This rich and delicious vegan chocolate frosting is the only recipe you need for cupcakes, cookies, and birthday cake! It’s easy to make a decadent chocolate frosting with simple dairy free ingredients.
If you were like me, you might have grown up looking forward to a boxed cake mix cake and canned frosting as a dessert now and then. (Nothing wrong with that – I thought Duncan Hines was delicious).
When my son was diagnosed with multiple food allergies, one thing that popped into my head right away was – oh no! What will I do about cake frosting?
Little did I know, it’s actually really easy to make homemade frosting. This vegan chocolate frosting is proof of that – it’s very simple to make with ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen right now.
Powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vegan buttery spread, and non-dairy milk or water are the only ingredients that you need to make this icing. These are easy to find in most grocery stores, so you should be able to whip up a batch of this chocolate icing whenever you want!
Use this dairy free frosting to top gluten free cupcakes, shortbread cookies, or to put in the middle of chocolate sandwich cookies. It’s rich, delicious, and so chocolatey.
If you’re looking for a vanilla frosting recipe, try this dairy free buttercream frosting.
Ingredient Notes
- Non-Dairy Milk – You can use any neutral tasting milk that works for your dietary needs. I like unsweetened coconut milk, but you could use rice milk, soy milk, oat milk…anything that works for you. You could even use water if you had to in a pinch!
- Vegan Buttery Spread – We like Earth Balance Soy Free Vegan Buttery Spread. You could use any variety of Earth Balance Butter or the Baking Sticks.
- Powdered Sugar – You really can’t substitute anything for the powdered sugar – it’s a key ingredient here. If you can’t have corn, you can find brands that do not include corn as an ingredient. Wholesome Brand Sweeteners is a brand to look into. If you are out of powdered sugar, you can actually make your own at home with this recipe.
- Cocoa Powder – We like Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder, but feel free to use any brand that works for your dietary needs.
Substitutions
If you can’t find a non-dairy milk that works for your needs, you can make this frosting with an equal amount of water. I have done this a few times, and it works well!
If you need a substitution for vegan buttery spread, you could use either vegan palm shortening, or you could try using melted coconut oil. I have a chocolate coconut oil frosting that I use on this egg free chocolate cake.
Step by Step Instructions
- Place the vegan buttery spread, cocoa powder, and a little non-dairy milk in a mixing bowl. Mix on low speed to combine.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and a little more non-dairy milk to the bowl.
- Mix on low speed until everything is combined.
- Add the rest of the powdered sugar and non-dairy milk and mix until you achieve a thick, smooth texture. Add a bit more liquid or powdered sugar to get the consistency you desire.
- If you’d like to pipe the frosting onto cupcakes or cake, fit a piping bag with a decorative tip and spoon the frosting into the bag.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cake or cupcakes. I used a Wilton 1M tip for the cupcakes in the photo below.
Storage
Store leftover frosting in the refrigerator. It should stay fresh for about 5 days. You will need to let it come to room temperature so that it can be used easily.
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Recipe
Rich and Smooth Vegan Chocolate Frosting.
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan buttery spread
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar sifted
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 ½ Tablespoons non-dairy milk I used coconut milk – feel free to use any non-dairy milk that you like. You could also use water.
Instructions
- Place the vegan buttery spread and the cocoa powder in a mixing bowl. Add a tablespoon of the non-dairy milk, and use an electric mixer to mix on low speed.
- Add half of the powdered sugar to the bowl, plus a bit more non-dairy milk.
- Mix on low speed until it starts to combine. Alternate adding the remaining powdered sugar and more non-dairy milk until you achieve a smooth, spreadable consistency.
- Spread or pipe the frosting onto cupcakes or cake. I used these piping bags and a Wilton 1M tip to frost the cupcakes that are pictured.
Katie
Delicious recipe!