To determine the most effective method for softening cream cheese, we tested five common techniques: letting it sit at room temperature whole and cubed, microwaving it, placing the sealed package in warm water, and beating it in the bowl of a stand mixer. The best method—cutting it into cubes and letting it sit on an aluminum baking sheet at room temperature—is also the fastest and most consistent method.
I’m an unabashed dairy fan and avid baker, which means there’s always—always—cream cheese in my fridge. The ingredient is essential for many cakes, pastries, and frostings, its tang helping to balance desserts that would otherwise be too sweet. In most recipes, cream cheese needs to be at room temperature before you incorporate it; if you don’t, you risk grainy results.r Softening a cold block of cream cheese, though, can feel like it takes forever, which is no fun when a towering cheesecake or tangy-sweet pastelitos is waiting to be made.
In my haste and desperation, I’ve tried many methods to soften cream cheese quickly. The internet abounds with tips and tricks: Some recommend microwaving it; others dunk packaged cream cheese in warm water; and impatient bakers use their stand or hand mixers to beat it until it’s soft and workable. Determined to find the best way to soften cream cheese, I zeroed in on five popular approaches to see which would work best—and get me closer to a bite of cheesecake the fastest.
Why Soften Cream Cheese?
If you, like me, have added cream cheese or butter to a recipe before it was ready to use, you’ve probably regretted it. What you might gain in time, you lose in texture: When cream cheese is fully softened, it blends seamlessly into frosting or cake batter, creating a smooth, silky finish. Use it cold, and your batter or frosting will be marred by grainy specks, visible blobs, or streaks of white. This is most evident in cream cheese frosting, which should have an ultra-smooth, billowy texture. (Baking expert and former Serious Eats editor Stella Parks even goes so far as to add a custard element to her cream cheese buttercream frosting recipe to ensure it is as smooth as possible.)
How to Tell When Cream Cheese Is Properly Softened
The best way to assess the softness of your cream cheese is to check its internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer, inserting the probe into the center, where it will be coldest. Some recipes call for “room temperature” cream cheese, but this can be confusing, as ambient temperatures vary widely depending on the time of year and your location. As former Serious Eats editor Kristina notes in her guide to softening butter, 70°F (21°C) is typically considered room temperature. This, however, is on the warm side for cream cheese. At this temperature, the cream cheese may become too soft and runny during mixing, especially as friction from mixing continues to raise its temperature.
Generally, an internal temperature of 60 to 65°F (15 to 18°C) yields properly softened cream cheese for baking. It should yield easily to gentle pressure, leaving an indent when pressed with a finger or spoon, but shouldn’t be so soft that it offers no resistance. It’s also important not to leave cream cheese out for too long, even after it’s been incorporated into a frosting. The FDA advises leaving perishable foods at room temperature for no longer than two hours. Any longer, and the ingredient may begin to harbor bacteria that can cause foodborne illness. Once softened, cream cheese should be used immediately—and any leftovers promptly refrigerated.
Photograph: Vicky Wasik. Video: Natalie Holt
The Testing
In my research, I came across several common methods for softening cream cheese: leaving it at room temperature whole and cubed; submerging a sealed package in warm water; microwaving it; or using a stand mixer to beat it until soft. These are the most widely recommended approaches, and the ones I tested for this article.
During testing, my kitchen’s ambient temperature was 71°F, very close to standard “room temperature.” I used 8-ounce blocks of Philadelphia Original cream cheese, a national brand that’s widely available and generally regarded as the standard for baking. Using an instant-read thermometer, I recorded the starting temperature of each refrigerated block, then timed how long it took to reach 60 to 65°F (15.5 to 18.3°C) in the center. I also noted any internal temperature variation (e.g., whether the ends warmed faster than the center in whole blocks) and assessed each method’s final consistency, convenience, ease, and cleanup requirements.
- Whole Block on a Sheet Pan: I unwrapped an 8-ounce block of cream cheese and laid it flat on an aluminum baking sheet. As former editor Kenji noted in his guide to defrosting foods quickly, aluminum is one of the best kitchen conductors of heat. To maximize contact, I set the block flat, inserted a probe thermometer into the center of the block, and started a timer, recording the temperature every five minutes. Initially, the center’s temperature rose by three to five degrees every five minutes, climbing from a chilly 37°F (2.7°C) to 52°F (11°C) in 20 minutes. After that, the temperature plateaued, rising just one to two degrees per interval. It took 50 minutes for the cream cheese to reach the minimum benchmark of 60°F (15°C), and a full hour to reach 63°F (17.2°C). The ends of the block warmed slightly faster than the center, reading generally just one or two degrees warmer than the middle.
