This vegan vanilla frosting is smooth, creamy and delicious! Easy 4-ingredient recipe, ideal for use on cakes, cupcakes and cookies!
This vegan vanilla frosting is smooth, creamy and delicious.
Ideal for use on cakes, cupcakes and cookies.
Just 4 ingredients, this really couldn’t be simpler and you’ll love how rich it is, even while using a minimal amount of vegan butter.
An electric mixer is required but you can whip this up in less than 10 minutes from start to finish and get on with the important job of enjoying whatever delicious treat you’ve prepared.
The cool thing about this recipe is that it’s so simple and easy to throw together.
And it just works out every time.
Not to mention that it contains simple ingredients. I still haven’t figured out what ‘shortening’ even is, let alone putting it into my frosting recipes.
So if you’re similarly a fan of the simple, then this is for you.
It’s super sweet of course, but that’s what you want in a frosting isn’t it?
I love this frosting on a vanilla cake. This is exactly the frosting (topped with strawberries) we used on the vanilla cake you see below.
Vanilla on vanilla is marvellous of course! But you can also mix and match a bit and use it on a fabulous vegan chocolate cake.
Ingredients You’ll Need For This Frosting:
Ingredient Notes
- Soy milk – can be replaced for any non-dairy milk that you have on hand.
- Vegan butter – the firmer the better. Stick style vegan butters tend to work best in frostings. Tub style also works, but try to choose one that is as firm as possible so that your frosting won’t be too soft.
How To Use This Frosting
This frosting is perfect to spread onto cakes or cupcakes or cookies.
You can also pipe it onto cupcakes, but it’s not quite as good for piping as a vanilla buttercream frosting. The extra vegan butter in a buttercream makes the texture just a little better suited for piping.
But to spread onto your vegan sugar cookies, or spread onto cakes or cupcakes, this frosting is fantastic.
Storing and Freezing
This frosting keeps very well in the fridge for up to a week. It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Thaw it overnight in the fridge and whip it up again in your stand mixer before using.
More Delicious Vegan Frosting Recipes
- Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
- Vegan Buttercream Frosting
- Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Vegan Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- Vegan Chocolate Frosting
- Vegan Chocolate Ganache
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
How To Make Vegan Vanilla Frosting
Ingredients
- 3 ¾ cups Powdered Sugar (450g)
- 3 Tablespoons Vegan Butter (45g)
- 4 Tablespoons Soy Milk (60ml) or other non-dairy milk
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Add the powdered sugar, vegan butter, half the soy milk and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl.
- Using your electric mixer, start at low speed, gradually increasing speed. Add the rest of the soy milk in slowly until perfectly smooth and thick.*
- It should be very thick, but still easily spreadable.
Video
Notes
- You can switch soy milk for almond milk or another non-dairy milk if you prefer.
- You might not need to use all the soy milk to achieve the desired consistency. Some vegan butters have a higher water content than others and this can make some end up too runny, so only use as much as needed.
J.J. says
Can I substitute the powdered sugar for the Swerve version of powdered sugar? I am on a low carb diet and sugar isn’t really in the lineup right now!
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t used Swerve so really can’t say. I looked up the product though and it says it’s a straight swap so I would assume that it would work! If you try it let us know how it comes out! All the best!
Denise says
Can I use something else other than the vegan butter ?
Alison Andrews says
Some of the comments above mention using coconut oil, so you could try that. I haven’t personally done so though.
neve says
Hi you are amazing at this so would rice milk work in this or not it needs to be thick enough to spread
Alison Andrews says
Definitely! Rice milk is fine to use. If your consistency is ever too thin you can just add more powdered sugar.
gerard says
Hi, can i add cacao (and less powdered sugar) to make a chocolate frosting? thanks xx!
Alison Andrews says
I adapted this recipe to make it chocolate here: https://lovingitvegan.com/how-to-make-vegan-chocolate-frosting/
gerard says
thanks!!
Elena says
Hi, I made this last night, first time baking anything vegan. I did everything as said but it seemed a bit too sweet. Any thoughts on an icing that is not as sweet? Maybe like a vegan whipped cream icing?
