Do you have to refrigerate cream cheese icing?

Yes, cream cheese icing needs to be refrigerated. Cream cheese is a dairy product and like all dairy products it is highly perishable and will spoil quickly at room temperature. Cream cheese icing is made with cream cheese, butter, sugar and often other dairy ingredients. All these ingredients are susceptible to spoilage at room temperature. While it is possible to leave cream cheese on the counter for a short period of time, for instance, if you are spreading it on a bagel and taking it to work you should not store cream cheese icing at room temperature for any longer than a few hours.