This 4-ingredient Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting is pipeable, spreadable, and just plain perfect! Use it for vegan carrot cake, red velvet, cupcakes, and more.
This is the best vegan cake frosting for my Vegan Carrot Cake and my Vegan Lemon Cake. You can even pipe it onto my Vegan Funfetti Cupcakes!
Some cakes call out for cream cheese frosting, am I right? I’ve tried making it the same way you’d make a typical cream cheese frosting, but it would always be too runny and slippery. One time, I even frosted a double-layer carrot cake for Easter, and the top layer slipped off and broke right before serving! 😣
But my Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting? I tested the recipe many, many times until it was thick, spreadable, and perfect for layer cakes. Making it is a little different from other frostings (like this Vegan Buttercream Frosting), but I promise the tiny bit of extra effort is totally worth it for this tangy, sweet, pipeable frosting.
My Vegan Carrot Cake and my Vegan Red Velvet Cake just wouldn’t be the same without this frosting. No slipping included!
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“LOVED this icing! Used it on the carrot cake and got so many compliments from everyone, including non-vegans.” – Dorea
Why this is the best vegan cream cheese frosting
- Pipe it or spread it – I tested this recipe until I had a thick and creamy frosting I could spread between layer cakes or pipe onto cupcakes. It’s seriously the best!
- Sweet and tangy – I love the subtle pop of tang in cream cheese frosting. It gives classic desserts, like cakes, cupcakes, and even my Vegan Cinnamon Rolls, a little something extra special.
- 4 ingredients – All you need is vegan butter, vegan cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar.
How to make vegan cream cheese frosting
Find the complete printable recipe with measurements below in the recipe card.
Add the softened vegan butter to a large mixing bowl and beat with a handheld mixer until creamy and smooth.
Drain any liquid from the cream cheese container, then add it to the bowl. Beat the butter and cream cheese together for 1 minute.
Next, mix in the vanilla, then gradually add and beat in the powdered sugar (1 cup at a time) until the frosting is stiff and spreadable.
The frosting will be ready to spread on a cake by this point! You can also keep it covered in the fridge until it’s time to use it or if you need it to thicken.
For pipeable frosting…
It’s always a good idea to keep the vegan cream cheese frosting in the fridge until you’re ready to transfer it to a piping bag. This will help it thicken up really nicely. If it’s still not quite stiff enough, freeze it in 15-minute increments, stirring in between, until it’s at your desired consistency.
Helpful Tips
- To only slightly soften the vegan butter and cream cheese, take them out of the fridge 30 minutes before making the recipe.
- Cold frosting = thick, spreadable frosting. Keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it, and after spreading it/piping it onto cakes and cupcakes.
- Make sure your cake layers are completely cool before you add the frosting!
- Cakes frosted with cream cheese frosting should be refrigerated until it’s time to slice and serve. Most of the vegan cream cheese is made with coconut oil, which isn’t very stable at room temperature. You don’t want the top cake layer to slip off (trust me, I’ve been there!).
Frequently asked questions
I’ve had the most consistent results with Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese. Some commenters also had good results with Kite Hill, Violife, Nuts for You, and Philadelphia Plant Based Cream Cheese. Honestly, there are so many brands of vegan cream cheese out there these days that I can barely keep up!
The only brand I wouldn’t recommend using is Daiya because I think it leaves an odd aftertaste.
I do not recommend using homemade cream cheese, like my Vegan Cream Cheese or my Tofu Cream Cheese. They’re usually too thin and won’t give the frosting the same thick consistency we need. You can use it if needed, but it won’t be quite the same.
The frosting is quite sensitive to heat, which can cause a freshly made batch or one that’s been sitting in a warm kitchen to become soft and runny. The best way to fix this is by placing the bowl of frosting in the freezer for 15 minutes. After, give it a stir and either use it or place it back in the freezer for 15 more minutes.
Yes, you can make the frosting 1 to 2 days ahead. Keep it covered in the fridge and take it out 20 minutes before you need to use it.
This recipe makes a lot of frosting, so you’ll likely end up with extras! Luckily, it will stay fresh for about 1 week in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer. Thaw the frozen frosting in the fridge overnight, then re-whip it before using.
Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, slightly softened to room temperature
- 8 ounces vegan cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar, more if needed
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add the slightly softened vegan butter and beat with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) until creamy and smooth.
- Drain any extra liquid in the vegan cream cheese container, add it to the bowl and beat for 30 seconds to 1 minute to combine with the butter. Do not over beat at this point, or your frosting may be too runny.
- Beat in the vanilla to combine. With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until thick and spreadable. I used 4 cups, but you may need a little more.
- At this point, if your frosting still seems a bit too soft and runny for spreading, stick the bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes. Take it out, stir, and put it back in the freezer for another 15 minutes if needed, until a thick consistency is reached. If planning to pipe onto cupcakes, place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to thicken up.
- Frost your cake or cupcakes or use anywhere else you like. Enjoy!
Notes
- I recommend using sticks of vegan butter, not the tub. Make sure the butter is not close to melty, or the frosting won’t work. Just slightly softened is what we’re going for here.
- This recipe makes enough for about 12-18 cupcakes or a double 8 or 9-inch layer cake.
- Freeze the leftover frosting, then let it thaw before using.
I used the Nuts for You brand cream cheese, and it used in this recipe was excellent on our cinnamon rolls!
Hi Joan. Thank you for sharing your recipe experience and your stellar review! I’m so thrilled that your cinnamon rolls turned out wonderful!
This recipe makes an outstanding cream cheese frosting. I am the mom in home with vegans and non-vegans. For Christmas I made non-vegan red velvet cake with regular cream cheese frosting and the vegan One Bowl Carrot Cake with the vegan cream cheese frosting. The vegan frosting one was far superior, thick, creamy, spread well, and was delicious. I used the Philadelphia brand plant based cream cheese and Earth Balance plant based butter in the recipe. I plan to switch to only using the vegan cream cheese frosting from now on!!
Great recipe ! It came out super creamy with just enough tangy cream cheesey flavor – I used Miyoko’s vegan cream cheese and Miyoko’s vegan butter. I also used coconut sugar (blended to be powdery) because I don’t like it tooo sweeet. The tip about putting it in the freezer for a short time to preserve the thickness you desire was a winner ! Thanks Nora ☺️
Hi Mandy. I’m thrilled that you loved the frosting recipe, and that it came out wonderful for you! Thank you for sharing your awesome review and recipe experience!
So confused about which vegan cream cheese to use. Your notes say you used Trader Joe’s and that Tofutti, Myokos, and kite Hill could also work.
I purchased both Trader Joe’s and Tofutti to do a taste test. Tofutti had a strange after taste so I figured I’d use Trader Joe’s but now I’m reading through your notes and it sounds like you prefer Tofutti? Trader Joe’s is quite a bit firmer. Really want to make sure I choose the right one so I don’t ruin all the work I put into the cake I’m making!
Would love your opinion!
I do prefer Tofutti for the most consistent results. I agree, I don’t enjoy Tofutti cream cheese by itself but in frosting or cheesecake it works really well. But you can use Trader Joe’s. They did change their ingredients at some point and it’s a bit different than it used to be. It does melt easier than Tofutti, so the frosting is more at risk of getting melty.
I tried it and it’s all curdled. I used oat milk from Barista (oat, water, salt, citrus fiber) and not soy milk (we don’t do soy milk), could it be the reason?
And I used Violife creamcheese as it is the only one offered in my area (aside from Daiya that you specifically said to avoid. I wish we had Miyoko’s, we only have her liquid mozzarella here). There wasn’t any liquid but once I beat it into the butter, there was definitely some liquid.
We have a Trader Joe’s not too far, I’ll have to try with theirs maybe. Vegan “dairy alternatives” are hard to find and very limited brands in my area.
I’m going to try Vanessa’s method to recover it but just trying to see where I could have gone wrong.
The recipe doesn’t call for any sort of milk at all, so I’m thinking that is the problem. You just need vegan butter (just barely softened, not melty at all or too soft), vegan cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. No milk. Milk would make it separate, get very wet and break/curdle. Violife works pretty well for frosting, so that is fine. You just need to not add milk. I hope this helps!
