Vegan Frosting Recipe
Today we are making a vegan frosting recipe! I could lick a spoon of frosting any day. Ahem, now vegan vanilla frosting. Being a baker from a young age, I was more likely to eat a can of frosting straight rather than actually use it to ice one of my baked goods! But then … I went vegan. Cream? Butter? It was a no-go (I did have the occasional slip-up though …). I didn’t have a replacement at the time, so my baking turned more to chocolate-filled desserts rather than items with frosting.
But back when grocery store shelves were devoid of amazing vegan options (hello, one brand of soy milk that sadly sat on the shelves as shoppers passed by), vegan icing was not a popular item. Heck, vegan butter was not really a thing back 10 years ago. There was almost no bakery at the time that sold any vegan sweets, not like there are tons today. Although the times have changed, and it’s amazing to see the options available now. So much so that it shouldn’t be too much of an issue finding vegan butter at your local grocery store. Even some of Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines frostings are accidentally vegan!
Buttery frosting is usually made with vanilla extract, powdered sugar (icing sugar), milk and butter. We’re going to use oat milk and vegan butter as replacements! For the sprinkles, be wary that some are not vegan – here’s a link to find companies that do make vegan options!
Do you have 10 minutes on hand? Do you have a refrigerator? A stand or hand mixer? Great. Now grab icing sugar, vanilla extract and vegan butter and let’s get mixing!
Why You’ll Love This Vegan Frosting Recipe
Customizable: I made this recipe as funfetti frosting, but you can easily remove the sprinkles to make it vanilla frosting.
For a vegan chocolate frosting, remove the sprinkles and slowly replace one tablespoon of the powdered sugar with cocoa powder to keep the dry ingredients consistency the same. Or, keep all the powdered sugar in and drizzle in some melted semisweet chocolate chips as the electric mixer is going. Melted chocolate adds a rich flavour and will firm up in the fridge. Taste test it as you go along!
Another idea is to add a pinch of lemon extract, lemon zest and yellow food coloring to make this a springtime lemon buttercream frosting! Vegan cream cheese frosting? Add in some vegan cream cheese instead of butter. Start by replacing one tablespoon and go from there. Strawberry Frosting? Mix in freeze-dried strawberries! Peanut butter frosting? Drizzle in melted peanut butter while the mixer is going.
Simple Ingredients: This vegan buttercream recipe doesn’t use any special ingredients. Frosting uses basic ingredients to begin with, but this stripped it down to the basics. No finding vegan heavy whipping cream or anything too gourmet! Vegan butter is not too difficult to find in popular grocery stores, or to order online nowadays, which is perfect to make this recipe dairy-free.
Multiple Uses: The great thing about this easy recipe is that it can be used in so many desserts! Need frosting in between cake layers? Frosting cupcakes? Slathering a tub of icing over cinnamon rolls? So many options. You can store frosting in the refrigerator for up to a week, and in the freezer for a few months. I don’t prefer to store frosting in the freezer because the texture is never the exact same as it was pre-freezer. However, there is information online about keeping frosting frozen to use later – you can check that out here.
Substitutions
Non-Dairy Milk: Try substituting a different dairy-free milk if you don’t have oat milk. Use a neutral milk flavour, such as cashew milk as a substitute. I don’t recommend coconut milk or almond milk because of the aftertaste they leave. You don’t need much liquid anyways, but even one spoon of a strongly flavoured milk will change the taste of the entire batch.
Vegan Butter: I used the Melt Organics brand of salted vegan butter sticks, but Earth Balance is another great butter brand. Do not use a vegan butter spread – it has other added ingredients that aren’t great for using in frosting.
Butter does make the frosting have a yellow tinge though. If you’d like to keep it as pure white frosting, use vegan shortening instead.
A healthier frosting option may use coconut cream or refined coconut oil (not the virgin oil type that smells like coconut). I’ve never tried coconut oil or coconut cream in frosting though, use at your own risk! It will make a strong coconut flavor in the frosting, which may not be ideal unless your cake is tropical or for summer/spring season.
Powdered Sugar: Powdered xylitol can act as a healthier substitute. You can also make homemade powdered sugar from white sugar or xylitol by following these steps! Xylitol is a more natural sugar alcohol found in the birch tree, and is considered sugar-free. It doesn’t actually contain alcohol, but is a type of carbohydrate.
Vegan Frosting Recipe Notes
- For best results, make sure your butter is cold and firm straight from the fridge, but left to soften until it is above room temperature. One way to check is that it should be hard enough that you can pick up the block of butter without it melting, but not hard enough that you can’t indent the butter with your finger. This helps to keep the icing firm. Along with this, you can also add more icing sugar and less oat milk if you’d like it to stay very firm or more liquidy.
- To avoid the yellow colour of butter, use vegetable shortening as a replacement (which is pure white) instead. Did you know Crisco’s vegetable shortening is vegan?
- Use a stand mixer or electric mixer to get a fluffy frosting. Whisking it by hand is an option but doesn’t yield the same results (unless you can whisk as fast as an electric machine … I think not).
More Dessert Recipes You’ll Love
Dairy Free Brownies (Copycat Costco Brownies): This Dairy Free Brownie Recipe are reminiscent of Costco’s one-bite brownies, but now vegan and gluten free! They’re the type of brownies you can pop into your mouth and eat all in one go (because they’re that good)!
Golden Yellow Cake: This Vegan Yellow Cake Recipe is moist and fluffy without any eggs or dairy, with a rich chocolate frosting and covered in sprinkles. Perfect for any celebration!
Easy Vegan Sugar Cookies: Throw away that bag of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix! This recipe is an easy way to make homemade sugar cookies that taste just like the cookie mix bag! (Trust me, I’ve had more than enough of them during the lockdown)!
No Bake Oreo Funfetti Cake Balls: These 4-ingredient, funfetti no bake cake balls are bursting with birthday cake flavors in this quick dessert recipe!
If you make this Vegan Frosting Recipe, leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
Vegan Frosting Recipe (Buttercream)
Equipment
- Stand Mixer optional but recommended
Ingredients
- 10 tbsp powdered sugar/icing sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup salted vegan butter softened at room temperature // this is half a butter stick
- 1-2 tsp oat milk
- a lot of sprinkles! optional, add desired amount or leave as plain vanilla frosting
Instructions
- Make sure the vegan butter is not melted. Otherwise, the frosting won't hold. It shouldn't be rock solid either, but just softened a little.
- Add all ingredients to a large bowl (except the oat milk), and attach the bowl to a stand mixer. Alternatively, whisk everything by hand.
- Keep mixing until the icing comes together. Now you can add in some oat milk depending on if you want it a little softer or need some more liquid.
- Once you reach the desired consistency, you can refrigerate it to firm it up.
- If you aren't using it the same day, refrigerate in an airtight container to store. Use on baked goods or eat as you wish!
Notes
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Storage
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days, or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
