Get ready to meet your new favorite frosting! This Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting takes everything you love about a classic cream cheese frosting and adds a deep, nutty, toffee-like twist thanks to browned butter. With just the right balance of sweet and tangy, it’s the ultimate flavor upgrade – whether you’re topping spice cake, pumpkin bars, banana bread, or cinnamon rolls. Even better? It comes together with only four ingredients.
Trang’s Recipe Highlights
- FLAVOR: nutty brown butter + tangy cream cheese = frosting magic 🪄
- TEXTURE: creamy, soft and spreadable immediately after whipping, but will stiffen up in the refrigerator.
- EASE: this brown butter frosting recipe whips up like a dream in just 5 minutes! The most time consuming part about this recipe is probably making the brown butter itself and waiting for it to re-solidify.
Just 4 simple ingredients
You need just 4 ingredients to make this brown butter cream cheese frosting. The complete list of ingredients with quantities and step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card, as always.
Here are some notes on the key ingredients:
- Unsalted butter – always use unsalted butter for frosting. I don’t recommend substituting salted butter or you’ll end up with really salty frosting, especially because this recipe doesn’t contain a whole lot of sugar.
- Cream cheese – full fat brick cream cheese is best.
- Powdered sugar – for a smooth texture, don’t try to substitute granulated sugar or you’ll end up with gritty frosting.
- Vanilla – always added to enhance the overall flavor, don’t skip and don’t go cheap with artificial flavoring.
Tips for making brown butter cream cheese frosting
Preparing the brown butter
Brown butter is full of rich, nutty flavor thanks to the toasted milk solids that form as the butter cooks. But while those toasty milk solid bits are a gold mine of flavor in baked goods – making these coconut chocolate chip cookies and these raspberry white chocolate cookies extraordinary – they can make frosting gritty if left in.
Trust me, I made this frosting without straining before, and while the flavor was amazing, I didn’t enjoy the texture as much.
For the smoothest, creamiest texture, it’s best to strain the brown butter through a cheesecloth lined fine mesh sieve before using it in your frosting. You’ll still get all that deep, toffee-like flavor, without large specks or graininess in your final swirl.
Ingredient temperature
Brown butter needs time to cool and re-solidify before making the frosting – this usually takes a few hours. I like to brown my butter first thing in the morning, then make the frosting just before lunch. By then, the butter is solidified but still softer than room temperature butter, which creates a looser frosting that’s perfect for spreading but too soft for detailed piping.
If you need a stiffer consistency for piping, just pop the finished frosting into the fridge for a bit until it firms up.
Pairing suggestions
🍌 Banana and brown butter are my favorite match made in heaven. This frosting is ideal for spreading on top of a rustic miso banana cake or banana cupcakes for the most amazing flavor combo.
🥕 Want an upgrade to carrot cake? Pair this frosting with my mini carrot cake and carrot cupcakes as is or double the recipe to make enough for a full size carrot cake.
🧁 Give vanilla cupcakes a flavorful upgrade by swapping out regular frosting for this brown butter version.
🍞 For a little flavor boost to quick breads like this simple zucchini bread, add it on top like frosting or spread a spoonful on each slice instead of butter when served.
Hungry for more?
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 oz unsalted butter, 113 g
- 8 oz cream cheese, 227 g, room temperature
- ¾ cup powdered sugar, 85 g
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Brown the butter – Place the butter in a light colored saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter melts, it will become foamy. When the foam subsides, you will see clear bubbles, start whisking continuously at this point to keep the milk solids from burning. When the butter is caramel in color and smells nutty, remove from heat.4 oz unsalted butter
- Strain the brown butter – Line a fine mesh sieve with a piece of cheesecloth and strain the brown butter through it, pressing and squeezing with a spatula to get every drop of brown butter from the cheesecloth without getting the milk solids into the liquid. Set aside to cool until it re-solidifies. TIP: you can strain the brown butter directly into your stand mixer bowl or whichever mixing bowl you’ll be using to make the frosting.
- Combine the ingredients – Add the remaining ingredients to your stand mixer bowl with the solidified brown butter. Fit it with the wire whisk. Stir to incorporate the powdered sugar. Gradually increase the mixer speed to combine all the ingredients to prevent anything from flying out of the bowl.8 oz cream cheese, ¾ cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Beat until fluffy – Continue beating on medium high speed until the brown butter cream cheese frosting is fluffy and creamy. Give it a taste and add more powdered sugar if a sweeter frosting is desired. TIP: the frosting is loose and spreadable at this stage. For piping, chill the frosting briefly to firm it up.
Notes
- Brown your butter ahead of time: it needs a few hours to cool and re-solidify before you can use it.
- For silky-smooth frosting: strain the brown butter to remove the toasted milk solids, they add great flavor in baked goods but can make frosting gritty.
- Yield: This brown butter frosting recipe makes about 1 ¾ cups, enough to frost 12 cupcakes or a 2-layer 6” cake. Double the recipe for a 2-layer 8” cake.
- Storage: Store frosting in the fridge for 3-5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let come to room temperature and re-whip until fluffy before using.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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