Whether it’s for carrot cake or red velvet this is my go-to cream cheese frosting! Only 4 ingredients; cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla.

It takes a lot for me to claim a recipe is “the dependable” but to me and Malloree (my anti-fan-of-frosting daughter) this dish is all that and then some.

I think what makes it so special is that it has the dependable balance of tang and sweetness and with a touch of vanilla. If ever a frosting is truly sweet I tend to leave it behind and only eat the cake around it, but that isn’t the case when it comes to kitchen-made cream cheese frosting. Nuh-uh. I could eat it with a spoon, on a shoe… on basically anything.

As you may know, my cream cheese frosting recipe isn’t new to this blog. I first shared it back in 2012, when I frosted my familiar red velvet cake. However in that post there wasn’t step-by-step photo instructions, plus I wanted it to be easily found if searched, so I’m giving it it’s own post so it can shine.

Tomorrow it will be frosting a different cake.My mother’s cake recipe that’s dependable for spring! Okay, that’s all the hints I’m giving… now let us make frosting!

For this Cream Cheese Frosting Set out:

cream cheese
unsalted butter
pure vanilla extract
confectioners sugar

Drop the 2 softened bricks of cream cheese into the bowl of your stand mixer (that’s fitted with the paddle attachment!).

Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy.

To the cream cheese, add in 1 stick softened butter and blend together.

Then scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl…

Add 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract and mix together.

With the mixer on low, gradually add 1/3 to a 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar at a time.

Until mixed through, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as you go.

Replace the paddle with the whisk attachment and beat on high for 10 to 15 seconds (or longer for a more whipped frosting). Stop once the frosting is thick, creamy and without little lumps.

Ta-dah!

Now you only need a cake to frost.