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    Home » Desserts » Vegan Buttercream Frosting

    Vegan Buttercream Frosting

    Published: Apr 4, 2019 Modified: Aug 14, 2019 by Alison Andrews This post may contain affiliate links

    Jump to Recipe
    3.4Kshares
    Vegan buttercream frosting

    This delicious vegan buttercream frosting is silky, smooth and velvety and perfect to spread on cakes or pipe onto cupcakes. Easy 4-ingredient recipe.

    Vegan buttercream frosting piped onto a vanilla cupcake.

    This vegan buttercream frosting is so creamy and silky you will fall completely in love with it!

    It works wonderfully spread onto cakes or piped onto cupcakes. It would also be wonderful spread onto cookies. If you’re looking for a frosting for some vegan sugar cookies, this would work great!

    It’s a simple 4-ingredient recipe that is totally versatile and comes out beautifully every time. 

    When testing this recipe I tried it out on our vegan vanilla cake and that is the cake that you see featured below. I doubled our vanilla cake recipe to make it a 9-inch beauty and this frosting was the perfect amount to spread onto a 9-inch cake. 

    As you can see from the photos below, I probably went a little heavy with the frosting in the middle of the cake, it’s a little thicker in the middle than it is on top, whoops! 

    Vanilla layer cake topped with vegan buttercream frosting on a white cake stand.

    But it’s definitely enough frosting for a 9-inch cake and if you want to use it for an 8-inch cake it will be great too. You’ll just have it on a little thicker, which is never a problem in my view. 

    The cupcakes featured in these photos are our vegan vanilla cupcakes and piped on as you see in these photos, this was the perfect amount of frosting to frost 12 cupcakes.

    As you can see it’s a lot of frosting that I piped on though, if you piped on less, or if you spread it instead of piping it, you could frost a lot more cupcakes!

    Vegan buttercream frosting on a vanilla cake.

    How to make vegan buttercream frosting

    Add powdered sugar, vegan butter, vanilla extract and a little salt to a stand mixer. 

    Starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until the frosting is thick and smooth with a silky spreadable texture. 

    If your mixer has a fairly small bowl (like mine) then hold a tea towel or paper towel over it (carefully, don’t let it get caught up in the mixer) when it starts so that powdered sugar doesn’t puff up out of the bowl. 

    Alternatively you can cream the butter first and then add in the powdered sugar bit by bit but that method doesn’t usually fit in with my impatient personality. 

    Step by step process photo collage of making vegan buttercream frosting.

    Tips for the best vegan buttercream

    The most important thing to a good vegan buttercream is the texture. It needs to be really silky and spreadable but also firm enough to pipe. So you’re looking for a really thick, but silky, consistency.

    So the vegan butter that you use becomes quite important for this. 

    The ideal texture for your vegan butter is one that is quite firm. 

    You can use something like Earth Balance buttery sticks if you have access to it, but a vegan butter that comes in a tub is also going to be great, it just needs to be one that is fairly firm. 

    You get some tubs of vegan butter that are really soft straight from the fridge, like they are just never firm. That will be less ideal here. If that’s all you have access to, then you might just need to add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup more powdered sugar to get this to the right consistency. 

    If all you can get is those bricks of margarine (that might be accidentally vegan) that are rock hard, then that will work, but you might need to add a few drops of soy milk or almond milk to it. 

    The difference in textures with vegan butters is all about water content, if it’s really soft, it likely has a higher water content, if it’s very firm, it has a lower water content. This is why it has an impact on your end result.

    So if following the recipe as written results in something that is not thick enough, add more powdered sugar and don’t be shy. 

    If it results in something much too thick, add in some non-dairy milk a drop at a time. 

    Vanilla cake topped with vegan buttercream on a white cake stand. Vegan vanilla cake topped with vanilla buttercream.

    Vegan Buttercream Q&A

    Can I use coconut oil instead of vegan butter? Not in this recipe. It’s really important that the ‘butter’ part of the buttercream be a vegan butter. 

