Coconut Cream Frosting
Frosting is one of my favorite foods; in fact, I consider it an actual food group. After all, what is a cupcake without frosting? It's nothing!
Lately I have been stymied when it comes to the frosting creation process. Yes, I have my delicious vegan chocolate frosting recipe, however, I have been lacking in the white frosting department. For me this has presented hardship because chocolate frosting just doesn't work with carrot cake and lemon cake. Besides, who wants to use just one frosting recipe on top of all of their baked delicacies?!
Yes, I do admit, making frosting without butter and sugar is quite a challenge. Though for me challenge is the name of the game. So lately, I have been on a conquest for white frosting.
Sixteen batches later, I have a delicious coconut frosting that my many taste testers approve of. Unfortunately, my most important taster is traveling this week, so I confess, I don't have the ultimate seal of approval. However, I think it is still good enough to share with all of you.
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup agave nectar
pinch celtic sea salt
5 teaspoons arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon water
1¼ cup coconut oil
- In a medium saucepan, heat coconut milk, agave and salt, simmer for 10 minutes
- In a small bowl, combine arrowroot and water to form a smooth paste
- Pour arrowroot mixture into saucepan
- Mix contents of saucepan with a hand blender and bring to a boil, briefly
- Remove pot from heat and very gradually blend in coconut oil
- Place pot in freezer for
20-3030-40 minutes, until frosting solidifies and turns white - Remove from freezer and blend again, until fluffy
- Spread over cake or cupcakes
This frosting will be great on the carrot cake which I am in the process of creating for ~M, one of my favorite readers. She finished school this month and I will post the recipe in honor of her graduation.
On another note, you may have noticed that I recently added a feature to the side bar of this site. It is a survey which polls readers as to which recipe they would like me to whip up next. Check it out and post your vote --for chocolate cupcakes, mango chicken or "candy" bars.
Posted on May 16, 2008 in condiments by Elana
you might also like: Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting
or Vanilla Plum Jam
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60 comments
Coconut has to be one of my favorite foods. I recently read an article about how healthy it is for us. That cupcake looks terrific!
Awww, thanks, looks great. I want to take my index finger, schmear the screen, and lick :P It would probably be good with minced candied ginger too, if you could do sugar!
Oh I so agree about the frosting, it makes or breaks a cupcake for me and that frosting looks so scrumptious, I want to reach into the screen and start eating.
I've been trying to eat less dairy lately but have also been craving cupcakes. I thought this was a dilemma until I found this recipe! Thanks!!
I'd be curious to see a cream cheese frosting made from the tofutti cream cheese. Have you ever tried tofutti? I'm wondering if its pretty close to real cream cheese.
Oh I can't wait to try this! I have long pondered a sugar-free, dairy-free frosting - thank you Elana! You are amazing!
Great vegan white frosting has been my holy grail as well. This sounds perfect for me, but my son isn't a coconut fan. Maybe this will win him over.
Some people rave about Tofutti's cream cheese but I think it has a plastic taste and it too heavily processed.
I have ALL of these ingredients on hand. Hmm... And I'm also crazy for frosting so this is right up my alley.
One CUP of agave nectar seems a bit much though. What do you think of half a cup? Hope to hear from you soon.
Chef Erik -Thanks, you always leave the nicest comments!
~M -Hope you had a great week (I think this was graduation wasn't it?). Love the candied ginger idea, let me know how it turns out if you try it; I made the frosting with orange zest+juice last night and I'm afraid that after I spread it on a cupcake, I licked the test bowl clean.
George -Thanks :-)
Kristina -Glad to help with your dilemma!
Freedom -Thanks for stopping by; if you check out my faq's, you will see that I don't do soy; if you do make a good frosting with the tofutti, please stop by and let us know all about it.
Kelly -Thanks, so are you!
Maggie -Let me know if it wins him over.
Moi -I must confess, I made another 5 batches of this in the 24 hours before I posted it to get the texture just right, not sure how it would be affected by less agave, though if you try it with the 1/2 cup, let us know how it turns out.
I love your website. i think you are so much like me. I love how very detailed and educated you are about everything you eat.
Mmm this sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing all of your healthy and innovative recipes.