Alison Andrews says
I’ve used whipped coconut cream on a cake before, I used it as the filling on my chocolate layer cake. You can check out vegan whipped cream here: https://lovingitvegan.com/how-to-make-vegan-whipped-cream
Cyd Val says
I have a whipped cream icing that calls for thickening milk with flour and when cooled beating into creamed sugar/butter/shortening mixture. I made it vegan by subbing out the whole milk for unsweetened almond milk and using Earth’s Balance and crisco for the fats. No one knows it’s vegan, which in my house is HUGE!
Crystal says
Will this icing crust enough to create rose swirls on a cake? This will be the first time I’m using this recipe for a friends daughter with food allergies.
Elena says
It hardens quite nicely. I think if you chill it for a few minutes it should do the trick!
Michelle says
Can shortening be used as a substitute for the vegan butter?
Alison Andrews says
I have never tried it with shortening so I don’t know. If you do try it, please let us know if it works out! All the best.
Vidhi says
Is there anything else I can use instead of powdered sugar?
Alison Andrews says
Not in this case, no.
c says
You can use any sweetener that can be used in equal quantities as sugar. However, if it’s not powdered, the icing will have a sandy mouthfeel.
Julia Battle says
I chose this recipe to frost a vegan cake for my daughter because it used such a small amount of Earth Balance. She loved it and it turned out perfect! Will definitely use this recipe in the future.
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! 🙂
Emma Berry says
I used this recipe in conjunction with another vegan vanilla icing recipe to compare ingredients. I didn’t have any vegan butter so I used coconut oil and I used a combo of sweetened and unsweetened almond milk instead of soy milk. I also added a pinch of salt, although I don’t think that did anything. It turned out great! It was super sweet so in the future, I’ll probably just stick to unsweetened almond milk, but it was very delicious and we kept eating it while frosting our gingerbread men. If you go the coconut oil route, I would try melting it first. Even after using a hand mixer for a while, there were still lots of little clumps. It didn’t really bother us, but one got stuck in the icing tip, so be careful. Or just use vegan butter haha. Awesome recipe! Super creamy and (except for the clumps) the perfect consistency for piping. I will definitely use it again; thank you for posting!!
Alison Andrews says
That’s super helpful Emma! Thanks for posting! Great to hear that coconut oil also works well, a lot of people have been asking about that. Thanks!
Nadia says
Hi! This recipe looks pretty simple and it has lots of great reviews, so I really want to try it. However, I’m a bit skeptical as to whether it would work for frosting cupcakes since most people seem to have used it for cakes. Thanks for your help!
Alison Andrews says
Cupcakes, cakes, cookies, it’s good for all of them.
Sarah says
Hi,
This recipe is perfect! My son has multiple food allergies and this will be our go to frosting from now on. I used rice milk and earth balance stick as we had them in the fridge, delicious!! I have some extra and I’m wondering if this can be frozen and defrosted for use in the future? Thank you!!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Sarah, So glad you like the recipe! Sure you can freeze it. Just move it to the fridge to defrost when you’re ready to use it.
Carol says
Just made this icing and it turned out perfectly. I was thinking maybe for different flavours to add
lemon juice, peanut butter, bit of cocoa powder, maybe lime juice. Thank you…glad to have found your recipe!!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Carol! So glad you liked it! Yes, so much fun to play around with different flavors! I’m a big fan of mint, strawberry vanilla, matcha green tea flavor, lemon, chocolate, haven’t tried peanut butter yet, but that’ll be fun too! All the best!
Carol says
hmmmm…do you use fresh strawberries?
Alison Andrews says
No I used strawberry essence, you can see what I did here: https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-vanilla-cupcakes-strawberry-vanilla-frosting/
Shakiya says
Hi could I Substitue olive oil or coconut oil for vegan butter??
Alison Andrews says
Definitely not olive oil, but you could try coconut oil. I haven’t personally tried it though.
Colleen McCormack says
Hi There! This frosting recipe sounds amazing, only I do not have an electric mixer. Is there a way to achieve the same result without one, or is that too good to be true? Thank you!
Alison Andrews says
I don’t think so sorry! I think a mixer is essential for this, it’s just very thick, I don’t see how it would work without one.