Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing is a delicious way to use up fresh strawberries. (Or you could sub in strawberry jam, though it may not produce the same gorgeous pink hue - which is all natural by the way!) No food coloring here.
This icing kind of tastes like a combination between traditional cream cheese icing and strawberry cream cheese that you might get from the store. It's lusciously creamy and smooth with fresh bits of strawberries swirled throughout, and the perfect balance between tangy and sweet.
Use this to ice a cake or cupcakes, or even as a filling for GF (or wheat-ful) cookie sandwiches or a dip!
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Do I Have to Use Fresh Strawberries?
No, you could also make this recipe with frozen strawberries. Simply follow the recipe as written and simmer down the strawberries on the stove top to break them down and intensify the flavors and color. You could also eliminate the step of simmering the strawberries down and use a store-bought natural strawberry jam. I have not personally tried using store-bought and can not speak to whether it produces the same natural pink hue as fresh.
I prefer to use fresh strawberries in this recipe, especially through the May-June season when U-Pick strawberries are abundant where I live. That's where these berries came from!
Do I Have to Simmer the Strawberries?
If using fresh or frozen strawberries, yes. Simmering the strawberries into a sort of jam-like consistency is necessary to bring out their best flavor and intensify the color in order to get that gorgeous naturally pink hue in the icing. Simmering the strawberries will also preserve their shelf life some and make the icing last longer.
How To Make Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing:
For the Homemade Strawberry Preserves:
- First, set out the cream cheese and butter to come to room temp.
- Rinse off fresh strawberries and trim off green tops. Roughly chop in quarters and add to a small saucepan along with the sugar and water.
- Turn the heat to medium-low, and cook the strawberries, stirring frequently, until reduced to about ¼ cup. Lower the heat and stir as needed to prevent burning. This process takes about 20-30 minutes. Tip: They will turn bright red, burst, then begin to simmer. Allow to simmer until reduced. The mixture should no longer be a thin juice, but thick and jammy.
- Once the strawberries are like preserves, spoon out of the pan into a bowl and allow to cool. Set aside.
For the Cream Cheese Icing:
- Meanwhile, in a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, add the room temperature cream cheese and butter. Beat on high until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Add in the vanilla extract and strawberry preserves. Beat until combined.
- Sift the powdered sugar into the bowl, and beat until creamy and smooth. Tip: Sifting is important to avoid lumps. Since this icing is on the thicker/heavier side, lumps will be more obvious in the finished product.
- Ice cake or cupcakes. Additionally, you can use the frosting as a layer for cookie sandwiches, or a dip for fruit, cookies, or graham crackers. Store all iced baked goods/extra icing in the refrigerator as cream cheese is perishable.
I made GF Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes with this icing (strawberry icing, GF lemon cupcakes). However, the lemon cupcakes have not yet been released on this blog because they require a little more work and weren't up to my standards. So, coming soon!
Notes:
- For cupcakes: Halve this recipe. This recipe produces enough to ice an entire double-layer cake.
- Cream cheese icing is a heavier icing, meaning it will not hold its shape as best as something that's fluffy like buttercream. It also needs to be kept refrigerated as cream cheese is perishable. I recommend icing your cakes/cupcakes with very simple piping techniques, or decorate using natural elements such as fresh fruits or crumbs of cake/cookies.
- Keep this icing and whatever baked goods iced with it refrigerated.
- Store any leftover icing in a sealed glass jar in the refrigerator. It's good for dipping fruit into, cookies, graham crackers, etc.
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Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing for Cake | Easy, Gluten Free
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Ingredients
For the Homemade Strawberry Preserves (to intensify color and flavor):
- 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries* chopped
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1-2 teaspoon water
For Cream Cheese Icing:
- 8 tablespoon unsalted butter room temperature
- 8 oz. cream cheese room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
For the Homemade Strawberry Preserves:
- First, set out the cream cheese and butter to come to room temp.
- Rinse off fresh strawberries and trim off green tops. Roughly chop in quarters and add to a small saucepan along with the sugar and water.
- Turn the heat to medium-low, and cook the strawberries, stirring frequently, until reduced to about ¼ cup. Lower the heat and stir as needed to prevent burning. This process takes about 20-30 minutes. Tip: They will turn bright red, burst, then begin to simmer. Allow to simmer until reduced. The mixture should no longer be a thin juice, but thick and jammy.
- Once the strawberries are like preserves, spoon out of the pan into a bowl and allow to cool. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, add the room temperature cream cheese and butter. Beat on high until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Add in the vanilla extract and strawberry preserves. Beat until combined.
- Sift the powdered sugar into the bowl, and beat until creamy and smooth. Tip: Sifting is important to avoid lumps. Since this icing is on the thicker/heavier side, lumps will be more obvious in the finished product.
- Ice cake or cupcakes. Additionally, you can use the frosting as a layer for cookie sandwiches, or a dip for fruit, cookies, or graham crackers. Store all iced baked goods in the refrigerator as cream cheese is perishable.
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