Easy White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting is rich, tangy, and decadent. You can whip it together with just a few simple ingredients for a thick, pipeable frosting for cakes and cupcakes or thin it with milk for a luscious glaze over bundt cakes, angel food cakes, or pound cakes.
You’re going to love this
4 simple ingredients. Cream cheese, white chocolate, powdered sugar, and milk are all you need to make this decadent cream cheese frosting.
No butter. Yes, you can make cream cheese frosting without butter. This frosting is just as creamy and rich as those made with butter. I bypassed butter in this recipe for a couple of reasons. First, I didn’t want the butter to discolor the beautiful white frosting. Second, I wanted to use as few ingredients as possible. And you know what? You won’t notice the butter is missing. At all.
White chocolate. Even if you’re not in love with white chocolate (I’m not), it brings sweetness to the tangy cream cheese. And since there is no butter or vanilla in this recipe, the melted white chocolate brings some of those vanilla flavors and helps firm the frosting as it cools.
Frosting or glaze. If you follow the frosting instructions for this recipe, you will have a thick frosting you can gloop onto cake or pipe onto cupcakes. To make a glaze, just add some milk, one tablespoon at a time, until you get the glaze consistency you like.
Keep it simple or make it fancy. White chocolate cream cheese frosting is plenty special all on its own. But if you want to give your cakes and cupcakes a special touch, make white chocolate shards (like you see in the photo above) to add beautiful decoration, dimension, texture, and a little crunch to your dessert.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Cream cheese. Bring your cream cheese to room temperature before making this frosting. That way, when you add the melted white chocolate, the two will meld perfectly together. Otherwise, cold cream cheese could bring that oozy melty chocolate to a sudden seizing halt.
White chocolate. I specifically chose Nestle Premier White chocolate chips for this frosting recipe because they were the brightest white chocolate I could find. Sure, there were loads of fancier chocolate I could have selected, but they had a yellowish tinge to them. Not what I was looking for.
Powdered sugar. This recipe uses 1 cup of powdered sugar. If you would like a thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar, about ¼ cup at a time, until you achieve your desired consistency.
Milk. To thin the frosting to a glaze consistency that would slowly ooze down the sides without becoming too drippy, I added 4-5 tablespoons of milk. If you are making a thick frosting, skip the milk. If you are looking for a thinner glaze, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Would be Delicious on...
How to make White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
In a medium bowl, whip the cream cheese until it is just soft and fluffy. Be careful not to over beat the cream cheese or the frosting will become too thin.
Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl on high setting for 30 seconds. Stir. Continue to heat in 15-second increments or until all the chips are completely melted and the white chocolate is smooth.
Add the melted white chocolate to the cream cheese and mix until just combined.
To Make Glaze
Gradually add 1 cup of powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until it is just incorporated, then on high until the white chocolate cream cheese frosting is smooth and creamy.
Add milk, one tablespoon at a time, until it reaches your desired drizzling consistency. I used 4-5 tablespoons.
To Make Thick, Pipeable Frosting
Gradually add 2 cups of powdered sugar to the cream cheese-white chocolate mixture. Do not add milk. Chill the frosting for a couple of hours, until firm.
Frost Your Dessert
If you are making the glaze, immediately glaze your cake.
Add decorations like white chocolate shards, sprinkles immediately after glazing or frosting, before it has set.
Place the cake in the refrigerator to allow the frosting to set.
To serve room temperature cake, remove the cake from the refrigerator about an hour before you plan to serve it.
Store frosted cakes in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and Glaze
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup powdered sugar (2 cups for pipeable frosting)
- 4-5 tablespoons milk (if making glaze)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whip the cream cheese until it is just soft and fluffy. Be careful not to over beat the cream cheese or the frosting will become too thin.
- Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl on high setting for 30 seconds. Stir. Continue to heat in 15-second increments or until all the chips are completely melted and the white chocolate is smooth.
- Add the melted white chocolate to the cream cheese and mix until just combined.
To Make Glaze
- Gradually add 1 cup of powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until it is just incorporated, then on high until the white chocolate cream cheese frosting is smooth and creamy.
- Add milk, one tablespoon at a time, until it reaches your desired drizzling consistency. I used 4-5 tablespoons.
To Make Thick, Pipeable Frosting
- Gradually add 2 cups of powdered sugar to the cream cheese-white chocolate mixture. Do not add milk. Chill the frosting for a couple of hours, until firm. If the frosting is still too thin to pipe once it has cooled, mix in more powdered sugar until it reaches piping consistency.
Frost or Glaze Your Dessert
- If you are making glaze, glaze your cake immediately. Add decorations like white chocolate shards, sprinkles, or others immediately after frosting. Place the cake in the refrigerator to allow the frosting to set.To serve room temperature cake, remove the cake from the refrigerator about an hour before you plan to serve it.
- Store cakes frosted with white chocolate cream cheese frosting or glaze in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Cream Cheese Frosting FAQs
Yes. To serve room temperature cake, remove the cake from the refrigerator about an hour before you plan to serve it.
Yes, you can refrigerate your white chocolate cream cheese frosting for a couple of days in the refrigerator before frosting your cake.
Adding extra powdered sugar can help thicken your cream cheese frosting, but adding too much could cause it to become sweeter than you want it to be. If adding one cup to this recipe doesn’t get you where you want to go, you can whip in a few tablespoons of heavy cream. Popping the icing into the refrigerator to cool is another option.
Frosting is typically thicker and is used to cover the tops, layers, and sides of cakes, and to pipe onto cupcakes.
Glaze is a thinner consistency and can be poured or drizzled over bundt cakes, angel food cakes, coffee cakes, or pound cakes.
This white chocolate cream cheese frosting would taste delicious on any cake, cupcake, bar, brownie or cookie. But I think it would be especially tasty on carrot cake, pumpkin bars, or red velvet cake.
Yes! Cream cheese frosting freezes quite well. Just spoon it into a zip-top bag and pop it into the freezer. To defrost, place it in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Recipe Essentials
KitchenAid Hand Held Mixer
This little mixer is a workhorse. I’ve not yet felt the need to replace it with a stand mixer because it’s held up to everything I’ve thrown at it. It also comes with a whisk attachment, which is awesome for whipping cream, ricotta, or yogurt.
Nestle Premier White Chips
These are the chocolate chips I use in this recipe because they are brighter white than any other brand of white chocolate chips I could find.
Which size cake does this recipe cover? I am baking a 9inch cake (2 rounds cut in half to make 4 layers)
Hi, Barbara, thank you for your question! This recipe yield about 2 cups of glaze or frosting. For a layer cake, I recommend following the frosting directions and letting it chill for a bit to firm up before frosting your layer cake. To ensure you have enough frosting, you may wish to triple the recipe. If you have any leftover, you can freeze it for later. Hope this helps! Cara 🙂