Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting
Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting is a great addition to desserts when you need a light but flavorful topping! Pair it with cakes, cupcakes, cookies, or more for a sweet and exciting addition!
Cool Whip is a delicious topping all on its own for pies, cakes, parfaits, hot chocolate, coffee, and more. And Cream Cheese Frosting is its own delight, perfect for spreading over Pumpkin Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Cinnamon Rolls, Brownies, and Carrot Cake!
They are each delicious dessert toppings on their own, perfect for so many dishes. But together? Together they are unstoppable.
This Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting blends your two favorite toppings with one another to make the ultimate dessert spread! Use it on light desserts, dense cakes, or delicious pies.
I’m not a huge Cool Whip fan myself, but when it’s mixed with cream cheese and powdered sugar, suddenly, I love it! This recipe comes together in just 10 minutes and makes the standard Cream Cheese Frosting much lighter and fluffier than it would be without the Cool Whip addition. Pair this recipe with just about any dessert in your kitchen.
Ingredients for Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting
- Unsalted Butter: You can also use salted butter if you prefer, but then you can omit the added salt in the recipe or adjust to taste. Softened butter is between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cream Cheese: Use full fat cream cheese for the fluffiest texture.
- Cool Whip: Use Cool Whip that has thawed in the fridge. Do not make this recipe with frozen Cool Whip.
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Powdered Sugar: Also known as Confectioners sugar.
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Make the Base
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and softened cream cheese on high speed until smooth and creamy.
Add the cool whip, vanilla, and salt, and mix again until combined.
Step 2: Add the Powdered Sugar
Add in the powdered sugar about 1 cup at a time, mixing between each addition until just combined.
Once your cake or cupcakes are cooled, pipe/spread the frosting on top or between the cake layers. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- I recommend using a #1A tip for this Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting (a large, plain tip) as the frosting will not hold star shapes very well.
- You can add more powdered sugar if you like a stiffer frosting. This combination, for me, was a good blend of stiff enough while still being able to taste the Cool Whip
Uses for Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting
This frosting is nice and light, and would be great with airy cakes. Some good options include:
- Angel Food Cake
- Strawberry Cupcakes
- The Best Lemon Cake Recipe Using Lemon Cake Mix
You can also use it in parfaits, to top banana bread, on this Banana Cake, or to pipe on top of these Applesauce Cookies.
Adaptations
Feel free to adapt this recipe to your personal taste preferences. Here are some suggestions:
- Extracts: Instead of using vanilla, feel free to experiment with other flavors instead.
- Color: Add food dye to change the color of your frosting.
- Add Flavors: Add powdered strawberries to make a Strawberry Cool Whip frosting, cocoa for a chocolate flavor, powdered Peanut Butter for a peanut butter flavor, etc.
Recipe FAQs
Because this recipe is made using dairy (butter, cream cheese, cool whip), your frosting should definitely be refrigerated. Feel free to pipe it onto your dessert and then refrigerate the finished product.
If you are making the Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting ahead of time, you can also store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Before piping, allow the frosting to come back to room temperature on the counter so that it can be easily spread.
Yes, definitely! In this case, put the canned cream cheese frosting in a large mixing bowl and blend it up with an electric hand mixer. Then add about 1 cup of cool whip into the bowl and mix again until fully combined. This will make your frosting runnier, so be prepared to add some powdered sugar if necessary.
Adding Cool Whip into the frosting thins out your final product, making a much thinner frosting. That is why this recipe calls for more sugar than my other cream cheese frostings (like this Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting or my Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting!).
If your frosting is too thin for your preference, you can simply add more powdered sugar until it reaches your desired consistency.
This makes about 5 cups of frosting, which is enough to pipe onto 24 cupcakes liberally or frost a 9”, 2 layer cake! If you pipe less frosting, you can probably coat 36 cupcakes (3 dozen).
Did you enjoy this Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe? If so, check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:
Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Electric Hand Mixer
Ingredients
- ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
- 2 cups Cool Whip, thawed
- 1 ½ tsp Vanilla
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 5 cups Powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and softened cream cheese on high speed until smooth and creamy.
- Add the cool whip, vanilla, and salt, and mix again until combined.
- Add in the powdered sugar about 1 cup at a time, mixing between each addition until just combined.
- Once your cake or cupcakes are cooled, pipe/spread the frosting on top or between the cake layers. Enjoy!
Notes
- Unsalted Butter: You can also use salted butter if you prefer, but then you can omit the added salt in the recipe or adjust to taste. Softened butter is between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cream Cheese: Use full fat cream cheese for the fluffiest texture.
- Cool Whip: Use Cool Whip that has thawed in the fridge. Do not make this recipe with frozen Cool Whip.
- Powdered Sugar: Also known as Confectioners sugar.
- I recommend using a #1A tip for this Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting (a large, plain tip) as the frosting will not hold star shapes very well.
- You can add more powdered sugar if you like a stiffer frosting. This combination, for me, was a good blend of stiff enough while still being able to taste the Cool Whip.
