My very first time making cream cheese frosting was for a red velvet cupcake recipe, well before my blogging days. Since then, it’s held a special place in my heart. Mostly because it’s absolutely freaking delicious.
This particular strawberry cream cheese frosting recipe is enhanced with a very special ingredient — freeze-dried strawberries! You won’t get the perfect pink and the powerful strawberry flavor and tang with anything else.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Made with much less sugar than other frostings – I like my strawberry cream cheese frosting to be more on the tangy side. That’s why I use significantly less powdered sugar — just 1 cup is needed.
- Beautiful, naturally pink color – I don’t use any artificial food coloring or dyes here. That bright pink color comes directly from the freeze-dried strawberries I mentioned!
- Incredibly easy to make – my recipe for strawberry cream cheese frosting comes together with just 5 ingredients, most of which you likely already have. It’s also ready in 10 minutes.
Tools you’ll need
You’ll need the following tools to make cream cheese strawberry frosting:
- A food processor to pulverize the freeze-dried strawberries.
- A stand mixer is helpful for beating the frosting together. An electric hand mixer will work just as well. And while you can make this recipe by hand, it would take a lot of elbow grease to mix the ingredients.
- Pastry bags with an open star piping tip or any tip of your choosing for decorating. If you want to opt for something simple, you can just use an offset spatula or a butter knife to add frosting to your dessert.
Ingredients and Substitutions
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:
- Cream cheese – You’ll want to use full-fat cream cheese for the best flavor and texture. I don’t recommend using light varieties or whipped cream cheese.
- Unsalted butter – Make sure to use unsalted butter. If you were to use salted, it would make your strawberry cream cheese frosting taste very salty because there is a lot less sugar here than in most other frosting recipes.
- Freeze-dried strawberry powder – Freeze-dried strawberries are not hard to come by. I buy mine at Target. You can also get pre-made freeze-dried strawberry powder online, which will save you an extra step. If you can only find sliced freeze-dried strawberries, you can pulverize them into a powder using a food processor or a good blender.
- Powdered sugar – I like powdered sugar over granulated in this strawberry cream cheese frosting recipe as it boasts a smooth texture and blends really well with the other ingredients. It may be called icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar, depending on where you live.
- Pure vanilla extract – Adds complexity, depth, and warmth to the overall flavor profile of your cream cheese strawberry frosting.
How to make strawberry cream cheese frosting
The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Make the strawberry powder
If working with sliced freeze-dried strawberries, add them to a food processor or blender and pulse until a fine powder forms.
Tip: I usually drape a kitchen towel over the food processor so the powder doesn’t puff up everywhere. Once done, let it settle for a bit before opening the lid.
Cream the butter and cream cheese
Add the softened butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer with the vanilla extract and beat to combine.
Note: Be sure to let the cream cheese and butter come to room temperature before getting started. You can help it along by cutting it up into smaller cubes.
Add the sugar & strawberry powder
Once the butter and cream cheese are combined and creamy, it’s time to add the powdered sugar and strawberry powder. Mix on low to incorporate the powders into the cream cheese mixture without making a mess. Increase the speed and beat until your strawberry frosting with cream cheese is thoroughly combined and fluffy.
Tip: To ensure no clumps are formed, you could sift the powdered sugar and powdered strawberry through a fine mesh sieve before beating them into the cream cheese mixture.
More baker’s tips
- Pull the cream cheese and butter out of the fridge about 1 hour before you get started. Don’t forget my tip about cutting them into smaller cubes — they’ll soften more quickly.
- Freeze-dried strawberries are the way to go. I also tried making cream cheese strawberry frosting with strawberry preserves, but the flavor wasn’t strong enough. And, adding any more would have made the whole thing runny. Freeze-dried will give you the best, most concentrated flavor without compromising the texture.
- Incorporate the powdered sugar and strawberries gradually – This helps prevent a giant mess, keeps clumps to a minimum and ensures a smoother consistency. Remember to start on low and gradually increase to medium-high as you go.
- Use this frosting in a variety of other recipes. Strawberry cream cheese frosting pairs well with so many other flavors. I added champagne to it in strawberry champagne cupcakes, and it would be perfect on classic vanilla cupcakes, or better yet on lemon cupcakes, or even chocolate cupcakes!
Storage
My recipe for strawberry cream cheese frosting yields enough to frost 12-15 cupcakes. If you have any left over, you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. This frosting also freezes well and will last for 3-6 months in the freezer.
When you are ready to use it again, bring it back to its fluffiest state by letting it come to room temperature and then beating it until you have the consistency you’re after.
