Is it possible to freeze and how to restore frozen cream cheese?

Cream cheese is a general name for soft curd cheeses with a pronounced taste and aroma of cream. The product is sold in supermarkets and is often used as a cream cheese base for cakes.

Is it possible to freeze cream cheese for future use or leave excess in the freezer? Better not.

Products containing cottage cheese and cream tend to separate and change consistency when frozen. It would be a shame if the most delicate and quite expensive product turns into a strange substance. The exception is butter cream cheese prepared with your own hands.

What kind of cream cheese is frozen?

You can freeze cream cheese made from creamy curd cheese and butter.

One of the most popular recipes:

1. Prepare the ingredients: 225 g of creamy curd cheese Cremette, Almette or Violette, 175 g of butter 82%, 185 g of powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of natural vanillin (extract).
2. Beat soft butter with powder until fluffy. Beat for 10 minutes.
3. Add warm curd cheese and vanilla.
4. Mix at low speed with a mixer or spatula.
5. Keep at room temperature or store in refrigerator.Remove from the refrigerator 1 hour before assembling the cake.

Store-bought cream cheese usually consists of cream cheese and cream. It is distinguished by its lightness, extremely delicate consistency and salty taste. At home, various dishes are prepared with it, including cream cheese for cakes made with butter and cream.

Cream cheese with cream often separates after freezing. But it can be restored.

The cheese cream prepared for the cake from heavy cream and cream cheese whipped with powdered sugar is not frozen. It likes the cold and is chilled in the refrigerator before use. But if you freeze it, grains of ice will appear on the cream. After defrosting, they will turn into water, and the milk fat will set into clumps.

How to freeze cream cheese?

To reduce the negative impact of freezing on cream cheese, you need to do the following:

1. Divide the cream into portions. Breaking off pieces from a large piece of ice is difficult and inconvenient, and it is strictly forbidden to defrost and freeze the product again. Then it will definitely go bad.
2. Place the cream in an airtight container: a plastic freezer bag, a food-grade plastic container.
3. Use the coldest compartment of the freezer for freezing. The optimal temperature is -18 degrees.
4. Store cream cheese in the freezer separately from meat, fish and other products with a pronounced aroma.
5. Label the container with the cream: attach a sticker with the date of freezing and expiration date.

Shelf life of cream cheese in the freezer

The product is not intended for freezing. The less time it is stored in the freezer, the better. Experienced chefs advise storing butter cream cheese frozen for no longer than 2-3 weeks. The maximum shelf life in the freezer is 2 months.

How to defrost correctly?

To defrost, cream cheese from the freezer must be moved to the refrigerator. Here it should slowly thaw. A 500 g portion defrosts in approximately 4-6 hours. It is convenient to defrost cream cheese overnight. In the morning you can start assembling the cake. If necessary, the cream is restored.

How to return the cream to a uniform texture and smoothness?

Cream cheese is loved for its density and smooth texture. It makes the perfect leveling coating for cakes, curls for brownies, and just layers between sponge cakes. After freezing, cheese becomes grainy and crumbly.

You can restore its uniformity and smoothness in different ways:

• After complete defrosting, beat the cream cheese in butter with a mixer. You can warm it up a little in a water bath. When the cream becomes fluffy and smooth again, you need to stir it with a spatula to remove air bubbles.
• After defrosting, cream cheese with cream can be restored using cornstarch or a cream thickener (sold in regular stores). The thickener is used according to the instructions. Starch is diluted in a small amount of water. Begin to beat the defrosted cheese with a mixer at low speed, and pour in the starch solution in a thin stream. Place it in the refrigerator for half an hour. To restore 550 g of cream cheese you will need 1 tbsp. spoon of corn starch.

Attention! If curd cheese (cream cheese) or cream has been frozen, it will no longer be possible to prepare cream for a cake from the products. Frozen store-bought cream cheese can be used to make cheesecakes and double cheese cupcakes.

Questions and answers

How to properly store cream cheese?

If we are talking about cake cream, it is recommended to prepare it immediately before assembling the cake.It can be stored in the refrigerator for no longer than 3-5 days (separately or together with the product). It is better to place the cream in an airtight glass container. You can use a plate and cling film.

Store-bought cream cheese should be stored in its original packaging. Unopened cheese is stored for 4-5 months in the refrigerator at a temperature of +2 to +6 degrees. Once opened, it can be stored in the refrigerator at the same temperature for up to 72 hours.

Is it possible to put cheesecake in the freezer?

Inexperienced cooks often make this mistake. You cannot put the cheesecake in the freezer. Even if it is cooked in oil, the filling in the cake, especially berry, will leak after freezing. In order for the cream to harden, you need to put the cake in the refrigerator for half an hour.

To accurately answer whether cream cheese can be frozen, you need to know what ingredients it is made from and how it is prepared. Cheese from different manufacturers and prepared according to different recipes tolerates freezing better or worse. Housewives who often make cakes insist that only butter cream cheese can be frozen. In any case, you should first conduct an experiment with a small portion of the product - freeze it, and then defrost it a day later, and see what happened to it.