Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting
This Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting recipe is silky smooth, extremely flavorful, and pipes beautifully! It has the perfect balance of cherry and cream cheese flavor and it can be whipped up in no time!
I LOVE this frosting with chocolate cakes and cupcakes, although it also pairs nicely with yellow & white cakes too! In fact, it's so good that you'll want to skip the cake & just grab a spoon!
The cupcakes pictured above were made with our scratch Chocolate Cake Recipe & swirled with a 2D piping tip.
Table of Contents
How to Fill a Cupcake: A Quick Review
We often like to use this cherry cream cheese frosting as a cupcake filling. To do this, simply insert a frosting-filled piping bag fitted with a 10 or 12 piping tip vertically into your unfrosted cupcakes (about midway down) and fill with a bit of Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting, and finish with a swirl on top!
When filling cupcakes, it's good to do a practice run just on a plate first-- simply pipe vertically onto the plate and count the seconds that it takes to get the amount of filling that you will want in your cupcakes.
When it's time to pipe the filling into the cupcakes, you'll have an idea of how much filling you are putting in. (And if you have a few extra cupcakes to spare, this is a great excuse to do a taste test!) Practice makes perfect! ;0)
Tips for Working with Cream Cheese Frosting:
As with most cream cheese frosting recipes, this Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting is softer than usual buttercream frosting.
If it becomes too soft, the frosting will not hold it's shape nicely, and you won't get the clean ridges and details from your piping tips that you should. If you notice that your cherry cream cheese frosting is too soft, you should chill it in the refrigerator for a few minutes until it firms up a bit.
If the frosting just seems exceedingly soft, it's perfectly acceptable to stir in a bit more powdered sugar, just as you would for most buttercream frosting recipes. This will help with the consistency.
As funny as it sounds, some people just have hot hands! Holding a piping bag for an extended time can result in extra soft frosting for some decorators. A great solution is too prepare two piping bags and alternate between the two-- you could rest one on a bag of ice on in the refrigerator while working with the other.
Cream cheese frosting needs to be refrigerated. There are differing opinions on how long cream cheese frosting can safely sit at room temperature--but for me, a few hours seems to be a good rule of thumb. Because cream cheese frosting (just as with buttercream) becomes firm when chilled, it is best to remove from the refrigerator 2-3 hours before serving so that it has time to soften.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting Lovers
If you are a fan of all cream cheese frostings, we have a roundup that you are going to love!
Here is a collection of our FAVORITE cream cheese frosting recipes.
You'll find a wonderful variety of flavor options, each one of them is so delicious (and simple to make)! Roundup of our BEST Cream Cheese Frosting Recipes!
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Love Cherries? Try these Delicious Cherry Flavored Cakes!
Cherry Layer Cake from Scratch
Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
This Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting has the perfect balance of cream cheese and cherry flavor! So silky smooth and tastes fantastic with cherry cakes and chocolate cakes!
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) (226g) unsalted butter (slightly softened)
- 2( 8oz.) packages cream cheese (total weight 452g) slightly softened --
- use fat cream cheese. Using reduced fat or the spreadable cream
- cheese will cause the frosting to be too soft. Do not soften the cream
- cheese in the microwave
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (4g) cherry extract
- 6 to 61/2 cups (690g to 747g) powdered sugar
- Wilton Rose Gel Color, optional - I used a very small amount, putting the color on a toothpick to add to the frosting.
Instructions
- Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
- Cut the softened cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated.
- Add the vanilla and cherry extract. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended (cover bowl with a towel to keep a cloud of powdered sugar from floating over your kitchen).
- Add the gel color at this point, increase mixing speed to low to medium and beat until fluffy, don't over beat. You may need to chill the frosting until it is the spreading consistency you like.
- If piping with the frosting, you will need to chill a short while. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use, let it soften slightly then remix. Do Not Soften in the Microwave.
- Will frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake.
We also love this Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting with our homemade Cherry Cake as well as our Scratch Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake recipes!
Cherry Cake from Scratch
This moist and flavorful Cherry Cake from Scratch is one of our favorites! Keep it in mind for spring and summer gatherings!
Ingredients
- 3 cups (342g) cake flour plus 2 Tablespoons for dusting cherries
- 1Tablespoon (15g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2g) salt
- 6 egg whites (180g)
- ⅔ cup (146g) cherry juice from a 10 ounce bottle of maraschino cherries, if there is not enough juice to reach ⅔'s cup add water or milk
- ¾ cup (172g) milk
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (4g) cherry extract
- ¼ cup (54g) vegetable oil
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened but still cold to the touch
- maraschino cherries from a 10 ounce jar (use all) chopped and dusted with 2 Tablespoons flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (8 inch) round pans
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt for at least 30 seconds
- In another bowl, add the egg whites, cherry juice, milk, vanilla and cherry extract, and vegetable oil. Blend together with a fork.
