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Home » Recipes by Course » Desserts

Modified: Feb 20, 2025 Published: Feb 18, 2021· Cathy Brak · This post may contain affiliate links ·

Home » Recipes by Course » Desserts

Cream Cheese Frosting without Butter

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This is a Cream Cheese Frosting without butter and without powdered sugar. It's light and fluffy, but also rich and satisfying at the same time! Perfect for carrot cake and cinnamon rolls, whip it up in ten minutes or less with only 4 ingredients!

cream cheese frosting without butter is scooped from a grey bowl
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  • Ingredients
  • Instructions
  • Recipe FAQ's and Tips
  • Storage
  • What Uses Cream Cheese Frosting?
  • Recipe

What can I use instead of butter in frosting, you ask. How can homemade cream cheese icing for carrot cake be good without powdered icing sugar? The secret is in the two somewhat-healthier ingredients: raw honey and whipped cream. You don't need much honey to give whipped cream cheese frosting the sweetness it needs when the flavour and richness of whipping cream and cream cheese make it so satisfying. The cream is whipped separately before being incorporated into the frosting, so it provides a certain lightness to the topping.

Ingredients

small bowls of vanilla, cream cheese, whipping cream, and honey with labels
  • Cream Cheese - Use the kind that comes in a brick rather than the more spreadable one sold in a tub. Allow it to come to room temperature so you can beat it.
  • Heavy Whipping Cream - Labels are different in different countries. In Canada, I use 35% whipping cream. It might also be called heavy cream or heavy whipping cream. Use something that has 30% fat content or greater.
  • Honey - There are health benefits to consuming raw honey, and they will be retained as this frosting is uncooked. Any liquid honey should work in this recipe, though.
  • Vanilla - I use pure vanilla extract.

Instructions

beaten cream cheese mixture in bottom of mixing bowl with whisk

Beat softened cream cheese, liquid honey, and vanilla extract together until they are smoothly combined. Use either a stand mixer or a hand-held one.

closeup of stiffly beaten whipped cream on whisk held over bowl

Beat the whipping cream until it is stiff enough to form peaks when the beater is pulled out.

fluffy white mixture in bowl with wooden spatula

Carefully fold the whipped cream, about one-quarter of it at a time, into the beaten cream cheese mixture. To fold, gently draw a spatula through both ingredients in the bowl from one side to the other. Keep turning the bowl, a little at a time, until everything has been mixed together.

fluffy white frosting being spread over round layer cake

Spread homemade cream cheese frosting over cake, cupcakes, muffins, or cinnamon rolls.

close up of white frosting on round cake

Recipe FAQ's and Tips

Why should I use a brick of cream cheese and then let it soften when I can just buy spreadable cream cheese?

The benefit of using a softened brick of cream cheese is that when your frosting is refrigerated, the cream cheese will firm up again and help it to thicken.

Why is cream cheese frosting runny?

Your cream cheese frosting might be runny if you used softened, spreadable cream cheese or if your cream was not whipped until stiff peaks formed. It may also become runny if it's left out in a warm room for too long after it has been made.

Can cream cheese frosting sit out overnight?

Don't let this cream cheese frosting sit out overnight. It should be covered and refrigerated until you serve it.

Storage

Store the frosting in the refrigerator, whether it's been applied to something or is still in a bowl. The bowl should be covered tightly.

What Uses Cream Cheese Frosting?

  • wedge of white vanilla cake with red strawberry filling and white frosting served on a black plate.
    Strawberry Jam Cake
  • slice of gluten free lemon cake with lemon curd filling and cream cheese frosting on white plate garnished with raspberries and blueberries
    Gluten Free Lemon Cake Recipe
  • slice of frosted carrot cake sitting on a pale green plate with bite on fork.
    Gluten-Free Carrot Cake with Pineapple and Coconut
  • gluten free cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting pulled apart with a fork on a black plate
    Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Recipe

cream cheese frosting without butter is scooped from a grey bowl

Cream Cheese Frosting

This cream cheese frosting made without powdered sugar and without butter is rich, flavourful, and satisfying! It's perfect with carrot cake or cinnamon rolls.
5 from 5 votes
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American, Canadian
Diet: Gluten Free
Keyword: cream cheese frosting, cream cheese frosting no butter, cream cheese frosting without powdered sugar, cream cheese icing
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes minutes
Servings: 12 2-layer cake servings
Calories: 143kcal
Author: Cathy

Equipment

  • Stand Mixer
Prevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup heavy whipping cream chilled
  • 1 cup (8 oz) cream cheese at room temperature
  • ¼ cup raw honey in liquid form
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Beat together the cream cheese, honey, and vanilla.
  • In a clean bowl, whip the cream until stiff.
  • Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Use it immediately to frost a cooled cake, cupcakes, or muffins. Store the frosted items in the refrigerator.

Notes

  • A stand mixer makes quick work of this frosting. You can certainly use a hand mixer if you don't have one.
  • Store any frosting that you're not using right away, covered, in the refrigerator for a few days.

Nutrition

Serving: 12-layer cake serving | Calories: 143kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 69mg | Potassium: 44mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 483IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 1mg
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Comments

  1. Michelle says

    October 31, 2023 at 7:29 pm

    Wow these look amazing recipes, I was diagnosed coeliac.... Gluten Free 35 years ago and still the struggle for great tasting treats/ pastry and batters continues ... I will be following your recipes this weekend....especially the GF battered Cod ....thank you x

    Reply
    • Cathy Brak says

      November 01, 2023 at 7:12 pm

      Thank you, Michelle. I hope you find some new favorites here!

      Reply
5 from 5 votes (5 ratings without comment)

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