I made this cream cheese frosting for carrot cake cupcakes and it was fabulous. I need to bake a cake for a baby shower this summer. It will be held outdoors and I expect the temps to be hot. Will this frosting hold up in the heat. If not, do you recommend another one of your wonderful frostings?
I’m so glad, thank you! If it’s going to be hot outside, I’d actually make the Buttercream Frosting instead of this. It still might get really soft in hot temperatures, but cream cheese frosting is much less stable. Hope that helps!
This is the best cream cheese frosting I have found !! However, I will say that I used Diya (the new recipe with Oat Milk) and it had such a strong cream cheese flavor as well I only used 3.5 cups of powdered sugar and it was pipeable 🙂 Thanks Nora !!
PS. Highly recommend retesting with Diya 🙂
this recipe turned out amazing! I used it on vegan carrot cake cupcakes I had made for Easter…I also added about a tablespoon of lemon rind…It was the hit of the desserts!
Thanks for sharing your awesome feedback, Terry! I’m so glad the frosting was amazing for your cupcakes. Happy cooking!
The frosting was delicious! How long can I keep it in the freezer for?
I’d say up to 3 months in the freezer. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe is everything I was looking for in a plant based cream cheese icing. The only adjustment I made was to add apple cider vinegar for the tang someone else mentioned in the comments.
Everyone raved about the icing!
Thank you Nora!
You bet, Chantal! I’m thrilled the icing was a hit! Thanks for sharing your fabulous review and feedback! Happy cooking!
Is there a certain brand of powdered sugar and brown sugar that you know are vegan?
Hi Stacey. If you stick with organic sugars, they should be vegan. It is always recommended to check the label of specific brands to ensure they meet vegan standards. I’m sure you could also find a list of vegan brands online. I hope this helps!
This is very good — but is the only thing I haven’t rated 5 stars because I didn’t fully get the “cream cheese” taste. Strangely, I think the frosting from the pumpkin cookies recipe has a better cream-cheese “tang” (even though there is no cream cheese in the recipe lol!) I think that little bit of vinegar in that recipe really does the trick and I would consider putting a little in this mix if I knew it wouldn’t be too runny!
Also, earth balance is for sure the best butter for frosting, but all I had was myokos. I also used Tofutti cream cheese. (It’s my all time favorite!)
And I’ve tried myokos cream cheese for a few recipes now and it’s really terrible… in my opinion!
I bake for my office once a month and this month’s request was for carrot cake. I made your vegan cream cheese frosting using Philadelphia Brand Plant Based cream cheese and it was perfect. This frosting has a permanent place at the top of my favorites list!
Doubled this recipe for two-layer vegan Hummingbird Cake. Used one tub Daiya oat cream cheese, one tub Violife cream cheese, and two 8TBSP sticks of Earth Balance (wish that was at the beginning of the cake recipe to set out the butter to warm as I’ve never made frosting before, so I had to warm it while the cake was cooling during a meeting), 2 tsp vanilla extract, 2 cups of powdered sugar–sifted (1/4 of the amount suggested). Was told the frosting and cake both were delicious, light textured, well-flavored, and also right on the edge of too sweet by the crowd even though I only used 1/4 of the amount of sugar. I found the frosting a bit lumpy, but otherwise the cake and frosting, though slidy even after refrigeration, was overall a hit. Will cut sugar further next time, maybe to 1/6-1/8 of recipe, and perhaps cut the sugar in the cake by 1/2 as well as banana, apple sauce, and pineapple are already plenty sweet.
Hi! My husband loves carrot cake with this frosting. I have some some difficulty with lumps when combining the butter & cream cheese (both softened). Should I soften them more? I don’t want it to be runny. Thoughts? Thank you so much
Mine separated 🙁 I really have enough right now I don’t know what I did wrong and shops are closed and I don’t have more ingredients 🙁
Try my method of sticking it in the freezer, then mixing again! You’re problem is likely that it got too warm. Different brands of vegan cream cheese work differently, but the freezing thing should fix it up!
