Oh. My. Ganache! This vegan chocolate ganache frosting is soooo fab!
No wonder at all really considering the ingredients list!
With just 4-ingredients: Dark Chocolate, Coconut Cream, Coconut Oil and Powdered Sugar, this chocolate ganache frosting ticks all the boxes when it comes to rich, smooth, chocolate yumness. Is that a word? I think not. But this recipe is worth making up words over.
Ridiculously easy to make, this frosting can be whipped up super fast.
You just heat coconut cream and coconut oil up on the stove until bubbles form (just before it boils) and then pour the hot liquid over dark chocolate pieces in a big bowl. Let it sit for a minute so the chocolate has time to melt and then whisk it up into a glorious chocolate sauce.
Now, if you just needed a chocolate sauce, well here you go!
But if you want to use it as a frosting, it will be a little thin at this point. So that’s where you add in the powdered sugar and whisk it up.
Then put into the refrigerator to set, whisk it again to incorporate more air so that it’s awesomely light and fluffy and there you have it, vegan ganache frosting that’ll blow your hair back!
This recipe makes enough vegan chocolate ganache frosting to frost a 3-layer cake, or do what I did and just frost a 2-layer cake REALLY thick (better!)
You’ll love the way the dark chocolate richness comes through so decadently in this frosting and how it takes a chocolate cake from good to great!
I’ve made myself very popular by taking chocolate cake with this frosting to family occasions I can tell you!
So let us know what you think of this recipe in the comments.
Rate it and let us know how it went if you made it!
Of course we would love it if you would take a photo and tag it #lovingitvegan on instagram so we can admire it too!
Vegan Chocolate Ganache Frosting
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Prep Time: 15 mins - Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 mins
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Category: Dessert, Baking -
Cuisine: Vegan
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Easy 4-Ingredient vegan chocolate ganache frosting. Rich, smooth and ultra creamy this is a frosting that will take any chocolate cake from good to great!
Ingredients
- 10.5 oz (300g) Vegan Dark Chocolate
- 1 cup (240ml) Coconut Cream
- 2 Tbsp (28g) Coconut Oil
- 2 cups to 2.5 cups (250g – ~310g) Powdered/Confectioners Sugar
Instructions
- Place the coconut cream and coconut oil into a pot and heat to just before boiling.
- While the coconut cream and oil are heating, break up the chocolate into pieces and place into a bowl.
- Just before the coconut cream and oil boils, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate pieces.
- Leave for a minute to allow the chocolate to melt.
- Whisk with a hand whisk until well combined into chocolate sauce.
- Add the powdered sugar and then whisk with an electric whisk.
- Place into the refrigerator for about an hour until completely cooled and thickened.
- Whisk again with the electric mixer.
- If the consistency is still a bit thin, add another 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and whisk again.
- It should be thick enough to spread on a cake without sliding.
- Perfect for use on cakes, cupcakes or cookies.
Notes
*Cook time is for time spent cooling in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Tbsp (of ~50)
- Calories: 68
- Sugar: 5.6g
- Sodium: 3mg
- Fat: 4.5g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 5.8g
- Fiber: 0.4g
- Protein: 0.7g
It isn’t too much sugar?
Thanks Alison I just wanted the recipe for the vegan chocolate cake and I finished making 3 more recipes. I’m looking forward to trying all of your recipes. Thank you they look great and I bet they taste great as well.
Hi there! So glad you’re liking the recipes! Thanks so much! 🙂
Hi
Can you use this ganache to crumb coat before putting fondant on?
thanks
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Hi Anita, I assume so! I haven’t tried doing that but I really don’t see why not.
Hi Alison,
Great recipe. Thanks for sharing. I have a question about the thickness of the ganache frosting before it sets in the fridge? After using an electric mixer it was still runny..I added a little more powdered sugar, and kept going for a while mixing..then it was runny again.. I used 500 grams powdered sugar or a little more. I stopped and put the whole thing in the fridge.. Hoping to have a consistency like your pictures. If not, what do you think went wrong and how to fix it?
