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Easy Vegan Buttercream Frosting

Easy Vegan Buttercream Frosting Mattie

Written by Mattie    
 
4.3 (4)
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Easy Vegan Buttercream Frosting

This Easy Vegan Buttercream Frosting is just a simple, versatile, delectable frosting that will elevate your cakes and cupcakes to a new level without requiring you to put on your lab coat and don your frosting goggles. You can either use Regular Vegan Butter with a cocoa butter base which is recommended, Regular Vegan Butter with a coconut oil base, or, if you haven’t gotten around to buying a walk-in freezer to store your Vegan Butter in yet, go the easy route and use store bought stick margarine.
 
Confectioners sugar provides the sweetening and a blend of apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, salt and almond extract round out the buttery flavor. Making this vegan frosting with Regular Vegan Butter with a cocoa butter base is recommended because it will enable your frosting to remain stable at temperatures in the neighborhood of 93-100F (34 to 38C). This means no more homemade vegan frosting sliding off your cake at summer gatherings. Whew!

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Easy Vegan Buttercream Frosting Recipe

1 cup (215 grams) Regular Vegan Butter or margarine, refrigerator temperature
 
2 cups (260 grams) confectioners sugar
 
1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons (24 mL) non-dairy milk
¾ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon almond extract

1) Prepare your chilled Vegan Butter

Prepare your Vegan Butter if using. Transfer the Vegan Butter or stick margarine to a medium mixing bowl and place it in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes so everything chills. This will allow the Vegan Butter to melt slowly and whip properly.

Prepare your Vegan Butter

2) Whip the Vegan Butter

Remove the bowl from the refrigerator and whip on low while working your way up to high until the Vegan Butter is smooth. This should take about 30 seconds.

Whip the Vegan Butter

3) Beat in the confectioners sugar

Add the confectioners sugar and beat on high until the sugar has been moistened by the Vegan Butter, about another 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl down towards the center with a spatula.

4) Beat in the rest of the ingredients

Add the non-dairy milk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, salt, almond extract and beat on high until the frosting is smooth and slightly fluffy, about 4 minutes. Due to coconut oil having a melting temperature of 77F (25C), beating beyond 4 minutes can result in the frosting melting if you’re using a Vegan Butter that contains this oil. If this happens or if you’re working in an especially hot kitchen, don’t hesitate to place the mixing bowl in the refrigerator briefly to give the frosting a chance to firm back up slightly. Keep in mind that your cake will need to be kept below 77F (25C) in order for the frosting to maintain its shape on the cake. If you’d prefer a frosting that stays put in higher temperatures, look to Vegan Butter made with cocoa butter which has a melting temperature of 93-100F (34 to 38C) which is closer to the melting temperature of milkfat found in most traditional frosting recipes.

Find out more about the melting temperatures of fats.

Beat on high until the frosting is smooth and slightly fluffy

5) Chill the vegan frosting breifly for optimal texture

After whipping, place the frosting in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to firm it up enough to apply to a cake. Store the frosting in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 6 months. Remove it from the refrigerator about 2 hours before using so it can soften accordingly. This recipe makes about 1 ¾ cups of Easy Vegan Buttercream Frosting which is enough to frost one layer of an 8 inch round cake.


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Average user rating from: 4 user(s)

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Hi Mattie!

I made your white chocolate vegan butter to use in this buttercream to make a white chocolate buttercream (as such, I omitted the vinegar). However, I found that my white chocolate butter was very very hard straight out of the fridge, and whipping it at that temperature was not easy. Baking was never a big thing around my house, so I trusted the fridge temp instructions -- I broke it down into hard lumps, but couldn't get it to cream. I then added the other ingredients and it got more buttercreamy but there were still hard lumps of cocoa butter. Eventually I basically put the whole mix on low heat in a pan to melt the lumps and it seems to have worked. I don't have much experience with buttercream so I don't know if I'm missing the texture, but everyone who consumed it was happy, so good enough.

Basically, I was just wondering whether the fridge temperature instruction needs to be adjusted for cocoa butter/letting anyone else who has rock-hard cocoa butter butter know they should probably adjust the temperature.
Rating 
 
4.0
Reviewed by Caroline May 30, 2014

Hard to make with cocoa butter?

Hi Mattie!

I made your white chocolate vegan butter to use in this buttercream to make a white chocolate buttercream (as such, I omitted the vinegar). However, I found that my white chocolate butter was very very hard straight out of the fridge, and whipping it at that temperature was not easy. Baking was never a big thing around my house, so I trusted the fridge temp instructions -- I broke it down into hard lumps, but couldn't get it to cream. I then added the other ingredients and it got more buttercreamy but there were still hard lumps of cocoa butter. Eventually I basically put the whole mix on low heat in a pan to melt the lumps and it seems to have worked. I don't have much experience with buttercream so I don't know if I'm missing the texture, but everyone who consumed it was happy, so good enough.