Making this frosting for cupcakes later (I’ll come back and review then!) but just want to call out the date stamps on your comment and the previous commenters — you were helping people out on Christmas eve morning! I love your recipes but that is just above and beyond. <3
Aww thanks. 🥰 I try to answer questions even on holidays when I can; I know people are stressed out cooking and baking on those days!
Does this cream cheese frosting work well in cake pops? I have the cream cheese in my fridge and decided to do this frosting since I forgot to grab frosting at the store today. I’m making cake pops and wondered if I could use it in them.
Hi Julie. This should totally work for cake pops! Before using, you may want to chill the frosting thoroughly in the refrigerator to achieve the right consistency for rolling cake balls. Enjoy!
This was good but I doubled it for your carrot cake and it was way too much. I will do 1.5 times the recipe or maybe just one time for a two layer carrot cake. Such a good recipe! Can I freeze the left over icing?
Yes, it freezes very well! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Hello Nora!
I am in the process of trying to go vegan and just collecting alternative recipes for some of my non-vegan favorites. Whenever I make non-vegan cream cheese frosting I tend not to use butter as I just prefer a more tangy and less buttercream-y frosting. Do you think this recipe would work substituting the vegan butter for more vegan cream cheese?
Thank you for any input,
Kali
I think that will work okay, it just depend on the brand of cream cheese as some vegan brands can become melty and soft pretty quick. I hope you enjoy it!
This is a GREAT Cream cheese frosting, I used it on your Carrot cake. It was really good and the only thing I would do is – sift the Powdered Sugar so you do not run the risk of over beating. I used VioLife worked great. Thank you
Hi Nora – I was planning to use this on cupcakes for a surprise birthday party in August. How do you think they will do on a 45-minute car ride? If I frost the cupcakes and pop in the fridge until I leave, do you think they will hold up? Car will have airconditioning blaring as I will be traveling with a 2-tier cake as well. Wold love your thoughts!
I think it should be okay as long as the car doesn’t get too hot and you don’t place them in the direct sun. And yes, refrigerating until you leave will help. Hope everyone enjoys the cupcakes!
We do not have Kite Hill cream cheese here. Are there any others I should try or stay away from?
It doesn’t have to be Kite Hill, you can use any vegan cream cheese you like really. Miyoko’s, Tofutti, even Violife. There are so many brands now I can’t keep up with all of them, but they should all work quite well.
Hi Nora, I’ve made your carrot cake several times now and it’s delicious! Thanks sooo much. Today I’m trying cupcakes for my daughter’s engagement. I will be storing them on the freezer for 1 week. I plan to use the vegan cream cheese frosting. Am I able to freeze that as well? Or how much ahead of time can I prepare and leave in fridge?
Thank you,
Louise
Hi Louise. Congratulations to you all! Very exciting! The icing will stay fresh about a week in the refrigerator. It does freeze well, which may be your best option. I freeze it in a freezer friendly container, usually glass, with a well sealed lid. Hope that helps! Have a wonderful time, and happy cooking!
Thank you !!
🥰. You bet!
Hi Nora! I definitely want to make this! I don’t have access to vegan cream cheese where I live. Is there something I can substitute?
Hi Kara. You could use the frosting which I use in my vegan pumpkin cake bars. This magically sweet and tangy frosting tastes like a real cream cheese icing, but isn’t made with any vegan cream cheese! Enjoy!
Divine! I used Kite Hill. Absolute perfection. I made this ahead of time. Best stored in the fridge until I use it on my cake?
Yes, store in the fridge until ready to use. Glad it turned out so well and enjoy your cake!
Just wanted to report that I was able to save the curdled frosting! Heating it over simmering water and then freezing worked. It was still pretty soft and not good for piping, but I was able to cover my cake and it wasn’t curdled.
Not sure where I went wrong originally but it ended up ok. It was tasty and I love cream cheese frosting so when I make again I will ensure I have enough time to fix issues.
I’m so glad you were able to fix it! Vegan cream cheese frosting can be a little fussy, especially with the variations of vegan cream cheese brands. Anyhow, I’m happy it tasted good in the end!