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.
Hi. Unfortunately I live in a place that doesn’t sell vegan butter. What can I replace this with… Hopefully it’s possible.
You can use a dairy free margarine, most places will have something like that. Otherwise you can make your own homemade vegan butter.
Can I frost my cupcakes and then freeze them in an airtight container? Will the frosting freeze? I’ll be using almond milk. Many thanks!
Yes the frosting freezes fine! 🙂
How would this frosting do if food coloring were to be added? My daughter wants to have colored frosting on her birthday cake next week.
It works great with a little food coloring added!
Would it be alright if I used a blender instead of electric mixer?
I think you could!
Can the frosting be made ahead of time, frozen and than work well to frost wedding cake?
It can be frozen and then defrosted. I would test it out though first to make sure it will work for you. We also have a recipe for a vegan buttercream. 🙂
Christine England, use a solid coconut oil or vegan shortening based recipe if it needs to be out of refrigeration for too long. This recipe though is creamy and tasty.
whats the difference between this and a buttercream frosting? which would work best with a vanilla funfetti cake?
Either/or will do great, the main difference is the amount of vegan butter used.
HI Alison. If I’m putting this frosting on a wedding cake how long can it be left at room temperature. I’m just wondering about the soy milk as I know it’s supposed to be refrigerated.
Many thanks Christine
It really depends on the weather, as the frosting can get soft at room temperature if the weather is warm.
Vegan butter does not hold up as long as butter. I recommend splitting vegan butter with vegetable shortening like Crisco. It will be firmer at room temperature.
Would this recipe be sufficient ice the middle layer, top layer, and sides, of a victoria sponge cake (8″)?
Yes! 🙂
Can you make this with a food processor if you don’t have an electric mixer?
Yes that will work!
What kinda of vegan butter are you using? Should it be salted?
I usually use regular salted vegan butter, but either/or will be fine.
Love your sugar cookies and made them for the second year in a row to be decorated for Christmas. This year I used your vegan frosting which was nice and creamy. However, the combo was a bit too sweet and I couldn’t figure out why until our daughter (dairy-free) pointed out that the almond milk I used was the sweetened variant in both the cookies and frosting. Oops! My bad and I will try it again next time with an UNSWEETENED milk substitute.
Oh hahaha, yes that could take it to the slightly too sweet side! 🙂
Hi Alison, how many cupcakes would this recipe frost
It depends, 12-16 if piping on generously, a lot more if you’re just spreading the frosting.
For the milk does it have to be soy I use almond or oat milk is either one fine?
You can really use any non-dairy milk you like. 🙂
Can I make this frosting and refrigerate it for 3 days before it goes on the cake?
Yes you can.
Can I pipe with this icing?
You can, provided it is thick enough, we made a very similar frosting for our vegan oreo cupcakes so you can see how it piped on that recipe. Otherwise try our vegan buttercream frosting that pipes great as well.
My family is dairy-free but not completely vegan. If I want to use actual eggs instead of the Flax eggs, how many eggs should I use?
Hi Hannah, I’m not sure what recipe you’re referring to, but this one doesn’t use any flax eggs. But generally speaking, 1 flax egg would equal 1 regular egg.