This easy White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe is made with 5 ingredients total and looks gorgeous on cookies, cakes, and cupcakes. I love this frosting because it’s light in hue and easily takes up natural vegetable based food coloring. My go-to frosting recipe will soon be yours too! I tested it dozens of times in order to make the perfect icing recipe.
Dairy-Free Chocolate Frosting Recipe
I based this White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe on my original Dairy-Free Chocolate Frosting recipe from 2008. The science behind that recipe is basically an amazing combination of 2 ingredients –cacao butter and coconut oil. I translated that recipe into one without any coconut because I did not want that flavor in my icing. Instead, I use butter as the primary fat in this recipe.
5-Ingredient White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe
This White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe uses creamy butter and a light clear sweetener along with cacao butter to stiffen up the mixture and give it additional flavor. Add in natural vegetable based food coloring and you have an incredibly rich, real buttercream icing made from 5 ingredients total.
Low-Sugar Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Most icing recipes have an ingredient ratio of around 3:1, sugar to butter. I wanted a healthier recipe that had more creaminess and less sweetener. While I wouldn’t say this recipe is healthy, it’s definitely healthier, with a 1:1 ratio of butter to sugar, so it’s a little easier on blood sugar levels of those folks cutting back on simple sugars and other carbohydrates.
Homemade Frosting Recipe
When you make this homemade frosting recipe, grind your sugar into a powder in a high speed blender or coffee grinder. I’ve tried making this recipe with plain cane sugar and it didn’t work at all. It was very granular and didn’t have a smooth frosting-like texture. I also tried using coconut sugar in this icing and it was not a win.
Corn-Free Frosting Recipe
It would be very convenient to use powdered sugar in this recipe. Unfortunately, I’ve read that all of the powdered sugar on the market contains cornstarch. I’ve been on a corn-free diet since I went paleo in 2001. While making your own powdered sugar is more work, your end result is a corn-free icing, that’s GMO-free. Corn is a crop that is often genetically modified, and that’s one more reason to avoid corn completely!
- ½ cup organic cane sugar, ground into powdered sugar in a vitamix
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 ounce cacao butter
- 6 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature, cut into 6 pieces
- ¼ teaspoon natural red food coloring
- In a saucepan over high heat combine sugar and water and bring to a boil
- Reduce heat and simmer until sugar is completely dissolved, stirring frequently
- Remove pan from heat for 5 minutes to cool
- Melt cacao butter into warm (not hot) sugar mixture
- Stir in butter until melted, then stir in food coloring
- Refrigerate pot for 30 minutes until mixture is solid
- Using a hand blender, cream frosting until smooth
- Serve over Paleo Sugar Cookies or Paleo Strawberry Cupcakes
Paleo Sugar Cookies Recipe
This icing recipe is perfect on my Paleo Sugar Cookies (as shown above) and makes a lovely gluten-free dessert for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and other holidays. It’s also amazing on my Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes. It can frost 9 cupcakes if you spread the icing over the cupcakes in a slim layer. If you want to pipe mountains of frosting over your cupcakes, make a double batch of this recipe.
Valentine’s Day Cookies Recipe
I’ll be experimenting with using this icing on other healthy Valentine’s desserts since my younger son loves all things vanilla and white chocolate. If you’re looking for easy, healthy recipes for Valentine’s Day you’ll want to check out my Paleo Valentine’s Day Recipes post!
Real Buttercream Frosting Recipe for Beginners
If you are a beginner cook wondering how to make frosting with real butter, this is the recipe for you. My children and their friends devoured this icing and loved the gluten-free sprinkles
Refined Sugar-Free Frosting Recipes
We love this White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe as it’s very similar to a traditional buttercream frosting. It looks and tastes fabulous on my healthy desserts. Here are more refined sugar-free frosting recipes for you!
- 3-Ingredient Dairy-Free Chocolate Frosting
- Cream Cheese Frosting with Carrot Cake
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Amber says
I read the ingredients of powdered sugar and have found a couple without cornstarch. Swerve, Whole Foods Organic are the two main ones I use.
