Creamy, healthy cream cheese frosting…
It’s both fluffier and creamier than Pillsbury cream cheese. And if you’re counting calories: you could eat the entire recipe for just 200 calories. Who wouldn’t want to eat an entire container’s worth of frosting in one sitting?
For more healthy frosting recipes: Over 50 Healthy Frosting Recipes
But the following recipe is better than store-bought frosting for a reason much more important than the calories: it’s free of unhealthy trans fats.
Many packaged frostings contain your entire day’s worth of trans fats in just two tablespoons. I posted a similar frosting recipe, my Cheesecake Frosting, around three years ago, and I modified the recipe yesterday and think this new healthy cream cheese frosting recipe is even better than the original!
Healthy Cream Cheese Frosting
(makes about 3/4 cup)
- 1/2 cup cream cheese, such as TJ vegan or homemade cashew cream cheese
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp powdered sugar OR stevia to taste
- 1/4 cup silken tofu OR more cream cheese (For soy-free: Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Frosting)
- up to 2 tbsp milk of choice, as needed for desired thickness
Blend everything together in a small food processor (I used a Magic Bullet). If you’re using this recipe to top cupcakes, I’d recommend frosting them just before serving, or frosting earlier and then storing the cupcakes in the fridge, due to the perishable nature of the ingredients. Leftover frosting can be stored for a few days in the fridge, covered. Variation ideas: Add pumpkin, or shredded carrot and pineapple for a carrot cake dip, or cinnamon and walnuts…
Or you can go crazy: Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Dip.
Do you worry about trans fats?
Do you think they really are as bad as all the hype says they are? I don’t “worry” about them, but that’s pretty much because I don’t have to—most of the foods containing trans fats are pre-packaged snack foods (often not even vegan) I wouldn’t seek out anyway. Sure, every now and then I’ll grab a handful of chocolate Teddy Grahams if I’m at a friend’s house and they’re sitting out. But for the most part, I don’t buy anything with “partially-hydrogenated oils” listed in the ingredients (a really easy way to tell if a food has trans fats).
By the way, I just noticed: You can totally see my head and camera in the reflection of the spoon in the photo above 
.
Your blog almost makes me want to become vegan, I think it would help me feel better as well, all the processed foods are making me sick. However, I love cheese a little too much… Can I be a dairy eating vegan? 😛
Yes haha… well, sorta. I tell people that all the time! They say, “I’d be vegan but I can’t give up cheese.” So be a vegan except for cheese ;). I seriously doubt ANYone in this world is a “perfect” vegan, and every little bit helps. Non-vegans are probably more to thank for things like soymilk and veggie burgers showing up in stores than vegans, since there are so few of us. People like me are completely indebted to our semi-veggie friends for helping to make vegan foods more mainstream. 🙂
Is this frosting thick enough to be piped on cupcakes? 🙂
I’ve piped it before… but it’s much thicker if you make it up a day early and then chill thoroughly in the fridge. Also, if you want it extra thick you can up the ratio of cream cheese to less tofu. But frost right before serving, as this frosting doesn’t do well if left out (unfridged) for hours.
Thank you!
WOW, I can’t believe how good the frosting is! What a pleasant surprise!
Hi Katie,
I’m just starting to experiment with xanthan gum, and I am wondering if I could use it in this recipe to thicken the icing for piping or to simply hold longer with out refrigerating? Or is that a totally bad idea?
Thanks, Ali!
Yum. Just made a blueberry “pizzert”. When I took it out of the oven I spread 1/2 of it with microwaved and smashed blueberries.Then folded over the other half on it like a sandwich.
Reminded me a lot of a scone, also very delicious. Looked fancy, haha.
No idea for names, but pizzert still has a special place in my heart.
And totally commented on the wrong recipe with this. Oh well, lol.
I sub’ed half of a banana for the cream cheese. The frosting wasn’t as “white” as yours, but still very thick and fluffy. I had it ontop of YF toast with fruit. Yum. P.S. This also makes a nice fruit dip on its own. Thanks for all the great recipes! I suffer from food allergies and your recipes allow me to have my “cake and eat it too!” 🙂
Hi Katie, I’m not sure if anyone else pointed this out (not going to read 89 comments!) but your nutritional info is incorrect in two respects:
1. If you use regular Tofutti cream cheese, it has trans-fats. You state that your recipe is ‘fine’ with it, but also state that it has no trans-fats. Only the yellow-lid Tofutti cream cheese has no trans-fats.
2. Your recipe calls for added sugar, but you state in the nutritional info that it has no sugar.
You might want to correct these, although it’s a while ago since you made this post.
Pat
Hi Pat,
My nutritional info is actually correct. 🙂
You can easily use the trans-fat-free tofutti (which I did for this recipe). And I used stevia to sweeten. I give options so people can change the recipe to suit their own needs, but I can’t give nutrition facts for every possible combination of ingredients that someone might choose to use. So I give them for the ingredients I used (which are included in the recipe).
Cool, I just made this with regular firm tofu (whole foods brand) and it worked fine! I didn’t really measure but instead started with the base and added more of each ingredient (and some almond milk) as needed/to taste. I did put in about 1/2 cup powdered sugar (though I at least doubled this recipe) and a squeeze of agave; it still tastes a little tofu-y but I didn’t want to go overboard on the sugar. Great recipe though if you want a low-sugar frosting!
Much like you Katie I stay away from processed food as much as possible. I do worry when I splurge on a treat food that says 0% transfat on the packaging. I recently found out that 0% transfat actually means less than a certain percentage. Some foods that state no transfat just give percentages for the smallest serving size where the transfat level is less than this amount.
PS, I actually stopped by for help with a cream cheese icing replacement. Trying a beet red velvet cake recipe this weekend. (I know it’s not chocolate). Thanks for the help with that 🙂
Could you add cocoa powder to make it a chocolate frosting? Or would that just taste bad?
I haven’t tried it, so I really can’t say… But if you try it, I would love to hear the results!