Frosting is one of my favorite foods; in fact, I consider it an actual food group. After all, what is a cupcake without frosting? It’s nothing!
Lately I have been stymied when it comes to the frosting creation process. Yes, I have my delicious Vegan Chocolate Frosting recipe, however, I have been lacking in the white frosting department. For me this has presented hardship because chocolate frosting just doesn’t work with Carrot Cake and lemon cake. Besides, who wants to use just one frosting recipe on top of all of their baked delicacies?!
Yes, I do admit, making frosting without butter and sugar is quite a challenge. Though for me challenge is the name of the game. So lately, I have been on a conquest for white frosting.
Sixteen batches later, I have a delicious coconut frosting that my many taste testers approve of. Unfortunately, my most important taster is traveling this week, so I confess, I don’t have the ultimate seal of approval. However, I think it is still good enough to share with all of you.
Coconut Cream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk
- 1 cup agave nectar or honey
- pinch celtic sea salt
- 5 teaspoons arrowroot powder
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1¼ cup coconut oil
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, heat coconut milk, agave and salt, simmer for 10 minutes
- In a small bowl, combine arrowroot and water to form a smooth paste
- Pour arrowroot mixture into saucepan
- Whisk vigorously to combine, then bring to a boil, briefly, until shiny
- Remove pot from heat and very gradually blend in coconut oil with a hand blender
- Allow pot to cool for 10 minutes
- Place pot in refrigerator for 45-120 minutes, until frosting solidifies and turns white
- Remove from refrigerator and blend again with a hand blender, until fluffy
- Spread over cake or cupcakes
Equipment
This frosting will be great on the carrot cake which I am in the process of creating for ~M, one of my favorite readers. She finished school this month and I will post the recipe in honor of her graduation.
On another note, you may have noticed that I recently added a feature to the side bar of this site. It is a survey which polls readers as to which recipe they would like me to whip up next. Check it out and post your vote –for Chocolate Cupcakes, Mango Chicken or Candy Bars.
Sharyn says
Oh my gosh, thank you!!! I have been looking everywhere for a dairy free, sugar free frosting recipe for my daughter’s first birthday cake. This frosting is perfect, and she LOVES it! We love it too! And it’s totally fluffy and perfect for a cake smash! Thank you so, so much!
Potratonta says
I have no idea how I failed so miserably at this… mine’s brown, way too sweet and has a weird texture. Oops.
Patricey says
Made this frosting last night and then put it in the fridge and whipped it up this afternoon. I didn’t have any arrowroot but as someone else suggested, used tapioca powder instead, which I just powdered from tapioca pearls hoping it would work!
I also used about half and half butter and coconut oil, and when I combined this with the rest of the mixture it didn’t seem to combine at all. I blended it (with a hand blender and in an actual blender) for a while but there seemed to be a goopy tapioca-y mixture just sitting below the oil. Left it in the fridge until the oils hardened, and then threw it into the food processor. It came together beautifully! I prepared myself for the worst after reading these reviews and especially after seeing how the mixture would not combine. It is a lovely, soft, almost caramel-y frosting (I added a bit of vanilla as well). Thank you!!
Michelle says
Bummer! I was so excited to use this w/ your carrot cake recipe but just couldn’t get it to ‘fluff’. Other than being a brown color and looking more like caramel, everything worked fine and seemed to be going ok until I took it out of the fridge. The frosting was just a big brown ball of gummy stuff. I just kept beating it and it then started to separate a bit. It’s back in the frige but I can’t figure out what to do now. I looks so lovely and yummy in your book and on your website but just can’t get it. So bummed! Good thing the carrot cake was so delish and moist, we enjoyed it without the frosting! ;)
sarah jane says
hi there!!
this is delicious…but i could not for the life of me get it to thicken no matter how much i churned it up…i used in electric mixer but it remained liquid and eventually it separated completely…..whats the secret????…
help i want it to work!!!…
sarah jane xx
Heather says
Just wondering if you have tried making a regular dairy free buttercream with coconut using spectrum shortening, coconut oil and/or dairy free butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla and coconut milk. This is what I was thinking of trying, adding coconut flakes as well. My grandmother always made a sour cream coconut cake which was amazing. I made your recipe plus added 2 cups of coconut flakes. It tastes great but doesn’t look so good, there are some globs I think from the arrowroot pwdr. throughout. Also, think I might try adding some vanilla next tme.
Thanks for sharing!
Heather
Shaina says
I’m wondering if this would make a good recipe for Christmas cookies??
Alexis says
I added 1 tsp vanilla (I halved the recipe…so add 2 tsp for full recipe) to lessen the flavor of coconut and it turned out great!
Karla says
I’ve been trying to look for vegan alternatives for frosting. I found this one, and looking at some of the comments, I had some suggestions to potentially solve some of the issues people are having – though I haven’t tried them yet.
Instead of using the whole can of coconut milk you could put it in the fridge and skim off the “cream” that accumulates on the top. Also, since the coconut oil tends to melt, you could substitute organic palm shortening for part of it. I personally wouldn’t use agave, but perhaps powdered rapadura?
Hope this helps!
Lisa says
I’m new to using coconut oil (and baking in general) and was wondering if you melt the coconut oil first and then measure or if you measure it as a solid at room temp? If you measure as a solid at room temp, do you melt the oil before adding it to the pot? Thanks for the great recipes!