Nothing sends a baker into a panic more than when they're mid-mixing all the ingredients together and realize — horror upon horrors — their cream cheese had to be room temperature. Forgetting to leave the cream cheese out of the fridge before using it in a cake or loaf — or even for a or — can be a real pain in the you-know-what, but luckily your microwave has come to save the day yet again. You'll first remove your cream cheese from its foil packaging or its plastic tub (unfortunately, plastic cream cheese containers should never go in the microwave), place it in a microwave-safe dish or bowl, and zap it for about 15 seconds on high.
It's really that simple. You can add little 10-second spurts, depending on how strong your microwave is, or how much you're microwaving, until the cream cheese reaches the desired consistency. But keep an eye on it, because you don't want it to melt.
Also, if some liquid comes off the cream cheese, that's totally normal; just stir it back into the solids. A few other methods for softening cream cheese (though not as quick) There are other ways to soften your cream cheese that take slightly longer, but will still work much more quickly than just waiting for it to soften on the counter. First up, remove the cardboard box the product comes in and submerge the block of new, unopened cream cheese (with the foil still on) in a bowl or small tub of warm water.
You might have to weigh it down with something (another heavy bowl or a mug would do .