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.
minnehaha says
I tried this recipe (used the one from the book, so 2 T of arrowroot instead of 5 tsp) but the results are gluey and I can’t picture myself feeding tomorrow’s guests a cake frosted with them. Not sure what I did wrong – thought I followed the recipe pretty much exactly.
Mandi says
Yep, made this last night and this morning it’s solidified perfectly. This was a much easier process than the posts above led me to believe. Sorry if some people had some bad luck, but mine is just perfect. Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
Mandi says
Has anyone tried freezing this frosting for a few days and using it later?
Mandi says
I just made this icing and it’s in the fridge chilling. I’ll leave it overnight. It came together without any trouble so hopefully it will solidify ok, but even if it doesn’t it’s absolutely delicious and if it ends up a more liquidy glaze I’d still be thrilled with the flavour! I’m making this coconut cake tomorrow and I’ll pair them together: http://nourishedkitchen.com/coconut-flour-cake/
elana says
Hey everyone,
This is the most difficult recipe on my entire website. Thanks for all your comments and feedback.
It seems that there are two main issues with this frosting:
1) Won’t solidify
2) It’s lumpy
It may take a couple of hours for the frosting to solidify depending on your refrigerator settings. Wait until it’s completely solid, i.e., hard and opaque. Have faith, patience and wait :-)
Once you pull the mixture from the fridge to blend you may have to blend a lot, much longer than you would imagine, even up to 5 minutes to remove all the lumps.
This recipe is a total pain but the spectacular vegan results are totally worth it!
Nancy says
When I started mixing mine, after it was in the frig for 2 hours, the batter climbed up the beaters. Seemed kind of like glue?? What did I do wrong?
Julie says
I just made this frosting and was really bummed. It has the consistancy of glue and climbed up to the tops of the beaters also. I am wondering if it might be better with less or no arrowroot?
Julie says
I just made this frosting and was really bummed. It has the consistancy of glue and climbed up to the tops of the beaters also. I am wondering if it might be better with less or no arrowroot? Tastes good!
Julie says
I just made this frosting and was really bummed. It has the consistancy of glue and climbed up to the tops of the beaters also. I am wondering if it might be better with less or no arrowroot? Tastes good but texture is funny.
Laura says
Can any one tell me what I did wrong with this icing? It wouldn’t get solid. I used the arrowroot and follow it to the tee I thought. What kind of coconut oil did you use?
Thank you
Phred says
This frosting won’t go completely solid. If you want to do that, I think adding some lecithin would help as it helps to maintain surface tension.
fern feto spring says
I just made this using 1/2 grapeseed oil and 1/2 coconut. I had to freeze it for about an hour, but turned out great. I added about a tbl. of vanilla to disguise the coconut taste as my husband is not a fan-but he gave it the thumbs up with the vanilla addition. Can’t wait to frost a carrot cake with it tomorrow!
thanks for a great recipe!
someone out in computer land says
hey! one day i woke up and had a huge hankering for frosting…but i don’t eat dairy so i was sad :( then i found your recipe… loved it…so i decided i should make it… turned out interesting but… its like some sort of crack-sauce… amazing… i had my doubts when the coconut oil was separating in the freezer but i just mixed it up and blended it when it came out… it has little chunks of coconut oil in it… again amazing… and it has little gummy things…again amazing… and great overall texture… it works and is super tasty!!!
So now i am :) because i got my frosting
:)
Sonya says
I had the gummy lumpy problem as well when I tried this recipe for the first time last week. When I added the arrowroot, lumps formed in the mixture that remained even though I boiled it as instructed. However, I was able to remove the gummy bits by straining the mixture through a sieve before freezing it, and it turned out wonderful. I ended up frosting my birthday carrot cake with it.
Thanks so much for sharing, Elana! I’ve been hoping to find a soy-free vegan frosting that’s delicious, and now I have. I know I’ll be using this recipe over and over again!
Phred says
I just recently made it and it’s quite good. It has a coconuty taste to it no doubt but you could probably counter that by spiking it with extra vanilla and almond extract.
Also don’t use as much arrowroot as it will render a frosting that acts like string ribbon!
Lisa says
Thank you! I will try it tonight!