Hi Burcu, the thickening happens in the fridge. Between the dark chocolate and the coconut cream, it gets very thick. The electric mixer is just to mix the powdered sugar in very well, not for thickening as such. Though of course the powdered sugar makes it thicker than it was before you added it. But it’s the cooling/fridge time where the main thickening happens. If yours by some chance didn’t thicken in the fridge, then I wouldn’t know what could’ve happened, other than perhaps your coconut cream was a dud can. But even then, the amount of dark chocolate in there along with the powdered sugar should thicken it up quite a lot on its own. But let me know how it turned out!
Tried this recipe for my mom’s bday cake and it’s AMAZING! I made some cupcakes and dipped them in it while it wasn’t set up fully and no one knew my cupcakes with the ganache were vegan they loved the ganache..Def saving this recipe!! So easy to follow as is and turned out finger licking good haha
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Yay! That’s so fantastic Kayla! 🙂
Does it taste like coconut?
I don’t think so – the taste is rich chocolate. Chocolate is the main flavor. But if you don’t like coconut then I guess there’s a chance that there is enough of a coconut flavor in there to possibly make it less enjoyable to you.
I just made this recipe and holy cow is it good!!! It thickens up perfectly in the fridge! How do you recommend I store the cupcakes? In the fridge?
Hey Kelly, you can keep them at room temperature in a covered container if you’re going to consume within a couple of days, but if you want them to stay fresh longer than keep them covered in the fridge, they don’t dry out and will usually last up to a week.
Hi, can I use vegan carob chips instead of the chunks?. Also does the frosting on the cake melt easily while transporting it in warm weather?. Thx
Hi, you possibly can substitute carob, but I have never tried this so I don’t know. Due to the amount of powdered sugar added, it is not a ‘melty’ frosting at all, but still, depending on how hot the weather is, I would still probably advise to transport it in a cooler bag.
Wondering about the thickness of my icing. It seemed really thick and hard to spread. Any suggestions? Tastes great tho!
Add a tiny amount of non-dairy milk in – just a few drops at a time and mix in until it’s more easily spreadable. Thick is good – you want it thick – but it should be spreadable. 😁
Hi! does the ganache have a very coconuty taste ? im planning on making this for my friend but she does not like the coconuty taste.
I don’t think so, to me the overwhelming flavor is rich chocolate, but on the other hand I like coconut so it could be that I am just not noticing it as a prominent flavor.
What other alternative can be used instead of normal powdered sugar? coconut powdered sugar maybe?
Maybe – I don’t have any experience with coconut powdered sugar, if you give it a try let us know how it works out! 🙂
Can I make this with semi sweet chocolate chips instead?
Do I still need to add powdered sugar? Is it going to be too sweet?
The chocolate I use is sweet, it’s probably sweeter than semi sweet chocolate chips (though I don’t know as I’ve never had those available), so I would imagine you would still want to use the powdered sugar. The powdered sugar is also what helps to thicken it up into a very thick and nicely textured frosting.
This is delicious!! I used Enjoy dairy free chips and it turned out great! I didn’t even chill it very long so that I could have more of a glaze/sauce than an icing and it was delectable!
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Sounds wonderful! Thanks for posting! 🙂
Hello, I plan on making this soon and i was just wondering, for the coconut cream, do you just scoop it from a can of coconut milk until you get to the liquid? Thank you!
Coconut cream is actually a thicker version of coconut milk, you can buy it usually right in the same section as coconut milk.
Oh, okay! Thank you for the quick response! 🙂
Could I use sunflower oil instead of coconut?
I find it to be really expensive and I don’t use it for anything else!
Also, would it work with vegan white chocolate?
I can’t get vegan white chocolate here so have never tried it, but I can’t think of any reason why it wouldn’t work.