FAQS
Cream cheese frosting is thickened with powdered sugar. The more you add, the thicker and firmer the frosting will become. The amount of butter you use, as well as how long you beat the whole thing also play a role. If you do decide to add more sugar to this strawberry cream cheese frosting recipe, know that it will taste sweeter.
My first recommendation would be to pop your frosting into the fridge to firm it up so you don’t alter the flavor of this recipe.
If that doesn’t work and your strawberry frosting with cream cheese seems too thin, the second step would be to add more powdered sugar — 1 tablespoon at a time — until it thickens up. However, be careful not to add too much or it will taste too sugary. Alternatively, if you do make a mistake and incorporate too much sugar, you can try adding a bit of milk or cream to thin it out.
I don’t recommend using fresh strawberries since they contains a lot of water which will make your frosting runny before you can incorporate enough to get the desired flavor.
You can try cooking the fresh strawberries into a jam to concentrate the flavor first, but you’d likely encounter the same problem that I had when I tried to use preserves: the flavor won’t be strong enough.
Freeze-dried strawberries is the best option for the most flavorful cream cheese strawberry frosting.
More frosting recipes
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Vanilla American Buttercream Frosting
- Peanut Butter Frosting
- Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
📖 Recipe card
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese (room temperature, 227 g)
- 8 oz unsalted butter (room temperature, 227 g)
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar (100 g)
- ¼ cup freeze dried strawberry powder (14 g, half of 1 oz bag)
Instructions
- Allow the cream cheese and butter to come to room temperature and softened before you get started. It can speed up the process to cut them into small cubes.
- Add ½ oz of freeze dried strawberry to a food processor and process until a powder forms. Keep a kitchen towel draped over the food processor while it’s working to prevent the strawberry powder to escape and fly everywhere.
- In the stand mixer bowl, add softened butter and cream cheese along with the pure vanilla extract, mix with the whisk attachment at medium low speed and gradually increase speed to medium high and beat until thoroughly combined.
- Stop the mixer to add powdered sugar and strawberry powder, mix at low speed to incorporate the powder mixture into the cream mixture, then gradually increase speed to medium high and beat until thoroughly combined and fluffy.
Notes
- Use full fat cream cheese for best tasting frosting.
- Freeze dried strawberry can be found in the nut/dried fruit aisle at Target. I always buy the in-house Target brand.
- This recipe is enough to frost 12 – 15 cupcakes.
- Calories information is for 1 serving out of 15.
Nutrition
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Hello! Hopefully you still Check your responses. It’s been a while since you’ve posted this. but I thought I would ask anyway. Would you mind sharing the tip you used to make that beautiful frosting on the top of that cupcake? That is a really one of the most beautiful decoration I’ve seen!
Thanks either way!!
Oh thank you so much Beth! This is quite simple actually, I use a star tip fitted in the pastry bag like you can see in the photos and pipe directly on op of the cupcake holding the bag straight up, push down slightly and releasing and pulling the tip straight up to detach from the frosting. It’s like piping a single dot of frosting, does that make sense? Do this to cover the whole surface of the cupcake and then add layers offsetting to end up with that shape. I hope this helps. Let me know if you need further explanation.
Delicious! Light and creamy.
Thank you for trying it out! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I am going to be trying this with freeze dry strawberries. Sounds yummy. I’ve only made it with fresh strawberries. I blended 1 C. of strawberries with 1 TBLS of sugar and 1tsp of water, in the blender. Strained to a sauce pan, and put on medium low heat until it looked like jam. Took about 30 minutes for me. This was in place of the dry freeze strawberries. Everything else was the same. It was full of strawberry flavor!!
That sounds amazing Hazel!
I so enjoy your site and your recipes. Would you please consider adding a print option so we can enjoy your recipes a little more easily. Thank you.
Hi Rose, there is a print button right at the top of the post and also in the recipe card.
This frosting is amazing! Great tasting and easy to make…I give it 2 thumbs up!
Thanks Melissa, I’m glad you like this frosting!
Hello..I planning on making your frosting. Could you advise if I can freeze and or refrigerate the frosting for a day or two?
Hi Sandra, yes absolutely, you can either refrigerate or freeze for a couple days depending on where you have room in your fridge. When ready to use, just bring it to room temp and beat until fluffy again.
I just made a fresh strawberry birthday cake for my sister and used this recipe. Absolutely delicious! I doubled the recipe to ice and decorate a two layer cake. It’s a warm, muggy day here so i added an additional cup of powdered sugar to tighten it up. Wonderful taste and very easy to work with! I LOVE the texture and taste with the freeze dried strawberry!
Wonderful Melanie, I’m so happy that you enjoyed this frosting 🙂
I love using freeze dried fruits and this natural colour is just amazing