- Cubed Block on a Sheet Pan: For this method, I used the same setup, but cut the block into eight 1-ounce cubes. I spaced the cubes about 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet to allow air to circulate. This method proved much faster: The cubes reached 61°F (16°C) in just 25 minutes and 65°F (18°C) at the 30-minute mark. Each cube was at a consistent temperature throughout the test.
- Wrapped Block in Warm Water: Many bakers recommend a warm water bath to speed up softening. For this test, I left the cream cheese in its foil wrapper and placed it in a bowl of 90°F (32°C) water. The block’s internal temperature rose from 37 to 60°F (2.7 to 15°C) in just 10 minutes, and reached 64°F (17.7°C) after 15 minutes. However, this method only works if you’re planning to use a full 8-ounce block of cream cheese, and piercing a thermometer through the foil lets water seep in. Without a probe, it’s hard to tell by feel how soft the block is through the packaging.
- Whole Block in the Microwave: When speed is the goal, the microwave is often the first solution that comes to mind. For this test, I unwrapped a block of cream cheese and laid it flat on a plate. Using 50% power, I microwaved it in 10-second bursts, checking the internal temperature after each. Starting at 39°F (3.8·C), the center hit 61°F (16°C) after four 10-second bursts. The ends of the block, however, warmed up much faster: At 20 seconds, the center was 54°F (12.2°C) while the ends were already at 63°F (17.2°C). By 40 seconds, they had reached 72°F (22.2°C), and were visibly soft, runny, and beginning to bubble—signs of not just over-softening but overheating.
- Cubed Block in the Microwave: For this test, I followed the same method in the microwave as above, but cut the cream cheese block into eight 1-ounce cubes and placed them about 1/2-inch apart on the plate before microwaving. Similar to the results from the room-temperature baking sheet test, this method proved significantly faster than leaving the block whole, taking just 20 seconds for all of the cubes to register 60°F (15.5°C) or above when microwaved at 50% power. However, similar to the whole block in the microwave, the cubes at the outer edge of the plate heated faster than those at the center, registering 71°F (21.6°C) at the 20-second mark, whereas the center cube had only reached 60°F (15.5°C) and showed signs of being over-softened.
- Whole Block in a Stand Mixer: Many bakers recommend using a stand mixer or hand mixer to paddle cream cheese as a quick way to soften it. For this test, I unwrapped a block and placed it directly in the bowl of my stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, I beat the cream cheese on medium-low speed (to avoid incorporating excess air), pausing every 30 seconds to check the temperature. After 2 1/2 minutes, the center reached 60°F (15.5°C), and it took a full five minutes to hit 65°F (18.3°C). I scraped down the bowl periodically to ensure the cream cheese was fully agitated, but despite my efforts, plenty of it remained stuck to the beater, spatula, and bowl—leaving me with less than the full 8-ounces by the end.
The Results: What’s the Best Way to Soften Cream Cheese?
The best way to soften cream cheese is to cut the block into smaller portions, such as 1-ounce cubes, place them on an aluminum baking sheet, and let them sit at room temperature for 25 to 30 minutes. Because aluminum is such an excellent conductor of heat, it softens cream cheese quickly and evenly. The cubes come to temperature in about half the time of a whole block, with no special equipment or extra cleanup required. If you do this step first, your cream cheese will likely be ready by the time you’ve measured your other ingredients and preheated the oven.
While a microwave can soften cream cheese in seconds, it’s easy to overdo it, resulting in uneven texture and overly soft spots. Power levels vary significantly from one model to another, so the settings that work for one microwave may not work in another. You can, of course, learn your particular microwave’s quirks and adjust accordingly, but doing so requires trial and error, and may still pose the risk of overheating some portions of the cream cheese.
As for the warm-water method, the five to 10 minutes saved isn’t worth the risk of water seeping into the cream cheese through a hole made by the thermometer’s probe—or the uncertainty of skipping the thermometer and trying instead to gauge its softness through the wrapper. The mixer method, meanwhile, was by far the messiest and least practical: It requires cleaning a bowl, paddle, and spatula, and you lose precious cream cheese to the equipment. Next time I need softened cream cheese, you can bet I’ll be reaching for my trusty quarter-sheet pan and exercising a little bit of patience.