- In the bowl of your mixer add the butter and beat at medium speed to soften. Add the sugar and continue to beat until lightened in color and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes, longer if using a hand mixer.
- With the mixer on low speed, we will now alternate between adding dry and wet ingredients. Add approximately one third of the flour mixture to the bowl, mixing on low speed until just blended. Add about half of the wet ingredients and blend, and so on. Continue alternating the dry and wet ingredients (ending with dry). We do three additions of dry, two of wet. Mix just until blended.
- Reserve approximately 2 Tablespoons chopped cherries. Gently stir the remaining chopped cherries into the batter. Divide the batter between the three prepared 8 inch cake pans.
- Once the batter is in the cake pans, sprinkle the reserved cherries over the top of the batter, and using a toothpick push them just slightly below the surface of the cake batter. Even though the flour is supposed to keep the cherries from sinking to the bottom of the pan, I find that most will, so this is my reason for adding a few to the top.
- Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, when the cake springs back to the touch or a toothpick pulls out clean or with only a few crumbs attached, the cake is done. Allow to cool in the pans on a wire rack for ten minutes before turning out.
- Makes 7 ½ cups cake batter
- Works well for cupcakes and Will hold up to fondant
Notes
The cherry cake layers can be made in advance and frozen. To freeeze the cake layers, we like to place each layer individually on its own foil wrapped cardboard cake circle. Wrap with plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil. Freeze for up to three months.
Thaw on the kitchen counter, still wrapped for 30-45 minutes before unwrapping and thawing to desired amount. Some bakers prefer to assemble their cakes while the layers are still partially frozen as they are less fragile.
Sounds yummy! Funny I was thinking about the same recipe being a cream cheese frosting lover :) And having just purchased cherry extract for my Valentines Cake :) I have my meringues in the oven as I look at this :)
Hi MsGF! Sounds like things are getting Valentinesy in your kitchen! You've got to try this recipe, so good! xoxo
Great idea, damp paper towels also
Hi ladies, could I use this same recipe with almond flavoring as opposed to cherry? Does this crust? Also I have a large batch of whipped non crusting almond buttercream frosting that I need to put on a large sheetcake. My question is: is it better for me to use this whipped frosting as the filling since I was thinking it may be too soft for a sheetcake? I will have extra left over and it is so darn good so what do u think about me mixing that non crusting with a crusting buttercream so will be able to make corners sharp and also get top of sheet smooth? I will be using plunger cutters to make butterflies and flowers all over the sheetcake, not covering with fondant. Please give me input on how to proceed...I found this whipped frosting on line and fell in love with how light it tastes, and I made alot of it. I just don't want to dump it if possible. It is an all butter recipe. Even if I need to add a crusting bc to it, I just want to know if it will work and the ratios. I also didn't know how non crusting would work with the cutouts. Any ideas on how to approach this project? The cake will be for 80 people. Due Saturday! Thanks so much!!!
oooh this looks delicious! What brand of cherry flavoring did you use and where did you find it? I have a hard time finding different flavorings in my area.
Hi Terri- This frosting has just the slightest crust after it has been out for a while. It wouldn't be ideal for the Viva paper towel method...but it does pipe nicely and holds it's shape. It's best to work with it while slightly chilled.
As for your whipped frosting question, you may have worked this out by now but I'm just not sure. I've combined frostings in the past (cream cheese frosting with vanilla buttercream for instance) but in your case, I'm not sure if the whipped frosting is too soft/airy to hold up to being combined with something else. I guess the only way to know for sure is to experiment with small amounts in a bowl first to make sure you like the consistency.
As for the fondant accents, I would add those close to the time of the event and you should be fine! Sometimes fondant can absorb the moisture of the frosting and soften. I hope this helps!!
@Dene- I'll get back to you on the brand (It's in Mom's kitchen, lol) - I know it's from Wal Mart--they always seem to have a better selection of flavorings than our grocery store ;0)
Hi Dene, I used Watkins Cherry Extract. I found it at Wal-Mart, McCormick also has a cherry extract but was not available at my local grocery.
Thanks Melissa and BeBe! I found the Watkins!!!
I can't seem to find cherry extract, do you think I could use cherry juice? Thank you,
Jan
HI Ejfan45, Cherry juice would not be as intense a flavor as cherry extract. You probably would get a stronger flavor using a teaspoon of the juice from a bottle of maraschino cherries, or cherry preserves or jam.
Hi, I love this recipe and want to used at my daughter first birthday. Just want to know How Manu cupcakes Will do. Thanks
Hi Cristiane, I think this recipe makes 4 cups frosting. One cup of frosting will frost 12 cupcake with a simple swirl using a 2D tip. A high swirl will need double the amount. Remember to use full fat cream cheese and don't over beat the frosting or it will become very soft. Have fun at the party !