Make Ahead Cream Cheese Drizzle
Use this cream cheese drizzle for homemade waffles, pancakes, quick breads and so much more! A perfect make-ahead recipe for delicious brunch treats.
When you take the time to make a homemade breakfast for a special occasion like Christmas brunch or another memorable family gathering, the easiest way to make your brunch restaurant-quality is to top it with a cream cheese drizzle.
But when you're juggling all the other breakfast prep tasks, it can be easy to overlook this stunning garnish.
Good news! You can prep ahead this cream cheese drizzle and store it in the fridge for a couple days. I keep mine right in the piping bag.
Then you're ready to drizzle the cream cheese icing over your brunch item at the last minute.
Why This is the Best Recipe
Homemade cream cheese frosting is my family's all-time favorite cake topping. So of course we think this is the best cream cheese drizzle recipe because:
- Perfect for Breakfast!: Use this cream cheese drizzle over homemade red velvet waffles, pancakes, or cinnamon rolls. It's the perfect topping for quick breads and coffee cakes, too.
- Make Ahead Friendly: You can prep the cream cheese drizzle and store it in the fridge so you'll have one less step in your brunch preparations in the morning.
- Tangy and Not Too Sweet: Unlike frosting, this cream cheese drizzle has an awesome, strong cream cheese flavor that adds the perfect accent to your breakfast treat.
Ingredients
To make homemade cream cheese drizzle icing, all you need is:
- Cream Cheese
- Powdered Sugar
- Milk
- Vanilla
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How to Make Cream Cheese Drizzle
Add the softened cream cheese to a large mixing bowl with the powdered sugar.
Beat them together with an electric mixer until smooth.
Add the vanilla and milk and beat them in.
Continue to beat the cream cheese icing until completely smooth and it begins to fluff up a bit. This takes about 2 minutes.
A Note on Consistency
This recipe for cream cheese icing is thick enough for piping over a special breakfast item or baked good like homemade breads.
I added it to a piping bag with a round tip for drizzling over my homemade red velvet waffles and it kept its shape perfectly.
If you prefer a more delicate drizzle that melts into a warm baked good, you can thin the icing out by adding an additional tablespoon of milk.
Make Ahead Storage Tips
As I mentioned, I absolutely love that this is a make ahead recipe so you can save time when serving your special brunch to your loved ones.
I transfer the cream cheese drizzle to a piping bag and then tuck the bag into a gallon-sized ziptop storage bag for keeping in the fridge.
Because the icing is so thick, I don't have problems with it leaking out of the storage bag but the second layer helps protect things just in case.
You can keep the icing in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Let it warm on the counter for 10 minutes or so to make it easier and smoother to pipe.
If you thin the icing out with the extra milk, you may wish to just store it in an airtight container and transfer it to a piping bottle right before using.
How to Use Cream Cheese Drizzle
I can think of dozens of delicious ways to use up a piping bag filled with cream cheese icing, but here are some of my very favorites:
Pipe a drizzle over homemade waffles like my red velvet waffles or these tropical-flavored pandan waffles or buttermilk pancakes for a special holiday brunch.
Use it to decorate my easy bread machine carrot cake bread before Easter.
Skip the browned butter frosting and pipe it over squares of fresh apple cake for a dessert table presentation.
Dress up your favorite quick bread recipe for the brunch table. Cream cheese and fresh cranberry bread or red velvet muffins would be an awesome pairing.
More Frosting Recipes
I firmly believe that if you had to choose between making a from-scratch cake vs. a homemade frosting, you should pick a boxed mix cake and make the homemade frosting every time.
Here are a few of my other favorite frosting recipes:
📖 Recipe
Cream Cheese Drizzle
Ingredients
- 1 (8 oz) brick of cream cheese softened
- 1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Add the cream cheese and powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl. Beat them together with a hand mixer on medium speed until smooth.
- Add the milk and vanilla and beat them in. Continue to beat for 2 minutes until the icing is lightened and smooth.
- Transfer the cream cheese icing to a piping bag to drizzle a pretty pattern over waffles, cakes, cupcakes, or quick bread.
- NOTE: This cream cheese drizzle is thicker than a glaze so that it holds its shape when added to baked goods. If you prefer your drizzle to be thinner and smoother so that it melts into the top of your recipe, you can add an additional tablespoon of milk to thin it out.
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