery store. I simply pop them into my food processor and pulse them into a fine powder and stir them into my frosting. Maximum strawberry goodness in every bite.
Ingredients Needed
- Cream Cheese
- Unsalted butter
- Confectioners (powdered) Sugar
- Vanilla
- Freeze-dried strawberries
How To Make Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
So simple, you ready? Ok here is a step by step photo tutorial of how to make this strawberry cream cheese buttercream.
Step 1: Cream your butter and cream cheese
In a your stand mixer with paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
You want to cream together the butter and cream cheese first before adding any powdered sugar. You can make this in your stand mixer, or use a hand mixer as shown below. It’ll just take a bit more elbow grease on your part!
Heather’s Baking Tip
Use softened butter and cream cheese. This is important. If either one is too cold they won’t incorporate and turn into a smooth frosting. You will end up with a lumpy cream cheese frosting. And if you need to soften your butter quickly I have 3 easy ways to do that for you. But basically you can leave them out on the counter for an hour or so until softened.
Step 2: Add your powdered sugar.
Do this 1/2 cup at a time to avoid a blizzard all over your kitchen. Then mix until incorporated. And be sure to start your mixer on low. I also like to wrap a kitchen towel around the mixer to catch any sugar that is determined to fly out of the bowl.
I usually don’t have a problem with powdered sugar lumps. But if you want to be on the safe side, especially if you are going to use a piping bag with this frosting, you can sift your powdered sugar first. This will ensure no lumps get stuck in your piping bag. If you’re not a fan of sifting (and neither am I!) you can also just whisk your powdered sugar in a bowl before adding it to the frosting.
Step 3: Add Vanilla.
Because this is a no bake recipe essentially using a good quality vanilla is essential since you will taste it. I love using either Nielsen-Massey or Heilala vanilla.
Step 4: Add the strawberry powder.
I simply grind the freeze-dried strawberries up in my food processor until they are broken down into a fine powder.
Step 5: Mix until light and fluffy!
You want to do this for about 5-7 minutes. It’s a long time, but trust me it’s worth it 🙂
Step 6: Frost and enjoy.
And if you need help frosting, then check out this post on how to frost the perfect cupcake (+ video!).
You can also learn how to master all 6 buttercreams in my Buttercream Basics Guide!
Recipe Tips
- Use softened butter and cream cheese. This is important. If either one is too cold they won’t incorporate and turn into a smooth frosting. You will end up with a lumpy cream cheese frosting. And if you need to soften your butter quickly I have 3 easy ways to do that for you. But basically you can leave them out on the counter for an hour or so until softened.
- Scrape down the bowl as you go. Sometimes the butter and cream cheese will stick to the bottom of the bowl or beater and not be mixed in evenly. So stop and scrape the bowl down with a sturdy silicone spatula to ensure that everything is being mixed in.
- Use Full Fat Brick Style Cream Cheese. Sorry but now is not the time to save those calories. You want to use the block style cream cheese, full-fat is best, and do not use the tub variety as that’s a whipped variety and will not yield the same results.
- Use unsalted butter. Different brands of butter can use varying amounts of salt in their salted butter. So you want to control the amount of salt by adding it yourself.
Recipe FAQ’s
This frosting needs to be stored in the fridge, up to 5 days. You may need to let it soften again before trying to frost with it. I also like to throw it back in my mixer and re-whip it again before using.
Yes place in an airtight container and pop into your freezer for up to 3 months. When ready to use, thaw it overnight in the fridge, then re-whip until it’s light and fluffy again! You can read a full tutorial on how to store your buttercream here.
For Cupcakes – This recipe will generously frost 12 cupcakes. I like to pipe a pretty tall amount of frosting on each cupcake. So if you don’t use as much as I do as in the photos, then you might get more frosted (around 24 cupcakes). For help on decorating cupcakes, be sure to check out my The Ultimate Guide To Baking Cupcakes At Home and The Ultimate Guide To Making The Best Buttercream Icing.
For Cake – This frosting will cover a 9 x 13 sheet cake or a 2 layer 8-inch. For a larger cake like a 9-inch cake I’d make a double batch.
Recipes To Use This Frosting On
You can add this to any thing you might want a big old layer of frosting on top! Here are a few recipes that I think would be perfect to pair with it:
- Vanilla Cake
- Homemade Funfetti Cake
- Homemade White Cake
- Easy Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
- Easy Chocolate Cupcakes
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More Frosting Recipes To Enjoy
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Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
- ½ cup (1 stick, 113 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 3 cups (334 g) confectioners sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1.2 ounces freeze-dried strawberries pulsed into a powder
Instructions
- Mix cream cheese and butter. In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and butter. Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Add powdered sugar ½ cup at a time, with mixer off, then mix on low speed until combined. Add vanilla extract, and beat to combine.
- Add freeze-dried strawberries. Add the freeze-dried strawberry powder to the frosting and beat on low speed to combined. Once combined, increase speed to medium speed and beat until light and fluffy for about 5 to 6 minutes.
Notes
- Storage: Store the frosting in the fridge for up to 5 days. Soften again to room temperature before using. I usually find that I need to re-whip it again before using.
- Freezing: Leftover frosting can be frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Thaw overnight in the fridge, and re-whip before using.
- For Cupcakes – This recipe will generously frost 12 cupcakes. I like to pipe a pretty tall amount of frosting on each cupcake. So if you don’t use as much as I do as in the photos, then you might get more frosted (around 24 cupcakes).
- For Cake – This frosting will cover a 9 x 13 sheet cake or a 2 layer 8-inch. For a larger cake like a 9-inch cake I’d make a double batch.
- Room temperature ingredients: Make sure your butter and cream cheese are at room temperature so they blend easily into the frosting and create a smooth frosting
Absolutely magical frosting. It tastes like fresh strawberries and almost like a cream cheese buttercream somewhere between the two. It is a beautiful color and nice and thick and stable and easy to make. I halved the recipe only changes I made was I used 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 a tsp natural wild strawberry Artisan flavor by amoretti (its a stunning product worth every cent). I love your recipes they always turn out so wonderful thank you for sharing them!
Thank you so much—I’m thrilled you loved the frosting! Your tweaks sound fantastic (that Amoretti flavor sounds divine 😍). It means the world to me that you enjoy my recipes, and I’m so grateful you took the time to share your feedback. Happy baking!
What a lovely frosting recipe! I used it to top a lemon poppyseed bundt cake and the flavors went so well together! I do wish the strawberry flavor was a bit stronger but it still tasted amazing! So fluffy and very sweet.
Hi Kayla! I’m so glad you loved it! If you want more strawberry flavor I would recommend adding a little strawberry extract – maybe 1/2 teaspoon? Let me know if that works!
Absolutely delicious! Great strawberry flavor-a definite keeper recipe. So easy, too. Plus, no worries about how to get decent strawberries in December for my daughter’s birthday cupcakes. Everyone loved it. Thank you!
aw that’s awesome Kathy!! I’m so glad you loved the recipe 🙂
hi! Is this recipe enough for a whole cake?
For cakes I like to make a double batch (triple if I plan on doing some decorating around the edges)
Worked well. Great flavor. I also added a little strawberry preserve.
Aw that’s awesome Kay!! So glad you love the recipe!
So glad I found your recipe with the suggestion to use freeze dried strawberries. Every recipe I looked at people were complaining about it being too runny. Yours sounds great. Can’t wait to make it.
Thanks Teresia, let me know how you like it!