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What’s not to love about rich cream cheese frosting? Honestly, I love it so much that I don’t even need it to be on a cupcake to enjoy it with! I’d gladly eat it by the spoonful – if it weren’t loaded with sugar, of course. With my keto cream cheese frosting, you can enjoy the classic taste and texture of the icing you know and love without all the carbs.
Why Make This:
- Tastes great all while using an all natural sugar substitute
- Is quick & easy, requiring you to mix just four ingredients
- Serves as the light & fluffy companion to many keto-friendly cakes and desserts
Ingredients Needed
All you need is a stand mixer and a few ingredients – most of which you probably already have on hand.
To make keto cream cheese frosting, you’ll need to gather:
- Powdered Monk Fruit Erythritol: this works better than a granular sweetener as it helps the cream cheese frosting come out smoothe.
- Cream Cheese: I’m using full-fat cream cheese that is softened
- Butter: I’m using salted butter and it is softened
- Vanilla Extract
How to Make Keto Cream Cheese Frosting
Once you have the ingredients ready, place them all in the bowl of a stand mixer. You could also use a hand-mixer if that’s what you prefer or have available (photo 1).
Mix them on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until all the ingredients are well combined (photos 2 – 4).
If you are piping this on a baked good, you can add the frosting to a piping bag before using it to frost things like my keto cupcakes.
Top Tips and Recipe FAQs
- Use a tall bowl and lower speed to minimize mess: powdered sweeteners can make things powdery if your bowl is not tall enough or if your mixer speed is too high. I tend to start slow and ramp my mixer speed up to give the sweetener a chance to get incorporated.
- Refrigerate to make firmer: the frosting gets firmer as it sits in the refrigerator so you can simply refrigerate it for 10-15 minutes, if yours is too soft.
Is cream cheese frosting keto?
Regular cream cheese frosting is not keto or low carb thanks to tons of added sugar. While it tastes great, the sugar will surely knock anyone right out of ketosis. But, if you make it using keto-friendly sugar substitutes, cream cheese frosting can be low-carb. In this recipe, I’m sharing how I substitute refined sugar to get the flavor we all love.
Best Keto Sweeteners for Frosting
The best sweeteners to use for a smooth and lusciously creamy frosting are powdered versions. If you use granulated sweeteners, you may notice a gritty or grainy texture.
If you prefer or have them on hand, you can also use liquid sweeteners. Like powdered, liquid sweeteners will blend into the cream cheese nicely. If you want to use liquid sweetener, sweeten it to taste by slowly adding sweetener.
Remember: you can always add more but can’t remove it!
Keto Cream Cheese Frosting Variations
Keto cream cheese frosting can be very versatile. If you don’t like plain vanilla or you just want to spice things up a bit, you can make variations by adding one (or more) of the following extracts instead of vanilla (or in addition to if you really want to spice things up):
But, if you do decide to use a different flavor extract, keep an eye out for added sugar. Some extracts and flavoring add sugars, so I try to avoid these when I make keto frosting.
If you love chocolate, you can make keto cream cheese frosting chocolatey by adding one or more teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to the recipe. The more you add, the more chocolatey it will taste. Add a little at a time until it tastes the way you would like it to.
Recipes to Use Cream Cheese Frosting With
Keto-friendly baked goods can be a bit hard to come by since most baked desserts use sugar and flour, both of which add a considerable amount of carbs. Fortunately, I have a few recipe ideas you can use this cream cheese frosting on. They include:
- Low Carb Carrot Cake
- Keto Cupcakes
- Keto Halloween Brownie Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Muffins – a fall favorite in my family
- Watermelon Pizza – a great, low-carb summertime treat!
Other Keto Cream Cheese Frosting & Icing Recipes
If you love the idea of adding a low-carb cream cheese frosting to your dessert, you can also try out these recipes as icing:
- Keto Pumpkin Mousse
- Peanut Butter Caramel Mousse: I used this as part of my keto cookie dough peanut butter fluff bars and it tasted great!
- Sugar-free Chococaole Mousse
If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Keto Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Butter, softened
- 1 cup Powdered Monk Fruit Erythritol
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
Instructions
- Mix all of the frosting ingredients in a stand-mixer (~3 minutes)
- Use the frosting on low-carb carrot cake, pumpkin muffins, keto cupcakes or another dessert
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
