This Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting recipe is silky smooth, extremely flavorful, and pipes beautifully!
I LOVE this frosting with chocolate cakes and cupcakes, although it also pairs nicely with yellow & white cakes too! In fact, it’s so good that you’ll want to skip the cake & just grab a spoon!
Helpful Hint: We’ve found that there’s no need to soften the cream cheese beforehand. Actually, this recipe works best when the cream cheese has not been softened at all!
The cupcakes pictured above were made with our scratch Chocolate Cake Recipe & swirled with a 2D piping tip. For a surprise inside, insert a frosting-filled piping bag fitted with a 10 or 12 piping tip into your unfrosted cupcakes and fill with a bit of Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting, and finish with a swirl on top!
Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) (226g) unsalted butter - Let the butter sit out for approximately 10 minutes. It should feel cool to the touch
- 2( 8oz.) packages cream cheese (total weight 452g)- I used full fat cream cheese. Using reduced fat or the spreadable cream cheese will cause the frosting to be too soft. Do not soften the cream cheese.
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (4g) cherry extract
- 6 to 61/2 cups (690g to 747g) powdered sugar
- Wilton Rose Gel Color, optional - I used a very small amount, putting the color on a toothpick to add to the frosting.
Directions
- Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
- Cut the cold cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated.
- Add the vanilla and cherry extract. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended (cover bowl with
- a towel to keep a cloud of powdered sugar from floating over your kitchen).
- Add the gel color at this point, increase mixing speed and beat until fluffy, approximately 1 minute, don't over beat.
- This frosting will pipe best when chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use, let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
- Will frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake.
We also love this Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting with our homemade Cherry Cake! Enjoy!
Sounds yummy! Funny I was thinking about the same recipe being a cream cheese frosting lover :) And having just purchased cherry extract for my Valentines Cake :) I have my meringues in the oven as I look at this :)
Hi MsGF! Sounds like things are getting Valentinesy in your kitchen! You’ve got to try this recipe, so good! xoxo
A tip: a damp kitchen towel over your mixer works better than a dry. The moisture prevents any powdered sugar from “proofing” when it’s removed.
Great idea, damp paper towels also
Hi ladies, could I use this same recipe with almond flavoring as opposed to cherry? Does this crust? Also I have a large batch of whipped non crusting almond buttercream frosting that I need to put on a large sheetcake. My question is: is it better for me to use this whipped frosting as the filling since I was thinking it may be too soft for a sheetcake? I will have extra left over and it is so darn good so what do u think about me mixing that non crusting with a crusting buttercream so will be able to make corners sharp and also get top of sheet smooth? I will be using plunger cutters to make butterflies and flowers all over the sheetcake, not covering with fondant. Please give me input on how to proceed…I found this whipped frosting on line and fell in love with how light it tastes, and I made alot of it. I just don’t want to dump it if possible. It is an all butter recipe. Even if I need to add a crusting bc to it, I just want to know if it will work and the ratios. I also didn’t know how non crusting would work with the cutouts. Any ideas on how to approach this project? The cake will be for 80 people. Due Saturday! Thanks so much!!!
oooh this looks delicious! What brand of cherry flavoring did you use and where did you find it? I have a hard time finding different flavorings in my area.
Hi Terri- This frosting has just the slightest crust after it has been out for a while. It wouldn’t be ideal for the Viva paper towel method…but it does pipe nicely and holds it’s shape. It’s best to work with it while slightly chilled.
As for your whipped frosting question, you may have worked this out by now but I’m just not sure. I’ve combined frostings in the past (cream cheese frosting with vanilla buttercream for instance) but in your case, I’m not sure if the whipped frosting is too soft/airy to hold up to being combined with something else. I guess the only way to know for sure is to experiment with small amounts in a bowl first to make sure you like the consistency.
As for the fondant accents, I would add those close to the time of the event and you should be fine! Sometimes fondant can absorb the moisture of the frosting and soften. I hope this helps!!
@Dene- I’ll get back to you on the brand (It’s in Mom’s kitchen, lol) – I know it’s from Wal Mart–they always seem to have a better selection of flavorings than our grocery store ;0)
Hi Dene, I used Watkins Cherry Extract. I found it at Wal-Mart, McCormick also has a cherry extract but was not available at my local grocery.
Thanks Melissa and BeBe! I found the Watkins!!!
I can’t seem to find cherry extract, do you think I could use cherry juice? Thank you,
Jan
HI Ejfan45, Cherry juice would not be as intense a flavor as cherry extract. You probably would get a stronger flavor using a teaspoon of the juice from a bottle of maraschino cherries, or cherry preserves or jam.
Hi, I love this recipe and want to used at my daughter first birthday. Just want to know How Manu cupcakes Will do. Thanks
Hi Cristiane, I think this recipe makes 4 cups frosting. One cup of frosting will frost 12 cupcake with a simple swirl using a 2D tip. A high swirl will need double the amount. Remember to use full fat cream cheese and don’t over beat the frosting or it will become very soft. Have fun at the party !