Moi -Thanks for the compliment, I really appreciate it. BTW, my emails to you are getting bounced back each time I try :-(
Amy -Thanks, you are very welcome!
This looks so delicious. I can't wait to try it. I've been wanting to try a coconut frosting but couldn't quite figure out how to thicken it. Arrowroot is a great idea !
Thanks Becky! It took me a while to figure this one out --the holy grail of frosting, making one without sugar and butter..I hope you like it when you make it :-)
Hi, my name is Tessa and iam new to this. I have a thyroid problem and can't have wheat,dairy,sugar,or anything with gluten. Your recipes are going to be the only thing that saves me. I was ready to just give up. I love cooking and eating with my husband and kids. I can tell you have put alot of time into this website. I was wondering if you had a biscuit recipe I really miss haveing biscuts. thank you so much for your time.
This is great. I had been making coconut cream whipped cream, and it was working great until the weather became hotter. It hasn't been working anymore. This looks like it would work with any weather. By the way, have you made coconut whipped cream before, and if so, do you have any tips?
Tessa -Welcome! I am so glad to be of help and really appreciate your feedback. I love recipe requests and will add yours to the list :-)
Kimi Thanks for stopping by; I haven't made coconut whip cream before though I bet my children would LOVE it!
LOVE the site! We eat dairy-free, and I decided I wanted to make carrot cake cupcakes for my son's first birthday, and a cheesecake for our holiday open house. In both cases, I subbed the Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (trans-fat free version, natch) for the regular stuff, and NOBODY could tell. A tofu-hater had THIRDS of the cheesecake. You just can't taste the soy once it's been cooked into a recipe. And I used Smart Balance organic in place of butter in both recipes as well--so much like the dairy versions, you couldn't tell at all.
I am making gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, sugar free cupcakes for my son's birthday, and this was the perfect frosting. I made a trial of it yesterday, and was worried about it melting. I put some in a pastry bag and squeezed it out onto a plate and left it at room temperature for four hours, and while it gets very soft and slippery, it seems that it will work, as long as the cupcakes are super cool when I frost them.
I used a little bit of stevia powder to sweeten it up a little more, and used 1 cup coconut oil and 1/4 cup of butter. Both my son and one of his friends have dairy allergies, but they are allergic to the casein so they can have butter (which is great since it's such a good anti-inflammatory), so the frosting still has a buttery taste too it. I was afraid to use too much butter to where the frosting would melt, but I may be able to get away with more. I will have to try it in the future!
I think this frosting would be great with added carob powder too.
Thank you so much!
Bex -Thanks so much for the report. I think it's just the best when people tinker with my recipes and really appreciate your posting the results!
Elana
As a final result, I made the cupcakes and frosted them the night before and then stored them in the refrigerator. (They were beautiful, and I will find my camera soon and get the pictures loaded in and posted). The party was at 3:30 pm, in the boiling heat (okay, not boiling, but 87 degrees), and I pulled them out of the fridge around 11 so they would soften up. Everything was great until they had to take the sunlight in the car, and then some melting happened, but they still held pretty well for about an hour in that heat (once we got them in the shade), and then the frosting broke and began to trickle to the bottom, but we just turned the cupcakes over and ate them upside down and things were good.
So...this frosting is kick-ass and stands up to the house party, and I do believe that if cupcakes were served inside (as they really should be) that this stuff is absolutely fantastic. If they were served outside, as in a backyard easy type thing, it would probably be good too. Not so good for a picnic in the summer heat (as yes, I probably already should have known, but this was the best option I had, and even melting, it tasted great!).
Bex -I'm glad you liked them. And yes, because coconut oil turns to liquid at a lower temp than butter, this frosting does get a bit dicey a higher temps. Thanks so much for your report!
Elana
Hey I tried making the icing and when I put it in the freezer it never turned back to a solid I am not for sure what I did wrong. I followed the recipe to the tee. What kind of coconut oil do you use. my coconut oil looked more like lard.
Please help my grandson can't eat much of anything and this would work if I could figure it out. Thank you Laura
Okay...here's a picture of them!
Bex,
Oh my goodness! These look amazing!
