Rich and dreamy cream cheese frosting 100% sweetened with honey, making it free from refined sugar. It is easy to make and goes great on top of all kinds of cakes and desserts.
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Ingredients and Substitutions
- Cream cheese: Use full fat, brick style cream cheese (don’t use cream cheese spread).
- Butter: Unsalted butter is best for this recipe because it doesn’t contain enough sugar to balance out the salt it salted butter.
- Heavy cream: We use just a little heavy cream to help make the frosting more fluffy.
- Honey: We like using a mild flavored raw honey. Cox’s honey is great.
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
See recipe card for quantities.
Variations
If you’re looking for different flavored frostings, you can check out all our other cream cheese frosting flavors below.
- Traditional cream cheese frosting
- Dark chocolate
- Ganache style
- Lemon frosting with orange and lime variations
Instruction Photos
Overview of instructions with photos. See recipe card for quantities and full instructions.
Step 1: Beat softened cream cheese in a bowl until smooth.
Step 2: Add the honey, vanilla and salt, beat until combined and smooth. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat again until smooth.
Step 3: Cut slightly softened butter into chunks, add to the cream cheese and beat until smooth.
Step 4: Add the heavy cream and beat until fluffy and smooth, about 1 minute.
Serving Suggestions
Cake of course 😁. We have some delicious options, all made with 100% whole wheat flour.
Storage
Store the frosting in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
We haven’t been able to figure out why (we searched all over for an answer), but any time we mix honey with a dairy product, it only lasts a couple days before it starts to turn sour. We’ve seen it with honey butter, honey cream cheese drizzle and this honey frosting. We still like to use honey but make sure we won’t need to store it for very long.
If you need a cream cheese frosting that will store a little longer that is still not too sweet, try our less sweet cream cheese frosting
How to Freeze
Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and use within a couple days.
Tips From Our Kitchen
You want your butter to be softened, not room temperature. If it has come completely to room temperature it can be too soft and make your frosting have a separated look. It will still taste good, it just won’t have a silky smooth texture.
You also don’t want the butter to be too cold or it will go lumpy when you mix it in. If this does happen, you can put the frosting in the microwave for 2-4 seconds and then beat them out with your electric mixer.
Related Recipes
📖 Recipe
Honey Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 8 oz (226 g) full fat cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup (84 g) raw honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter slightly softened
- ¼ cup (60 g) heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Cut ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter into ½ inch cubes or thin slices. If your butter is cold, spread it out on a plate or the butter wrapper. Let sit until slightly softened (about 15-20 minutes).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat 8 oz (226 g) full fat cream cheese until smooth.
- Add ¼ cup (84 g) raw honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 pinch salt, beat until combined and smooth.
- Add the butter and mix on high speed until smooth and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes).
- Add ¼ cup (60 g) heavy whipping cream and beat on medium speed until thickened and fluffy.
- Use immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Nutrition
We calculate these nutritional facts using an estimate and they can vary drastically between ingredients used and measuring technique. So, they are not intended for medical use.
Leora
This is very good! I ended up adding an extra TBSP of honey and an extra tsp of vanilla. I didn’t add any of the heavy cream as I needed it stiffer for piping. After it was made I put it in the fridge to stiffen up a bit. I re-whipped it just a bit when ready to frost the cake. Perfect consistency and yummy! Thanks for the great recipe!
WholeWheatKitchen
We’re so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting us know:)