Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Perfectly creamy without being overly sweet, this Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting is perfect for all of your fall baking needs!

 

Ingredients

All you need are a few easy-to-find ingredients!

• Unsalted Butter– Well softened! If you use salted butter, omit the additional salt.
• Pumpkin flavored cream cheese – This is a savory cream cheese that we are about to make sweet. I make my own from homemade pumpkin puree, but feel free to grab an artisanal brick from the grocery store.
• Vanilla Extract– Use pure extract or vanilla paste. Both add warm richness to the sweet frosting.
• Fine sea salt– To balance the sweet aspects. I like sea salt because it has less salt and a less metallic aftertaste than iodized or table salt.
• Powdered sugar- To give the frosting body and help it keep its shape.

Variations

There are a few ways to switch up this simple pumpkin cream cheese frosting. 

• Extract – For a different flavor profile, try changing the extract. Almond extract is perfect if you like the flavor of nuts, or for a maple flavor, try adding maple extract.
• Sweetness – For more sweet flavor, add a touch of honey or a bit of brown sugar.
• Chocolate – Add texture and chocolatey flavor by folding in mini chocolate chips. Try dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or bittersweet.
• Different textures – To create a different texture, add crushed nuts or sprinkles.
• Spices – Try sprinkling in some cinnamon, ground nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ground ginger, or pumpkin pie spice for more fall flavor.

How to Make Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Making it is easy! Just plan ahead so you can chill it a bit before using it.

1. Beat the butter until smooth. Add half of the cream cheese to a large bowl and use a hand mixer to beat on high speed until fully incorporated and smooth. Add the rest of the cream cheese, along with vanilla and salt.
2. Add sugar. Pour in 2 cups of the powdered sugar, blending on low speed until smooth. Add 2 more cups of the powdered sugar and blend until no powder remains. Check the frosting to see if it is stiff or needs more powdered sugar. Add one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency.

Ways to Use Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

You can substitute pumpkin cream cheese frosting for anything that you’d use regular frosting or cream cheese frosting on.

You can use it on cakes, cupcakes, breads, cookies, pies… eating it straight out of the bowl with a spoon. We won’t judge! And if you really want to double down on pumpkin flavor, try using it to frost pumpkin cupcakes (and even sprinkle a little pumpkin spice on top)!

Here are some other ideas for what to use it on:

• Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes
• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pound Cake
• Soft Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
• Maple Iced Oatmeal Cookies
• Pumpkin Cake Roll
• Brown Butter Cake

My favorite way to use this frosting is to put it into a piping bag with a pretty tip on it. It’s an easy way to make your desserts look way fancier than they actually are!

If you don’t have the piping bags or an icing tip, you can simply cut the corner off of a ziplock bag and achieve the same end result. There are so many fun ways to frost a cake!

If you’re adding your pumpkin cream cheese frosting to a cake roll, an angled spatula or even a rubber spatula will work well, too.

Common Questions

Storage and Freezing

The pumpkin cream cheese frosting can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use. Be sure to let the frosting come to room temperature before using.

How to Store Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Store pumpkin cream cheese frosting in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

How to Freeze Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Freezing this frosting is easy — just transfer it to a resealable bag or freezer-safe container and store it for up to 3 months.

More Fall Desserts

If you can’t get enough of fall-inspired sweets, you’ll love these apple and pumpkin recipes — they’re basically autumn on a plate!