Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting is irresistibly rich, nutty and tangy making it the perfect touch on your breads, cookies, cakes and fall desserts! Made in under 20-minutes, this smooth frosting elevates bakes like Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting and cinnamon rolls with its toasted flavor.
Once you try it you'll be hooked! Dubbed by many as "so good I was eating it with a spoon!"
A Quick Glance At The Recipe
- ✅Done in: 15 minutes
- 🛒Ingredients: only 6!
- 🍽️Serves: 12; to frost a 9x13 cake
- 💪Difficulty: Easy - Perfect for any quick desserts you whip up.
- 👩🍳Cook Method: Stove-top to brown butter
- ⏰Make Ahead Friendly: Yes! Make several days in advance.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Browning butter is a great culinary technique to learn! It adds a unique touch to fall bakes and so many other sweet or savory recipes, adding depth of flavor to take your regular bakes into bakery style bakes. You can use brown butter in a buttercream frosting for Banana Bars.
- Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting can be used specially for the fall season.
- This recipe is quick and impressive!
Jump to:
Recipe Ingredients
- Butter: I lean toward using unsalted butter and adding Kosher salt to control the balance of flavors. Room temperature butter will melt nicer than cold.
- Cream Cheese: I prefer full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese and use it for my other sweet treats like Gingerbread Cream Pie too!
- Powdered Sugar: Always sift powdered sugar to avoid lumps in brown butter cream cheese frosting.
- Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract over imitation is preferred.
- Kosher Salt: Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt is my favorite. Using the correct amount of salt and quality of salt makes a huge difference.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions & Variations
- Try playing around with your extract, maybe almond or butter instead of vanilla. Vanilla bean paste also works.
- No whole milk, no problem. Any type of milk, even non-dairy, will work here.
- Wait until after brown butter frosting is whipped to add milk, then whip the milk in.
- Salted butter can be used in place of unsalted. Just omit the salt then taste and add salt as desired.
- Brown butter frosting can be made thicker by omitting the milk as well as adding an additional ½ cup - 1 cup powdered sugar. This works well on cakes like Sweet Potato Pound Cake and Almond Carrot Cake.
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 Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Step 1: Brown butter in a pan.
Step 2: Whip room temp cream cheese and cooled browned butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer.
Step 3: Mix in powdered sugar and remaining ingredients.
Step 4: Store this easy cream cheese frosting in an airtight container in the fridge.
Expert Baking Tips
- Never walk away from the stove when browning butter! It can quickly go from "nice and nutty" to burned.
- Always use room temperature cream cheese so that it whips up with a light texture.
- Allow brown butter to fully cool before adding to cream cheese to avoid a runny frosting.
- Store brown butter the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days until ready to use.
- Sift powdered sugar to avoid lumps in brown butter cream cheese frosting. This goes for any frosting, like the one on this Lemon Ricotta Cookie recipe.
- Mix powdered sugar in on low speed before turning to medium speed so that you don't make a huge mess then scrape down the sides of the bowl before continuing to beat.
Recipe FAQs
Scoop leftover frosting into a jar or small bowl and store with a lid or plastic wrap for up to five days in the fridge. I've also stored brown butter cream cheese frosting in a piping bag inside a Ziploc bag. This is great for making a day or two ahead of baking cupcakes or cookies. Set it out to soften just enough to spread before serving. This way you only need to store the frosting in the fridge and not an entire tray of cupcakes! This works with the lemon frosting from Lemon Zucchini Cake too.
To speed the process along, remove foil wrapping then place cream cheese in the microwave on 50% power for 30 second intervals. Do not melt. You could also set it in your mixing bowl near the stove while making your brown butter and let the nearby heat soften it. Don't get it too hot or it will melt your brown butter cream cheese icing.
Always keep an eye on it in the pot! Never walk away and be prepared to turn the heat down. It will melt, then begin to sputter and foam. Finally, it will "calm down" and start to toast and smell nutty. Stir occasionally and watch the color and remove from the burner as soon as it is golden brown to amber brown in color with brown specks at the bottom. Pour into a heat proof container immediately. Let it cool completely before adding to the cream cheese.
Brown butter cream cheese frosting can be left at room temperature for up to 4 hours. Store in the fridge until ready to serve. This cream cheese buttercream frosting can be eaten cold or at room temperature.
🧁Krista's Food Truck & Mom POV
Running a food truck taught me that flavor and presentation are key when serving friends, customers, or my children. The way that perfect looking frosting on a cake tastes at first bite...my kids get the same excitement when I make Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting at home!
For the food truck, the switch from regular cream cheese frosting to the brown butter version can signal the fall season is here! Although, I do sneak it in on Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble in the summer too because the rich nutty flavor pairs so well the the sweet & tart combo.
This frosting is ready in just 15 minutes and can be made several days ahead of time and kept in an airtight container in the fridge, ready to go! Perfect for food truck prep, birthday parties, school parties and everyone with a sweet tooth at my house😜
More Dessert Recipes You'll Love
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📖Recipe
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup brown butter
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt Diamond Crystal brand
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
Instructions
- Cook butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat until melted and bubbling. Turn temperature down to low-medium and continue cooking butter, stirring occasionally, until butter "quiets down" or stops sputtering. Butter will appear golden brown, remove from heat immediately and pour into heat proof bowl to cool
- Blend cream cheese and cooled brown butter in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer for 1 minute
- Add sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and milk. Slowly mix in then turn mixer to medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy
Kristen Sandula
This was perfect for my cinnamon rolls!
Shauna
Buttery and creamy! Love this frosting
Krista
This is my absolute favorite frosting! Perfect for all the fall treats!