Keto Cream Cheese Icing

This keto cream cheese icing is a great addition to cupcakes, cakes, and even donuts! This is absolutely packed with yummy fats without any of the sugars!

WHAT IS CREAM CHEESE FROSTING?

Cream cheese icing, or frosting, is a tasty topping for cakes and other desserts. 

Traditional cream cheese icing contains lots of sugar. Processed versions that you can buy in the store even contain all kinds of non-essential added ingredients.

This cream cheese icing recipe, however, uses only a few ingredients and is sweetened with erythritol instead of sugar.

KETO CREAM CHEESE ICING INGREDIENTS

Before you try to make this cream cheese icing recipe, make sure you have the following ingredients on hand.

• 12 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered erythritol
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

After you have all of this, you’re set and ready to go!

HOW TO MAKE KETO CREAM CHEESE ICING

1. In a mixing bowl, use a hand mixer and beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth
2. Add the sweetener and vanilla, and continue to beat until the texture becomes very light and creamy
3. Adjust sweetness with more powdered sweetener to taste (if needed)
4. Refrigerate until ready to use; repeat use of hand mixer until light and fluffy before using
5. Frost and enjoy!

A FEW WORDS ABOUT CREAM CHEESE…

Picking cream cheese isn’t an overly hard task, but care should be taken to ensure you select a good quality cream cheese. Below are a few things for you to consider when standing in the cheese aisle ready to buy.

HOW TO PICK THE RIGHT CREAM CHEESE

When choosing a cream cheese, always be sure to check the carbohydrate content. Depending on the brand, carb content can change drastically.

Generally, cream cheese should contain no more than 1 gram of carbohydrates per ounce. If there is more than this, the cheese may contain extra ingredients or fillers. Neither is useful or something you want to be ingesting.

Depending on your area and what is available in your store brand, you might be forced to choose brand name cream cheese. If this is the case, the price will be somewhat higher, but the nutrition will be keto-approved.

HIGH-FAT VERSUS LOW-FAT CREAM CHEESE

Watching fat content on a keto/low-carb diet isn’t a concern. Fat is what makes both ways of eating work their proverbial “magic.”

When choosing a cream cheese for this recipe, never opt for a low-fat version. As you probably know, anything that has been purposefully lowered in fat has a higher level of sugar.

In fact, not only is there more sugar, there is often more ingredients as well. This, of course, defeats our mission to eat a few “extra” ingredients as possible.

SAY NO TO NEUFCHATEL CHEESE

As you’ve probably seen at some point in your grocery store visits, there is a cheese packaged and sold alongside cream cheese. This cheese is called Neuchtafel cheese, and upon first glance is the same thing as cream cheese.

What you don’t see at first, however, is that this cheese has a lower fat content and higher water content than cream cheese. While it’s not a huge difference, it isn’t worth using for keto recipes.

The moral of the story is, say no to Neufchatel!

STORING LEFTOVER CREAM CHEESE ICING

Because cream cheese icing contains dairy, storing it carefully is important.

Place the prepared cream cheese icing in an airtight container, such as a glass storage container or Ziploc bag. This will help keep the icing from drying out or absorbing odors.

You can refrigerate the icing for up to 4 days. If you don’t use the frosting after this time, it’s probably best to discard it.

To use refrigerated icing, let it sit at room temperature for around 30 minutes before trying to manipulate it. Otherwise, it will be stiff and very hard to work with.

CAN I FREEZE THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING?

The short answer is, yes, you can.

However, more than likely you’re going to end up ruining the icing in the process.

Freezing the icing will more than likely lead to it losing it’s consistency, as well as drawing moisture out of the cream cheese as it thaws.

WHAT TO PUT THIS LOW CARB CREAM CHEESE ICING ON

To be honest, there’s not a lot you WON’T want to put this cream cheese icing on. It’s creamy, sweet, and delicious!

Here are some ideas of delicious recipes to use this frosting with.

• Keto Shortbread Cookies
• Keto Pumpkin Cookies
• Keto Graham Crackers
• Keto Carrot Cake

For more ideas, you can check out our recipe index.

TOOLS USED TO MAKE KETO CREAM CHEESE ICING

Click on the links to see the items used in making this recipe. You can also find these products linked in the recipe below.

• Hand Mixer – We’ve said it before, but it’s always worth a repeat. A good hand mixer can truly change your life in the kitchen. Whisks and elbow grease is great, but a hand mixer can make short work of just about any mixing task. If you don’t have one as part of your kitchen utensils, there’s no time like now to fix that!

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