Add scintillatingly spiced sweetness to your favorite desserts with my deliciously simple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. This perfectly pipable, terrifically tangy buttercream icing is made with just 5 basic ingredients in only a few minutes.
Want me to let you in on a pastry chef’s secret? When it comes to baking flawless cakes, frosting plays an outsized role. Sure, you want the layers to be level and the cake to be moist and tasty. But frosting is an incredible tool in your pastry arsenal—a great icing recipe is usually enough to salvage even the most “meh” desserts around.
And, while I love my bright blueberry cream cheese frosting for the spring and summer, cooler months are approaching. That’s right, friends. Cozy season is upon us! This is the time of year to let your spice cabinet shine—spiced bundt cakes, caramel apple spice cakes, and pumpkin sweet potato cupcakes are to colder weather what beer cheese dip is to soft pretzels.
So, if you want to take your sweater-weather sweets like fruit cake and gingerbread cake to the next level, you’re in the right place! This dreamy, warmly spiced buttercream cream cheese frosting is the ticket. And the best part? It’s a snap to whip up!
⭐ Why You’ll Love This Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing Recipe
- Affordable Decadence - As a pastry chef, I often turn to sweets to improve a sour mood. This delightfully simple recipe screams indulgence but is inexpensive to make. (Seriously, try swiping some on a plain graham cracker to actually taste quiet luxury.)
- Easy, Peasy - All you need are 5 ingredients, one bowl, a mixer, and about 5 minutes to make a batch. It couldn’t be simpler, then add to some cinnamon macarons!
- Versatile - It’s a given that this spiced cream cheese icing goes great with most cakes and cupcakes, but it can do so much more. Cinnamon plays nicely with nearly all flavors, so you could sandwich it between two molasses spice cookies as easily as you could stuff it into vanilla macarons or use it to top your favorite coffee and tea drinks.
🍴Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter - I prefer starting with a neutral flavor base so I can adjust the seasoning accordingly. If you don’t mind salty sweets, salted butter is just fine. If possible, opt for European-style, organic, grass-fed, and/or cultured butter for the best-tasting results.
- Cream Cheese - Use high-quality block-style cream cheese. You can also trade in another soft, spreadable farmer’s cheese like tangy Neufchatel or mildly sweet and milky mascarpone.
- Powdered Sugar - It’s not a coincidence that one of this sweetener’s aliases is “icing sugar.” The powdery-fine grain ensures perfect smoothness, while the added starch helps give the frosting structure, making it more suitable for piping. If you’re fresh out, you can make your own by blitzing 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch or potato starch in a food processor.
- Vanilla Extract - For aromatic warmth that makes our cream cheese frosting even more crave-worthy. You’re welcome to use an equal amount of vanilla paste or powder, or swap in half as much freshly scraped vanilla beans (not the pods).
- Ground Cinnamon - This spice is essential to gett all those cozy fall feels. Make sure your bottle is relatively fresh for the best results; ground spices begin to lose their potency around 6 months and should be replaced every 12 months or so.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
⏲️ Substitutions & Variations
- Dairy-Free/Vegan. You’re welcome to use your favorite plant-based butter and plant-based block cream cheese to keep things vegan-friendly and dairy-free.
- Swap Your Spices. Feel free to get creative here! You can use a blend like pumpkin pie spice or chai masala (did someone say chai cream cheese frosting?!? 😋), or mix up your own using a combination of spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, or cloves.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
📖 How to Make Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting: Step-by-Step Instructions
As promised, making this cinnamon bun cream cheese frosting is a snap. Here’s how it’s done:
Step 1: Cream Fat. Beat together the softened butter and cream cheese on medium speed until it’s smooth and somewhat fluffy.
Step 2: Add Flavor. Scrape down the sides, then add in the powdered sugar slowly and vanilla extract & ground cinnamon.
Step 3: Mix: Using a spatula, mix together the ground cinnamon and cream cheese frosting until combined.
Step 4: Use & Enjoy! Place cream cheese frosting in a plastic bag or pastry bag with a piping tip and use as desired!
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
- Start At Room Temp. You want the cream cheese to be fully softened here to prevent any chunks. If it’s too cold, it’ll take a very long time to beat the fats to silky perfection.
- Quality Begets Quality. Starting with the very best ingredients is one of the best ways to ensure your cinnamon roll cream cheese frosting tastes absolutely spectacular.
- Scrape It Down. There’s nothing worse than filling your piping bag with beautiful, velvety icing only to accidentally find thick ribbons of plain butter or cream cheese at the bottom of the bowl. Make sure to scrape your bowl down a few times to ensure everything is well combined.
- Read The Room. Piping cream cheese frosting is easy to do, but make sure to take the event details into account. For example, if you’re attending an outdoor picnic at your local park and want to serve cupcakes several hours into your stay, cinnamon cream cheese frosting probably isn’t the right choice. American-style buttercream is way more stable!
💭 Recipe FAQs
I prefer storing my frosting in a pastry bag outfitted with my preferred piping tip. I then wrap it well in several layers of plastic wrap to prevent it from absorbing any strong smells from the fridge as well as keeping it from drying out. It’ll be fine at room temperature for 2-3 hours, keeps well for about 2 weeks in the fridge, or can be frozen for up to 3 months. (If you go the freezer route, take an extra precautionary step and pop the wrapped pastry bag in a freezer-safe zip-top bag or container to ward off freezer burn.
Generally speaking, most cream cheese frosting recipes have at least some butter in them. Cream cheese buttercream is a type of cream cheese frosting that has a higher proportion of butter, which leads to a more stable, more pipable consistency and a slightly sweeter flavor. This particular cream cheese frosting recipe could easily be considered cream cheese buttercream.
I already think plain cream cheese frosting is spectacular, but there are plenty of ways for you to flavor it—cinnamon included! You can also try using jams or jellies, other ground spices, freeze-dried fruit powders, cocoa powder, matcha powder, or other flavor extracts.
There’s almost no wrong answers here—banana cakes can be dressed in chocolate buttercream, chocolate ganache, or cream cheese frosting. This cinnamon-flavored cream cheese frosting would also be excellent!
First, try adjusting your temperature. Chilling the cream cheese can help it to firm up. You can also make thick cream cheese frosting by adding starch—try adding a tablespoon of cornstarch or potato starch at a time to the mix to increase the stability to your desired level. Other options include increasing the protein—powdered egg whites, meringue powder, or bloomed gelatin can also provide more structure.
More Fall Recipes You’ll Love
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Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 56 g (¼ Cup) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 227 g (1 Cup) Cream Cheese, room temperature
- 120 g (1 Cup) Powdered Sugar, sifted
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 3 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
Instructions
- Beat together the softened butter and cream cheese on medium speed until it’s smooth and somewhat fluffy.56 g Unsalted Butter, 227 g Cream Cheese
- Scrape down the sides, then add in the powdered sugar slowly and vanilla extract & ground cinnamon.120 g Powdered Sugar, 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract, 3 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
- Place cream cheese frosting in a plastic bag or pastry bag with a piping tip and use as desired!
Lauren
I will be literally slathering this cinnamon cream cheese goodness on everything this fall!! It looks delicious