This Keto Cream Cheese Frosting recipe is perfectly creamy with fewer calories and less saturated fat. With only 5 ingredients, this fluffy bowl of sugarfree cream cheese frosting is ready in 5 minutes. Perfect for low-carb cakes, muffins and cookies!
I’ve been making cream cheese frosting since I’ve been a child. I have to admit that it’s still hard for me to keep my fingers out of the frosting bowl. Soft and creamy, I can’t resist the gentle aroma of vanilla and cream cheese that wafts through the kitchen. So, I reach in with my pointer finger and let my findings melt in my mouth. I’ve done it again! The tang of the cream cheese melds perfectly with the sweetener and vanilla, so I run the spatula through the silky frosting one more time. The spatula leaves gentle impressions the way my head does when it sinks into my soft, down pillow at night, so I know that the frosting is ready!
Well, the times have changed since I first started making cream cheese frosting. My mother is diabetic these days so I modified the recipe for family events and took out the refined sugar. This keto-friendly version of the classic frosting is really a lot better for your health, especially if you worry about how much sugar and cholesterol you consume.
What is Keto Cream Cheese Frosting
Keto cream cheese frosting is a creamy frosting made with low-fat or regular cream cheese. It’s also sweetened with powdered monk fruit or powdered erythritol instead of refined sugar, so there are no carbs or calories from the sweetener. That makes this frosting a lot healthier than regular cream cheese frosting, so you can enjoy your dessert guilt-free.
Sugarfree
Various options to reduce the saturated fat
THE BIG PLUS: I know you’re going to use it to decorate an irresistible keto dessert that everyone can’t wait to try! So it’s good to know that most of your friends, family and guests can enjoy this frosting, since it’s suitable for virtually every diet including keto, low-carb, diabetic, sugarfree, eggfree, grainfree and glutenfree.
Ingredients in sugarfree Keto Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream cheese – Use regular or make it with low-fat cream cheese if you want less saturated fat. The recipe tastes great with both. As for plant-based cream cheese, I haven’t tried making frosting with it yet, but let me know if you have.
- Vanilla extract – enhances the flavor.
- Butter – You can also use heart-healthy avocado which is what I do in light & silky Cream Cheese Avocado Frosting.
- Milk or heavy cream – I use nonfat milk since it’s lower in saturated fat than heavy cream. Use less liquid for thicker frosting. Unsweetened almond milk also works.
- Powdered sweetener – This sugarfree cream cheese frosting is exactly that. Instead of refined sugar, the recipe calls for a powdered sugar substitute such as monk fruit, erythritol or Swerve, to name a few. These keto-friendly sugar alternatives have zero calories.
By the way, if you don’t have powdered sweetener in the house, here’s a handy trick: Just pulverize granulated sweetener in the food processor, but be sure to give it a few whirs so no graininess remains.
How to thicken keto frosting for piping
Xanthum gum thickens and stabilizes frosting for piping. Add half a teaspoon of xanthum gum to one cup of frosting and allow 20-30 minutes to thicken. In fact, you can add up to one teaspoon of xanthum gum to one cup of frosting. It all depends on how stable you want the frosting to be. Moreover, the frosting will continue to stiffen when you refrigerate the finished cake. Always add xanthum gum slowly because a little goes a long way.
Try Keto Cream Cheese Frosting on Healthy Carrot Cake.
How to make Keto Cream Cheese Frosting
It’s so easy to make this frosting.
- Take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator 15-30 minutes before you use it. This will give it time to soften up and is essential if you mix the frosting by hand.
- Place the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and mix. Use a food processor, blender, electric hand mixer or stand mixer to mix the ingredients. Alternately, you can use a spoon, but the frosting might not be as whipped or fluffy.
You might like cream cheese keto frosting on Keto Red Velvet Cake.
Dye low-carb cream cheese frosting
Add a splash of color to your baked goods. Simply add a few drops of natural food coloring to the frosting which is what I did for Healthy Carrot Cake.
Kitchen equipment to make Low-Carb Cream Cheese Frosting
- A food processor, blender, electric hand mixer or stand mixer – Alternately, you can use a spoon, but the frosting might not be as fluffy.
How to store your frosting
To store: Simply refrigerate in an airtight container. You can make the frosting the night before you need to use it, but can store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
To freeze: Freeze the frosting in a sealed container for up to 3 months.
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Sugar-Free Keto Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- 1 Food processor, blender, electric hand mixer or stand mixer. If you make the frosting manually, it might not be as fluffy.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Regular or Low-Fat Cream Cheese
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 4 tablespoons Butter
- 2-3 tablespoons Milk or Heavy Cream Use less for thicker frosting. I use nonfat milk because it's lower in saturated fat than heavy cream.
- ¾ cup Powdered Sweetener I use zero-calorie powdered monk fruit which I make by pulverizing granulated monk fruit in the food processor, but be sure to give it a few whirs to make sure no graininess remains.
Optional thickener for piping
- ½ tsp Xanthum Gum To thicken it for piping.
Instructions
- Place ingredients in bowl and mix. Start with 1 Tbsp milk or heavy cream and add more, depending on how thick you want it.
Optional instructions for piping
- If you want to pipe the frosting and use decorative nozzles, you might want more stable frosting. Add 1/2 tsp xanthum gum to one cup frosting and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. It will thicken. You can add up to 1 tsp of xanthum gum per one cup. A little goes a long way so make sure you wait a bit before adding more xanthum gum. Also be sure to mix it in well with a whisk or emulsifier so there are no clumps.
Notes
This frosting is perfect! Plenty for a whole layer cake. Thanks for taking the sugar out of this.