Elana
They were amazing. The cupcakes were a little heavy, and your frosting totally saved them!
I have made it twice now, and I noticed that it gets even creamier and easier to put through a pastry bag if I put it in my KitchenAid processor, rather than using a hand blender. Have you tried that? It's almost magical. It fluffs it up and everyone that was at the house when I made it (including my backwoods hunter brother in law) swore that it was better than buttercream. I used 1/2 honey 1/2 agave and then 1/2 butter and 1/2 coconut oil in that batch.
Bex,
With a little help I loaded your pics into the comments section so that everyone could see them without having to click over.
I don't have a KitchenAid --I do my best to keep my purchases of kitchen tools to a bare minimum, though I do have a Vitamix, Cuisinart food processor and a Braun hand blender, so that is already a lot.
I love seeing what you do with my recipes; your permutation above sounds amazing!
Thanks,
Elana
[...] Adapted from Elana’s Coconut Cream Frosting [...]
Ok, I made the icing last weekend...mine ended up runny- though I followed everything to the letter...wondering whether I didn't let it boil long enough..has anyone else had that problem? It still tasted yummy, but was the consistency of a glaze...thoughts?
kari,
I've heard from others who had this problem and solved it by leaving the frosting in the freezer until it was a tad harder in consistency. The other potential trouble spot could be when you mix in the arrowroot. Make sure to bring the mixture all the way to a boil (as specified) this activates the thickening property of the arrowroot. Hope this helps and let me know how it goes if you make it again.
Thanks,
Elana
I tried this on Saturday. I live in Arizona so I was worried about the heat. I made a double layer chocolate cake. I frosted it quickly and put it in the fridge to save for dessert. Wow, I am so impressed. It was so unbelievably good. I didn't even miss the butter or whipped cream. Thanks so much for the recipe. It will definintely be my go to icing.
Kim,
Thanks so much for your comment. I'm glad you like this frosting, it's one of my favorites.
Elana
I made this and added peppermint drops to make a mint frosting, put that between two layers of chocolate cake (if you can do chickpeas/garbanzo beans I have a good chocolate cake recipe for you) then I made tour chocolate frosting, let it cool a bit and poured and spread over the cake, into the fridge until the chocolate stiffened and After Eight cake was enjoyed by all.
But you do have to taste test a bit because of different strength of peppermint drops/extract/essence.
Kitty,
That sounds delightful!
Thanks so much for sharing your amazing After Eight cake with all of us. Yum.
Elana
The addition of arrowroot is so intriguing. I'm going to try it with vegan mayo; I haven't had much luck creating a soy-free egg-free mayo.
Beautiful cupcakes- and frosting, Elana!
Karina,
Thanks so much for stopping by. Wow, egg free mayo sounds like a challenge; hope it goes well!
Elana
Quick question concerning coconut milk: I've read that you can make coconut milk at home. Is this what you do or do you have a favorite store-bought coconut milk? Also, I've had trouble finding unsweetened coconut in the stores (no healthfood store nearby) - any recommendations?
Thanks for this site; it's so inspiring and informative!
Kim,
I used to use this product from Wilderness Family Naturals, though it's been out of stock for more than a year. In the meantime, I've unfortunately been using this canned organic product
, which you can order online.
Elana
Do you know if this recipe can be made in advance or do I need to make it right when I'm going to use it? I was thinking of making it today, putting it in the fridge and using it tomorrow, but I wasn't sure if it would get too stiff.
I can't wait to try this out. It sounds delicious. I'm going to be using it on a carrot cake for my daughter's birthday.
Yael,
I often make this recipe in advance, store it in a mason jar and use it a day or two later.
Happy Birthday to your daughter!
Elana
Coconut Whipped Cream??
Is there a recipe somewhere I"m missing?
Answering my own, found this
http://www.veganrepresent.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-7036.html
Hi Elena,
I have a question about this frosting.. how long would you say the frosting can stay out without refrigerating?
Thank you!
Elana,
I found your website through a search for "cupcakes" at the Supernatural Recipe search engine. Boy was I surprised when my name popped up in the first entry! As you must know, there aren't a lot of Elanas around.
