Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Frosting

5 from 1 vote

This dairy-free cream cheese frosting is just as tangy, creamy, and rich as the original, but it contains no butter or margarine. This is THE BEST vegan cream cheese frosting for cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, and my favorite gluten-free vegan carrot cake.

Prep Time10 mins

Coconut Milk Refrigerating Time8 hrs

Total Time8 hrs 10 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: dairy-free, frosting, gluten free, oil free, soy-free, vegan

Diet: gluten-free, oil-free, vegan

Servings: servings

Calories: 114kcal

Author: Amber Asakura

Equipment

Stand mixer with whisk attachment, or a hand-held mixer
Silicone spatula

Ingredients

Prep this the day before (see instructions)

½ cup canned coconut cream, refrigerated overnight

The rest of the ingredients

1 8oz container of Miyoko’s plain vegan cream cheese
½ cup organic powdered cane sugar, see notes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon xanthan gum, see notes
Pinch of salt

Volume - Weight

Instructions

Place your can of coconut milk in the fridge the night before you plan on making your frosting.
Open your can of coconut milk and carefully scoop out 125g (½ cup) of the thick coconut cream. Add this to a stand mixer along with the cream cheese and use the whisk attachment to whip the mixture on medium-high speed for 2 minutes until the mixture is thick and fluffy.
Stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, xanthan gum, and salt. Start mixing on low speed to avoid a cloud of powdered sugar, gradually increasing speed until you’re back up to medium-high. Whip the frosting on medium-high for another 2 minutes.
Stop the mixer again and use the rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom again.
Whip the frosting on medium-high for 1 more minute.
Spread or pipe the frosting onto a cooled cake or cupcakes.

Notes

Storage: Store the frosting in the fridge in an airtight container.

Xanthan gum: The xanthan gum is absolutely, positively required for this frosting to work properly. It helps the ingredients come together and makes a fluffier frosting. If you skip the xanthan gum, your frosting will look curdled and pretty dang gross.

Sweetness: If you like a sweeter frosting, you can add an additional ¼-1/2 cup (30g-60g) of powdered sugar.

Yield: The frosting recipe makes about 2 cups of frosting. This is enough to frost a dozen cupcakes or to frost the top and fill between two layers of a two-layer 9” round cake. If you also want to cover the sides of the cake in frosting, make a double batch.

Freezing: I haven't tried freezing this frosting yet, but I will update the notes when I do.

Nutrition information is for 1 serving (1/12th of the full recipe) and was calculated using Miyoko's plain cream cheese.

Nutrition