    What brand of vegan butter do you recommend? I have used a few, I have used and like Nuttelex (Australian brand) and Earth Balance (USA) but since we have a worldwide audience, I don’t generally find it that useful to recommend a particular brand. Use what is available and follow the tips above in getting the right texture irrespective of the brand you use. 

    How long does this keep? This will keep at room temperature for around 3 days. It will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks though. So if you need to make it in advance of a cake, you can do so. It does firm up in the fridge, so if it gets too firm, then bring it back to room temperature on the countertop before using. 

    Can I freeze this buttercream? Yes sure! When you’re ready to use it, let it thaw in the fridge overnight. 

    How many cupcakes will I be able to frost with this recipe? It depends! If you’re piping like I did in these pictures, then it will frost 12 cupcakes. If you’re just doing a spread of frosting on top, then it could be enough for triple that number! And if you’re piping the frosting but doing it much less generously (not going for the ice cream cone look) then maybe you could frost as many as 18-24 cupcakes. 

    What size cake is this vegan buttercream for? It frosts a 9-inch two layer cake beautifully, as shown in these photos, or an 8-inch two layer cake very generously. 

    A slice of vegan vanilla cake on a white plate.

    I hope you’ll love this vegan buttercream frosting recipe! It is:

    • Silky
    • Smooth
    • Velvety
    • Super easy
    • 4-Ingredients

    Enjoy on cakes or cupcakes or cookies!

    Vanilla cupcake topped with vegan buttercream. Vegan vanilla cupcake topped with a vegan buttercream frosting.

    Use this vegan buttercream frosting in the following recipes:

    1. Vegan Vanilla Cake – follow the directions for a 9-inch cake. 
    2. The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake – if you want to make this into a tuxedo cake, use this buttercream instead of the chocolate frosting.
    3. Classic Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
    4. Vegan White Cake
    5. Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
    6. Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

    So let us know what you think of this vegan buttercream frosting in the comments and please leave a rating too, thank you!

    Sign up to our email list and we’ll send you a gorgeous recipe ebook with 10 delicious vegan dinner recipes. You’ll also be the first to know when new recipes are posted to the blog. 

    Vegan frosted cupcake cut in half.

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    Vegan buttercream frosting

    Vegan Buttercream Frosting


    ★★★★★

    5 from 13 reviews

    • Author: Alison Andrews
    • Prep Time: 5 mins
    • Total Time: 5 minutes
    • Yield: 12 cupcakes
    Print Recipe
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    Description

    This delicious vegan buttercream frosting is silky, smooth and velvety and perfect to spread on cakes or pipe onto cupcakes. Easy 4-ingredient recipe.


    Ingredients

    • 3 and 1/2 cups (420g) Powdered Sugar
    • 1 cup (225g) Vegan Butter*
    • 1/4 tsp Salt
    • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

    Instructions

    1. Add the powdered sugar, vegan butter, salt and vanilla extract to the bowl of a stand mixer and starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until thick and smooth.
    2. If your consistency is too thick, add a little non-dairy milk a drop at a time, and if it’s too thin, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more powdered sugar.
    3. Spread onto cakes or pipe onto cupcakes.
    4. Store leftovers in the fridge.

    Notes

    *See our blog post for more troubleshooting tips for this recipe.

    *This recipe makes enough for 12 cupcakes when piped generously (as pictured) or to frost an 8 or 9-inch two layer cake.

    • Category: Dessert, Gluten-Free
    • Cuisine: Vegan

    Nutrition

    • Serving Size: 1 Serve (of 12)
    • Calories: 242
    • Sugar: 34.2g
    • Sodium: 113mg
    • Fat: 11.2g
    • Saturated Fat: 4.5g
    • Carbohydrates: 34.9g
    • Fiber: 0g
    • Protein: 0g

    Keywords: vegan buttercream frosting

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    3.4Kshares
    Alison Andrews

    About the Author

    Hi I'm Alison Andrews, I'm the voice and cook behind Loving It Vegan. I love making delicious vegan food and creating vegan versions of all your old favorites, so that you’ll never feel like you’re missing out. Find out more about me here.

