Cream cheese frosting is a favorite, but if you’re out of one of the crucial ingredients, can you make cream cheese frosting without butter? Sure can!
There are actually a few ways to do it:
Cream Cheese Frosting with Whipped Cream
Chowhound
In a community thread on the subject, Chowhound Pia posted, “I LOVE the taste of cream cheese frosting, but I don’t like how dense it is.” She found an easy fix, though: Use whipped cream instead of butter in the frosting. Just whip about 3/4 cup cream until fairly stiff, then beat in 8 ounces softened cream cheese and powdered sugar to taste, and add vanilla or other flavoring. According to Pia, “It was great! The texture was a little lighter and fluffier than butter-based cream cheese frosting, but it was just as easy to pipe and spread. It firmed up nicely in the fridge, too. This is going to be my new standard cream cheese frosting.”
Related Reading: The Best Butter Substitutes in Baking and Cooking
Cream Cheese Frosting with Sour Cream
Chowhound
Alternatively, follow beyondthepeel’s lead and make a lighter-textured cream cheese frosting by incorporating a bit of sour cream: Beat together 8 ounces softened cream cheese, 4 tablespoons softened butter, 2 tablespoons sour cream, and 2 teaspoons vanilla, then slowly incorporate 1 pound powdered sugar (or enough to achieve your desired consistency); beyondthepeel uses this frosting for cinnamon buns as well as cakes. We think it’s a brilliant solution for those who feel too much tang goes out of the cream cheese frosting once you add the sugar too.
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting without Butter
Chowhound
And finally, a cream cheese frosting without any butter replacement at all: This one just calls for whipping the cream cheese itself until pillowy and billowy. A stand mixer is your best friend here—and the recipe does use a bit more than one brick of cream cheese, so see what to do with leftover cream cheese (or try scaling back on the sugar and vanilla if you don’t have more than one package of Philly). Get our Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting recipe.
Related Video: How to Make Our Easy Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Header image by Chowhound
