Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
My cinnamon cream cheese frosting is wonderful on so many different desserts. The warmth of cinnamon makes even my favorite plain cream cheese frosting even more special.
Ingredients
This recipe requires baking staples: cream cheese, butter, ground cinnamon, and powdered sugar.
Make sure that your cream cheese is a block and not whipped. Also, be sure to use full-fat cream cheese as it will work so much better.
How It’s Made
Start by beating the butter to incorporate lots of air into it. You want it to get nice and light. This takes about three minutes using a stand mixer on high speed.
Next, mix in the cream cheese until just combined.
Then, mix in the powdered sugar a little bit at a time. If you add it all at once, it will fly out of the mixer and make a big mess! I have used anywhere from four to eight cups of powdered sugar to make enough frosting for 12 cupcakes. It depends on how firm you want the frosting to be.
Even when I used the full eight cups, tasters commented that they didn’t think the frosting was that sweet. The cream cheese does a really nice job of tempering the sweetness.
Finally, and most importantly, mix in the cinnamon.
Pipe or spread it on your favorite desserts!
Expert Tips and FAQs
Use cinnamon that smells fresh and aromatic. Some recipes call for specific types of cinnamon. I’ve made this recipe with all different brands of cinnamon, and even cinnamon that is years old! As long as it still smells amazing when you open the jar, your frosting will be wonderful.
Buy blocks of cream cheese, not the whipped tubs. Also, always buy full-fat cream cheese – the frosting will be much better!
Always start with room temperature ingredients. If the cream cheese is too cold, it won’t integrate into the frosting.
Food safety experts would likely tell you to refrigerate anything with cream cheese. That said, I leave my cakes and cupcakes with this frosting out on the counter for several days. I have never had problems with the frosting souring, and I have certainly never had any negative health effects.
Yes! Foods with a high fat content tend to survive freezing well. You can put a plastic bag of cinnamon cheese frosting in the freezer for weeks or maybe even months. Let it thaw and re-whip it a bit when it comes out before you use it.
Some brands of cream cheese are more susceptible to becoming gummy than others. Make sure you add cream cheese to the aerated butter and mix only until just combined. Overwhipping the cream cheese can definitely make things worse.
Related Recipes
- Banana cupcakes
- Gingerbread cupcakes
- Ginger molasses cookies (Spread it between two of these to make sandwich cookies. You can also spread it between homemade Oreo cookies to make cinnamon Oreos.)
- Cinnamon roll cake
- My other great frosting recipes
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon add more to taste
- 6 cups powdered sugar add more or less to make the frosting a stiffness that you like
Instructions
- Beat butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about three minutes on high speed. Scrape down the side of the bowl as needed.
- Mix in cream cheese until just combined.
- Mix in powdered sugar a little bit at a time until just combined.
- Mix in cinnamon.
Notes
- Buy blocks of cream cheese, not the whipped tubs. Also, always buy full-fat cream cheese – the frosting will be much better!
- Always start with room temperature ingredients. If the cream cheese is too cold, it won’t integrate into the frosting.
- Don’t over-whip the cream cheese. This can make the frosting gummy with certain brands of cream cheese.
This frosting was delicious! My husband wanted a pineapple cake with cinnamon filling for his birthday, so I made this frosting to fill this cake: http://www.savorysimple.net/super-moist-pineapple-cake/
It was so good! My husband even add extra of the frosting to his own slice of cake. He loved it! Thank you for this recipe!
I’ve never made cream cheese frosting but I made some pumpkin spice cupcakes and this frosting was perfect! Delicious! Thanks
I am a FACS teacher and we use it on gingerbread men for the holidays. My friends all love its rich flavor.
Hi there, I made an italian spiced olive oil cake earlier today and wanted something a bit tart to ice it with to cut the richness of the oil, would this frosting work do you think? It sounds yummy!! Thanks
I’m thinking about using this recipe on a birthday cake I’m making for a friend, but I’m not quite sure how much frosting this recipe makes. Can anyone please tell me how much 1 batch of frosting makes??
omg, for a couple of days i have toting the idea of a chai spiced frosting with me. having read the above, i feel very reassured that i am not crazy.
How many cupcakes will this recipe cover? Sounds delicious!
Can I use a canned cream cheese frosting & add cinnamon & use that?
what the poop does T stand for in 1 t vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Nice frosting! Made it for the cupcake inside a cupcake recipe. I’ve just had a foodgasm! The combination of flavors was fantastic!
Hello! I’m so excited to make this! I’m going to make it with some apple butter cupcakes. I am making 3 dozen cupcakes, how many cupcakes would this recipe frost? Should I double it? Thanks!!
Anon – It would be great on cinnamon buns!
I used this tonight on a pumpkin spice cake….turned out amazing! great frosting recipe! Thanks!
can it be used on top of cinnamon buns?
I used this frosting last night on top of snickerdoodle cookie dough cupcakes… snickerdoodle cookie dough inside a butter cupcake – they are amazing!
I’m making a pumpkin cake, do you think this icing would work well?
I used coconut extract with the cinnamon! It was delish!
Anon – I’ve made Chai Spice cupcakes. It was my very first cupcake (don’t laugh at how ugly they look https://www.cupcakeproject.com/chocolate-chai-spice-first-cupcakes/). This frosting would go really well with it. For Chai latte you could also add a touch of instant coffee to the frosting.
Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try it out!
Has anyone here ever made chai latte cupcakes? I’m thinking about using this frosting on vanilla chai latte cupcakes.
I’m going to try it on pumpkin cupcakes
I used this with Mexican Chocolate cupcakes and it taste amazing!
I found the cake recipe that called for cinnamon ice cream, I decided to turn that idea into cupcakes!
This frosting was amazing! I used it for some apple butter cupcakes, just posted about them.
I can’t wait to try this recipe tomorrow. I’m making a pumplin cake drizzed with chocolate ganache… my plan is to fold some
whipped cream into your recipe to lighten it up a little and use as the filling in between layers.
Katie – Of course! It would be perfect!
Do you think this icing would go well on top of apple cupcakes?
In my family we LOVE cinnamon!
I bet the Madagascar vanilla will go well with this recipe!
I’m going to try it this weekend!
Kerry – Yay! I’m so glad it worked out for you!! Thanks for letting me know.
I just wanted to let you know that I used this frosting on some carrot cupcakes today and W-O-W! They turned out AMAZING! I am a huge fan of regular cream cheese frosting, but I feel like I used it a lot on many of my cupcakes, so I’ve been searching for something different to try out on them – I couldn’t be happier with the way they turned out! Exactly what I was looking for and more! I’ll be posting pictures soon! THANKS! :)
Thanks! It’s a Southern favorite around here! I will try the Cinnamon Cream Cheese to add a new twist.
I’ve actually never had Italian Cream Cake (better add that to my list!). However, I looked up some recipes and I don’t see why this frosting wouldn’t work. You might want to double the recipe to make sure you have enough for a whole cake.
Can you use this on an Italian Cream Cake?