    Loving It Vegan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site may contain some of these links to Amazon.com. If you make a purchase through one of those links, Loving It Vegan will receive a small commission from the purchase at no additional cost to you.
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. AvatarAliisa says

      March 14, 2021 at 1:39 am

      Hi, I’m going to attempt this frosting, along with your vegan gluten-free carrot cake recipe, to surprise my boyfriend for his birthday! Thank you for both recipes.
      Quick question, I am without a stand mixer, will a food processor work?

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Alison AndrewsAlison Andrews says

        March 15, 2021 at 12:00 pm

        I think a food processor should work! All the best! 🙂

        Reply
    2. AvatarCarmela says

      February 22, 2021 at 9:25 pm

      My grocery store luckily has a wide selection of vegan butters, I was wondering if you have a favorite you use for this recipe?

      Reply
      • Alison AndrewsAlison Andrews says

        February 23, 2021 at 10:29 am

        Hi Carmela, I have used lots of different brands and usually like them all. Sticks or firm tub style butters work best. If it’s very soft, it generally doesn’t work well.

        Reply
    3. AvatarAneesha says

      February 17, 2021 at 11:56 pm

      I tried this frosting on my chocolate g/f cupcakes and it worked well and I was able to frost well with a top. But…. have you tried coconut milk as the base and added powdered sugar to it? Would this work so that it is pipe-able with a tip – I don’t love traditional butter and powder sugar and like the taste of coconut milk (can) much better. Not sure if it would work?

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Alison AndrewsAlison Andrews says

        February 18, 2021 at 10:15 am

        Hi Aneesha, yes we have done frosting like this, check out our vegan chocolate ganache frosting. 🙂

        Reply
        • AvatarAneesha says

          February 19, 2021 at 4:07 pm

          Alison, I have actually made that delicious ganache- omitting the chocolate though and adding vanilla extract would make it vanilla I think, I will try that for the party cake I’m making. Hopefully turns out fine (needs to be white so I can color it for a rainbow cake)

          Reply
    4. AvatarGrace says

      February 15, 2021 at 2:33 pm

      This is actually my second time making vegan buttercream using your recipe. The first time it was spreadable but sweat a lot. Still tasted really good. This time I used a different butter (Country Crock Plant Butter made from Olive Oil in stick form) and it came out beautifully! Thank you very much!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Alison AndrewsAlison Andrews says

        February 16, 2021 at 9:49 am

        Hi Grace! Finding a good vegan butter to use (which of course is different depending on where you are) makes such a big difference! Thanks so much for sharing and the great review.

        Reply
    5. AvatarMarie says

      February 11, 2021 at 8:41 pm

      Im in the UK and use Flora Plant butter which has an unsalted version which is perfect for vegan buttercream

      ★★★★★

      Reply
    6. AvatarJessica says

      February 10, 2021 at 9:17 pm

      Hi there! I was wondering: the Earth Balance vegan butters I’ve found are typically salted. Will this still work or will the salt come through in a bad way affecting the taste of the butter cream? Thanks! -Jessica

      Reply
      • Alison AndrewsAlison Andrews says

        February 11, 2021 at 10:00 am

        Hi Jessica, no, most of the vegan butter I use is also salted so it’s not an issue.

        Reply
    7. AvatarAroni says

      January 26, 2021 at 10:22 pm

      Thanks for the recipe. Just an FYI: my vegan butter’s softness is a factor of the ration of oils used to make it. For very firm more coconut oil or cocoa butter is used and less canola or other liquid when cold or room temperature oil.

      Reply
    8. AvatarRonisha says

      January 16, 2021 at 11:58 pm

      Can I use oil instead of butter for the frost?

      Reply
      • Alison AndrewsAlison Andrews says

        January 17, 2021 at 12:12 pm

        No, but you can use a homemade vegan butter.

        Reply
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    Hi I’m Alison Andrews! I love making delicious vegan food and creating delicious vegan versions of all your old favorite dishes, so you can have your vegan cake and eat it too!

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