Basically, I was just wondering whether the fridge temperature instruction needs to be adjusted for cocoa butter/letting anyone else who has rock-hard cocoa butter butter know they should probably adjust the temperature.

Owner's reply

Thanks for the helpful feedback Caroline! Cocoa butter gets significantly harder at colder temperatures. I did my best to design the White Chocolate Vegan Butter so it would have a similar consistency to Regular Vegan Butter and traditional butter at refrigerator temperature. I may need to revisit the White Chocolate Vegan Butter recipe to make sure it's not turning out too hard. In the meantime, I recommend leaving this type of Vegan Butter out of the fridge for a bit so it can soften slightly before whipping into frostings. Thanks again for your input!

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The taste is really good, but the vinegar kind of throws it off a bit. The smell is overpowering (at least to my kids), can we make without it? Would it still be successful? Not sure what it brings to the recipe other than maybe the flavor? We had to eliminate the use of the almond extract as well, so I am not sure if that also plays a part in why it is such a strong scent?
My kids just cannot see beyond the smell, and this is really for them (allergies).

Help!
Rating 
 
3.0
KristinP80 Reviewed by KristinP80 April 05, 2014
Top 500 Reviewer  -   View all my reviews (1)

Really good, but

The taste is really good, but the vinegar kind of throws it off a bit. The smell is overpowering (at least to my kids), can we make without it? Would it still be successful? Not sure what it brings to the recipe other than maybe the flavor? We had to eliminate the use of the almond extract as well, so I am not sure if that also plays a part in why it is such a strong scent?
My kids just cannot see beyond the smell, and this is really for them (allergies).

Help!

Owner's reply

Hi KristinP80! The apple cider vinegar and almond extract is just for flavor. You could easily reduce it to 1/4 teaspoon or even eliminate it completely, based on your preference. It won't affect texture in any way. Good luck!

Was this review helpful to you? 
Hi Mattie - This is amazing, I am blown away seriously. Tastes is so creamy and light. I used this frosting to make a faux hostess cupcake and the crowd went wild. Thanks for the top on the ice cube trays too, I've been looking for something to hold my vegan butter for. On the now. Thank you.

I am planning on trying your cocoa based recipe next but was wondering if I could add xanthan gum to make this frosting a bit stiffer? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

All the best,
Mayra
Rating 
 
5.0
MayraBakes Reviewed by MayraBakes February 27, 2014
Top 100 Reviewer  -   View all my reviews (1)

Hi Mattie - This is amazing, I am blown away seriously. Tastes is so creamy and light. I used this frosting to make a faux hostess cupcake and the crowd went wild. Thanks for the top on the ice cube trays too, I've been looking for something to hold my vegan butter for. On the now. Thank you.

I am planning on trying your cocoa based recipe next but was wondering if I could add xanthan gum to make this frosting a bit stiffer? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

All the best,
Mayra

Owner's reply

So glad you like the frosting MayraBakes! Using it for a hostess cupcake-style filling sounds awesome. The issue with coconut oil is that since its melting temperature is so low (about 77F), keeping it stiff can become a real problem. And when it melts, it melts instantly. I've been wondering how this could be improved and xanthan gum just might be it!

My only concern is that frosting needs to be able to melt in the mouth, on-contact. Xanthan gum might interfere with this and make the frosting, well, gummy if added in the amount needed to stiffen it up. Let me know how this works out if you end up giving it a shot!

Was this review helpful to you? 
Wow, this frosting is so good! I love the complexity that the salt and vinegar add to the taste. It's still sweet with a very mild tang, almost like a cream cheese (from what I remember of the taste of cream cheese). As far as buttercreams go it is not very stiff (as pictured), but firming it up in the fridge does the trick. Very delicious.
Rating 
 
5.0
Mar Reviewed by Mar October 02, 2013
Top 50 Reviewer  -   View all my reviews (3)

Looking for a frosting with no shortening...this i

Wow, this frosting is so good! I love the complexity that the salt and vinegar add to the taste. It's still sweet with a very mild tang, almost like a cream cheese (from what I remember of the taste of cream cheese). As far as buttercreams go it is not very stiff (as pictured), but firming it up in the fridge does the trick. Very delicious.

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Owner's reply

So glad you liked this frosting Mar! Thanks for sharing!

Was this review helpful to you?