Elana says
Thanks Amber!
aususacan says
Hello Elana, I just love your recipes! I have made your Paleo Chocolate and Vanilla cakes many times and our household loves them for all our celebrations. I was wondering if this icing would go well on the Paleo Chocolate Birthday Cake, for something different? My girls have their birthdays in October and I do your Paleo cake each for both of them (on their own cake stands). I was thinking I could do one with the chocolate buttercream icing and one with this White buttercream icing??! Do you think it would work?
Elana says
Hi Aususacan, thanks for your comment and happy birthday to your girls! I created this frosting recipe for cookies and haven’t tried it on a cake. If you do experiment I hope you’ll stop back by and let us know if it works. I’m so happy to hear that you are enjoying my recipes and that your household loves them for all of your celebrations :-)
Abbey says
Hi! How much powdered sugar do I use?
Elana says
Abbey, use 1/2 cup organic cane sugar that is ground in a blender :-)
Abbey says
Thanks! Sorry, read it wrong
Elana says
No problem :-)
Mo says
Hi Elana. This looks fantastic.I was wondering if I can sub coconut oil or avocado oil (which has a less strong taste) instead of the butter in this recipe? Trying to make it slightly less bad for kids!
Elana says
Mo, I haven’t tried that so not sure.
Aurora says
Hi! I love your recipes. I’m super curious about subbing out the sugar at times. What’s your thought in using something like stevia or Zylitol in a recipe like this?
Elana says
Aurora, I haven’t tried that so not sure. If you do please let us know how it goes. So glad you are enjoying the blog!
Poppy says
This. Is. Amazing. I added a pinch of sea salt and 1/4 tsp. vanilla powder the 2nd time around, this gave it an almost caramel-like salty sweet vibe on top of the already heavenly white chocolate goodness. Both were delicious. Thank you so much for this recipe, it was exactly what I needed!!!
Elana says
Poppy, thanks for letting me know this frosting is amazing!
Jennilee says
Is the 1/2 cup measured before or after creating powdered sugar?
Elana says
Hi Jennilee, we measure it before we put it in the vitamix.
Sasha says
Could I substitute the sugar for maple syrup?
Elana says
Hi Sasha, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Judy Stone says
You have saved me. I went gluten free over a year ago. I am from a long line of bakers. My great uncles owned a bakery in Boston in the early 1900’s. Your recipes have inspired me to take some of my own and revise them, I am also sugar free, so this has been quite a challenge, but your recipes have shown me how all,is possible. Thank you, Judy
Elana says
Judy, so glad to hear that!
Shani Gallagher says
I made a similar frosting recently that was sugar-free and dairy-free, by using powdered xylitol and Nutiva shortening. Excited to experiment with the cocoa butter. Thank you
tracy says
were all of the people who ate the frosting with powdered xylitol “used to” having xylitol? i always wonder about serving people xylitol who haven’t had it regularly (i use it every day in my tea) for fear of the “straight through you” effect. just curious. :)
Tom @ Raise Your Garden says
We substitute xylitol is all our recipes and no one complains or notices the difference. And my wife is going to love this buttercream frosting to use on our daughters birthday cake tomorrow!
Ju says
Tracy, on behalf of your guests I thank you. I was served cupcakes with xylitol in it and had the runs for the next three days, I think it’s an acquired tolerance lol.
Tricia says
It isn’t one of the sugar alcohols that cause the “straight thru you affect”
Laurie C. says
Xylitol is definitely a signal alcohol that can give you the runs! Erythritol doesn’t have that side effect, but it doesn’t work as well in frosting since it has a cool, minty taste sometimes.
amélie friedrich says
beautiful!!
Elana says
Thanks Amélie!
Minnie@thelady8home says
Looks so so cute!!!
Elana says
Minnie, thanks so much!
Archena says
Thank you Elana!
Elana says
Archena, you’re welcome!