A silky-smooth low carb sugar free cream cheese frosting recipe that’s perfect for carrot cakes, red velvet cakes, layer cakes, and cupcakes.
Cream cheese frosting was one of my favorites growing up - especially on my mother’s carrot cake. She made one every year for Easter and slathered it in tangy-sweet cream cheese frosting. It was so good that I often ate just the frosting and left the cake behind.
Now that I'm grown with my own children, I continue mom’s Easter tradition and make my family a low carb carrot cake with a sugar free cream cheese frosting (and sometime carrot cupcakes). In fact this frosting is so fast and easy to make, it’s my go-to recipe for decorating all kinds of cupcakes and even layer cakes.
Some people don't care for cream cheese frosting. They don't like the tang. My sugar free cream cheese frosting recipe tames the tanginess by whipping the cream cheese with butter, resulting in a silky-smooth texture. Whipping the ingredients produces a fluffy cream cheese frosting much nicer than the original my mother made, which was a little runny and overly sweet.
If you are new to low carb you may be wondering how to make cream cheese frosting without sugar. It’s easy. I use a natural low carb sugar alternative like an erythritol/stevia blend in place of the sugar. I like Sukrin Icing Sugar but Swerve Confectioners is another popular brand.
Because erythritol isn't digested or absorbed in the body, this sugar free frosting recipe shouldn't impact blood sugar. I would consider it safe for diabetics and weight loss. However, this is a treat and as I tell my children, “treats are sometimes foods”. (Read more about low carb sugar free sweeteners.)
Beware: it's common to see recipes for sugar free cream cheese frosting sweetened with honey or maple syrup. Although these recipes are refined sugar free they contain a lot of sugars and carbohydrates and therefore ore not suitable for diabetics or weight-loss. Stick to the low carb sugar alternatives I mentioned above or use your favorite.
This recipe for Low Carb Sugar Free Cream Cheese Frosting serves 12, at 1 net carb per serving.
Low Carb Sugar Free Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 12 ounces Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cool but soft (1 ½ packages)
- 4 ounces salted butter, softened (8 tablespoon or 1 stick)
- ½ cup low carb powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- stevia glycerite or stevia drops to taste
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, beat the cool cream cheese until smooth. I use a hand mixer.
- Add the sweetener and beat until lightened in texture. Beat in the vanilla until completely incorporated.
- Add the butter, beating again until the mixture is whipped together and nice and light. Adjust sweetness with more powdered sweetener or stevia to taste.
- Refrigerate until ready to use. Beat until light and fluffy before using. Makes approximately 2 cups or enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes.
Vanessa
Can’t tell it’s low carb. I could just eat this plain it’s so good!
Kathryn
I really enjoyed this recipe! Perfect!
Cynthia
Hi Kim! Not sure if you still check this, but wanted to thank you for this and other sugar free recipes! I’m new to baking sugar free and had a question. I have granulated Splenda already, and limited budget. If I tried to powderize Splenda granules, will it substitute? Have you or anyone else tried? Thanks so much!
Kim
Hi Cynthia. Yes, you can powder the Splenda but I seem to remember that it doesn't dissolve very well into the frosting - but that could have been an all butter frosting. It's been several years since I have used it. What I suggest for the future is to buy generic erythritol (if it's on your budget) and some Splenda drops (EZ Sweets) or liquid stevia. This would be less expensive than buying name brand 1:1 sugar replacements like Sukrin, Swerve or Lakanto.
I find that using a combination of a concentrated sweetener with the erythritol works just as well as the name brand sweeteners. The only thing is the initial outlay in cost. Fortunately, most of them last a very long time. For example, the KAL powdered stevia I buy for my coffee is very expensive, but has 500 servings which are about 1/32 of a teaspoon each. I also use it sometimes in my smoothies or in baked goods. It lasts me well over a year. Same for the stevia glycerite I buy. I like to use that in baking with the erythritol because I don't think it is as bitter as some of the other liquid stevia brands.
Yes, everything is expensive, but once you have some of the staples, they last quite a long time. I hope this helps. -Kim
Cynthia
Thank so much for all the great info! I have already favorited these so I can come back for recipes. I will try powdering the Splenda and see if I can get it to melt with a lilttle vanilla and cream cheese (gently) bring back to temp and see how the test works out. I’ll let you either way in case someone else asks. You have A GREAT website for design and function. The best I have seen for baking and cooking. Excellent job!!
Kelly
This is my FAVORITE icing. I put it on top of my low carb apple cinnamon muffins and it is the BEST. I usually use Monkfruit powdered sugar because it is my favorite and does not have the ‘cooling’ effect that Swerve has. Thanks SO much for this recipe!
Kim
I'm glad you like the recipe, Kelly. I bet it's fantastic on your apple cinnamon muffins, which sound delicious BTW. Monkfruit is a nice sweetener. Thanks for sharing and for the nice comment. I hope you enjoy your week. -Kim
Jacqueline
I followed Some info that I had read regarding the equivalence of sugarless equivalents, so I ordered a bag of erythritol and 4 ounce bag of Stevia powder I don’t know anything about the sukrin icing, But I know that I could make the erythritol and the Stevia together confectionery, and no longer have to buy my favorite PYURE, not crazy about swerve at all, to each his own, prefer skinny girl drops as opposed to straight up Stevia drops(pyure liquid)Anyhow, in the recipe what would be the equivalent I’m sorry if that sounds redundant but it just seems like such a simple cream cheese frosting recipe as opposed to the others I’ve seen thank you so much this is a great site and a wonderful recipe.
Pam
Gonna give this a try this morning!!! Sounds great.
rachel Poisson
Where can I find Sukrin icing suger and the stevia glycerite?
Kim
You can find the Sukrin Icing Sugar on Sukrin USA.com and the stevia glycerite on Amazon. You may also use your favorite low carb sweetener to taste. If it is granular, you may want to powder it first. -Kim
Kelly
Holy crap swerve confectioners is freaking magical there is literally no aftertaste I could eat this icing all day yay for a new fat bomb ? thankyou!!! It feels like cheating it’s so good.
Jessica
Would Swerve granulated work instead of Confectioners? Everywhere in my area is on backorder for the Confectioners.
Thanks!
Kim
Sure, Jessica. Make sure to powder it in a coffee grinder or some such device. That gives it a better chance of dissolving. -Kim
Tammy
What is considered a serving size?
Kim
Approximately 3 tablespoons, Tammy. -Kim
Matt
I love cream cheese frosting. Can't wait to give this one a try.
Anastacia
This looks really good! Do you think this would be a good option for a smash cake? I'm making my daughter a healthy smash cake without sugar and I wanted a frosting that would hold up better than just heavy whipping cream. Would this work for piping?
Kim
Anastacia, this will pipe but it would hold up better if the cake were refrigerated over-night. I would probably use whipped cream and beat until almost stiff, then add 1/8 teaspoon of xanthan gum and whip until stiff. It will stabilize the whipped cream and it will hold all day without breaking down. I have used stabilized whipped cream as frosting many times. Look at my post for chocolate birthday cake. Another option is to whip cream cheese, sweeten it and then whip the cream cheese until stiff (stibilize it with xantan gum) and then fold them together. Let me know if you have any more questions. -Kim
Adina
I love cream cheese frosting, it is my favorite kind actually. It is good to have a low carb alternative for the next batch of cupcakes.
Kim
Thanks, Adina. Everyone has a recipe for cream cheese frosting, right? It's so easy and much better than the canned version! -Kim