No, just leave it out in that case.
I made this a couple of times and every time, the recipe turned out perfect! Thank you for this wonderful chocolate ganache recipe 🙂
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That’s wonderful! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Can you taste the coconut oil in it? Because I’m making it for a dinner party but few aren’t fan of the flavour of coconut in general
I don’t think you can – the overwhelming flavor is rich chocolate to me, but I also like coconut, so it’s hard to say if someone who doesn’t like it would still pick up that flavor. You can omit the coconut oil but you’re still using coconut cream, so it’s not like you can avoid coconut with this recipe.
I just made this for my son’s birthday and I couldn’t taste coconut at all. I did add a tiny bit of peppermint extract though just because I love peppermint and chocolate. This is an awesome recipe! It’s so rich and very easy to make. If you want it a bit more firm, just put it in the fridge for a while. It will soften a little at room temperature but still hold it’s shape.
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Thanks Heidi, the addition of peppermint sounds like a fabulous idea! 🙂
Thank you so much for this great recipe! My boyfriend is allergic to dairy, soy, gluten, eggs, and peanuts, so I’m always looking for great cake recipes for him!
I noticed another commenter asked about coconut milk v. cream and mentioned his didn’t quite turn out as expected. The first time I made this, my grocery didn’t have a can of “coconut cream” so I bought a can of “coconut milk” and used the white, opaque, spreadable that congealed on the top of the can. Turned out phenomenally! This time, my grocer did have “cream of coconut” so I bought that. The solid at the top almost looked like a foggy gel, nothing like the white solid at the top of the coconut milk can. I did a brief google and it appears coconut cream and cream of coconut are not the same things…cream of coconut being a very sugary sweet substance usually added to cocktails. I heated it up with the coconut oil and it looked nothing like your picture, it was a slimy, grayish, almost translucent liquid, so I tossed it.
Fortunately I had almost enough of the coconut milk solid left over (FYI I make half batches and do them as cupcakes, they come out perfectly in about 15 minutes) so I used that and added a little more than the required coconut oil, and once again, amazing! I wonder of that commenter also used cream of coconut instead of coconut cream? Would you mind sharing the exact name of the product you use? Do you have any insight into the cream of coco v. coco cream mystery?
Thanks again for this really special recipe! I appreciate all the effort you put into it!
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Hi Ariana! Yes definitely coconut cream and cream of coconut are totally different things! It’s pretty confusing when they’re named so similarly. Basically coconut cream should be right next to the coconut milk and is almost identical to coconut milk except that it’s a bit thicker/richer. But as long as you’re using a full fat version, coconut milk also works as you discovered! I have used so many different brands, because of moving around a bit, but Thai Choice is a good one that I’ve used. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your experience with this and glad the recipe worked out well! 🙂
Loved this recipe! Followed it exactly as is. You can deff taste the coconut flavour which i love. The frosting is not really ideal for piping. Maybe next time i will try refrigerating a second time in a piping bag to stiffen the mixture after fluffing. Will deff use again. Thank you! 🤗
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Thanks for the great review Kayla! So glad you liked it. 🙂
Hi there. I was just wondering what percentage chocolate do you use? 70%, 80% or 90%?
Hi Hawa, I have used many different ones, but my favorite is actually the very mild dark chocolate, about 50% cacao. 🙂
Fabulous recipe! Just wanted to check – I have a load of frosting left over. Can it be kept in the fridge or in the freezer. If so, for how long can I store it?
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You could keep it in the fridge for a bit but you can absolutely also freeze it with no ill effects. Just place into a freezer bag and seal it tightly and when you want to use it let it thaw in the fridge. All the best! 🙂
I somehow had frosting leftover after icing the cake (unheard of!) 😁 and thought to refrigerate overnight and make truffles the next day! Such a good idea, this recipe is brilliant! ❤️
Smart! 👍😁 So glad you liked the recipe. 🤗