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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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
that I used to make these healthy cookies especially festive. My husband thought they were amazing too!
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!
Comments
32 responses to “White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting”
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!
Mo, I haven’t tried that so not sure.
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?
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!
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!!!
Poppy, thanks for letting me know this frosting is amazing!
Is the 1/2 cup measured before or after creating powdered sugar?
Hi Jennilee, we measure it before we put it in the vitamix.
Could I substitute the sugar for maple syrup?
Hi Sasha, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
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
Judy, so glad to hear that!
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
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. :)
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!
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.
It isn’t one of the sugar alcohols that cause the “straight thru you affect”
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.
beautiful!!
Thanks Amélie!
Looks so so cute!!!
Minnie, thanks so much!
Thank you Elana!
Archena, you’re welcome!
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