Easy Vegan Buttercream Frosting
Over the summer, when I was brainstorming recipe ideas for the coming months, I realized I don’t have enough cakes on Pickles & Honey. It’s a problem, for sure. There are donuts (a phase that maybe I should bring back?) and cupcakes, and recently, the best ever vegan carrot cake. But I think we need more cake options. What’s cake without frosting though? So today, I’m going to show you how to make the BEST vegan chocolate buttercream frosting, and vegan vanilla buttercream frosting too!
I am a frosting girl through and through. I used to live for those corner pieces that were 70% frosting, 30% cake and I was always down for trading my cake for someone else’s frosting. I’ve re-trained my taste buds over the years to be less sugar-dependent, so these days a “normal” ratio of cake to frosting is a better fit, but I have a lot of experience eating frosting and I like to think it’s made me a bit of a connoisseur.
Most grocery store frosting = not worth it. I don’t like that plastic-y taste that coats your mouth and the grainy sugar that you just know is giving you at least two cavities based on the way it physically hurts your teeth to eat it. Similar to baking good cake, there’s an art to making good vegan buttercream frosting.
After much trial and error, I’ve finally mastered vegan buttercream frosting! I may be a vegan cream cheese frosting girl at heart, but I know there are a lot of buttercream lovers out there. It’s a classic after all, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a cake that wasn’t made that much better by a generous coating of light and fluffy buttercream.
Pure vanilla extract and rich cacao powder, with just a few other simple ingredients, are all you really need to make awesome vanilla and chocolate buttercream. A stand mixer certainly makes the process easier, but I successfully used a cheap-o hand mixer (like under $10) for years. What I’m saying is—you’ve got this.
Dreamy vegan buttercream frosting in under 10 minutes, no weird or hard-to-find ingredients, and no excuse to be buying that plastic-y, flavorless “frosting” at the store. This is the good stuff!
Next, we bake a 2-layer vegan vanilla birthday cake!
Easy Vegan Buttercream Frosting
Easy Vegan Buttercream Frosting
Serves: each flavor makes 2 cups of buttercream
Prep Time: 10 mins
The BEST vegan vanilla and vegan chocolate buttercream frosting, made from simple ingredients in under 10 minutes! This easy vegan buttercream is so much better than store-bought frosting!
Cuisine: Gluten Free, Vegan Servings: each flavor makes 2 cups of buttercream
Prep Time: 10 mins
The BEST vegan vanilla and vegan chocolate buttercream frosting, made from simple ingredients in under 10 minutes! This easy vegan buttercream is so much better than store-bought frosting!
Instructions
- To make the vanilla buttercream: In a large mixing bowl, cream together the buttery spread and shortening until it's light and fluffy.
- Slowly mix in the powdered sugar. Once all of the sugar has been added, turn the mixer to high speed and continue to mix for 2-3 minutes. Add in the non-dairy milk, vanilla, and sea salt, and continue to mix on high for 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the frosting is fluffy.
- To make the chocolate buttercream: In a large mixing bowl, cream together the buttery spread and shortening until it's light and fluffy.
- Slowly mix in the cacao (or cocoa) powder, followed by the non-dairy milk, and then the powdered sugar. Once the cacao powder and powdered sugar have been incorporated, turn the mixer to high speed and continue to mix for 2-3 minutes. Add in the vanilla and sea salt, and continue to mix on high for 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the frosting is fluffy.
Notes [3]
If you can’t find non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, feel free to replace it with an equal amount of vegan buttery spread (and skip the salt, as most vegan butter is already salted).
I prefer the rich, slightly fruity chocolate flavor of this raw cacao powder, but cocoa powder will also do the trick! Choose whichever you like.
Not all sugar is vegan. When in doubt, buy organic sugar, which is always made without animal products.
Copyright © 2023 Amanda Maguire for Pickles & Honey