Anyway, from one healthy food loving Elana to another, thanks for posting all of these great-sounding recipes! Looking forward to trying some out!
Sincerely,
Elana K
I botched the icing somehow.... I made a beautiful carrot cake last night and go the icing ready today. However, after removing the icing from the freezer and starting to blend we found lots of gummy pieces all throughout. It was rubbery and hard, just mixed in. I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong... did I get something too hot or mix at the wrong time? I'm not a seasoned baker so any insight from the group would be awesome. In the time crunch I went for cream cheese frosting instead, not on my Paleo plan, but I'll cheat for today.
BTW, love the recipes and the site!
I actually had the exact same problem...I think it was the arrowroot. Not sure if when I dropped it in I didn't mix it well enough?? When I added the water to the arrowroot it was pretty hard and not very pasty...anyone else have any suggestions?
This frosting looks so good! I tried it last night but it didn't turn out right. I used Bex's version with the honey and butter added. My frosting didn't get fluffy and wonderful, though I was going at it for 3-4 minutes with the hand blender. Perhaps it needed to be blended longer?
It sat in the freezer for an hour before I started blending. The blender itself was getting warm as I worked though, and I'm sure that affected the temp of the frosting. Any ideas? I really want to give it another try.
Also, my can of coconut milk was separated (as I expected). The top half was totally solid, and then the water was in the bottom. I just kind of broke it up the best I could before measuring. Should I have blended the whole can first...meaning, do you think the ratio of solids to liquid in the coconut milk is a serious factor here?
So many questions, sorry about that. I just found your blog and I love it, and want everything to turn out as well as it does for you!
thank you thank you! M girl turns 2 next week and I wanted to find a frosting just like this. She and her 3 little party friends are going to put the frosting on themselves. I will do a practice run making it this week. Thanks so much!!!
I was hoping someone could tell me if this icing has a strong coconut flavor. I am making a birthday cake for my niece and not sure she really likes coconut. I did try your cream cheese icing and it was wonderful. Would you say this icing tastes more like white icing or truly coconut flavor? I truly appreciate your recipes and contacted Barnes and Noble to get your cookbook so I could make the cake on the front cover of your book but the party is Saturday and it will take 3 days to order in. I will be purchasing it anyway. Thanks so much!
Does anyone know approximately how many cups this recipe yields? I'm going to do a 'dry run' later today for my daughter's first birthday (which is on Friday) but thought I'd see if I could get a quick answer before starting! Thanks!
Elana - Thank you so much for this recipe!!! I've never made a 'sugar-free' dessert before so I was REALLY skeptical of how it would taste. I NEVER imagined it would be so yummy!
Just a little note for anyone who makes this recipe... just as Elana says, make sure you let the mixture come to a boil after adding the arrowroot. If you don't, you'll be very unhappy with the gloppy mess that results - it will separate in the freezer and it's impossible to get it to come back together! Also, I found that I could use 12-14 oz. of coconut milk and just 2/3 cup of agave and it was PLENTY sweet! Finally, I got the best results by letting the mixture cool almost completely (at room temp.) before adding the grapeseed oil (which you HAVE to do VERY gradually).
I am SUPER happy with the results!
Thanks again!!
Hi,
Thanks for your recipe. I can't wait to try. Do you think it's possible to substitute coconut milk and coconut oil with soymilk/rice milk with other type of oil, like grapeseed oil? Thanks!
I'm wondering... does it have to be coconut oil and milk?
I'm going to try with almond milk and walnut oil.
Hi,
I want to make this frosting for vanilla and carrot cakes. I was wondering if the frosting is a coconut tasting frosting or does it taste more like white frosting?
Thank you!
I just recently made it and it's quite good. It has a coconuty taste to it no doubt but you could probably counter that by spiking it with extra vanilla and almond extract.
Also don't use as much arrowroot as it will render a frosting that acts like string ribbon!
Thank you! I will try it tonight!
I had the gummy lumpy problem as well when I tried this recipe for the first time last week. When I added the arrowroot, lumps formed in the mixture that remained even though I boiled it as instructed. However, I was able to remove the gummy bits by straining the mixture through a sieve before freezing it, and it turned out wonderful. I ended up frosting my birthday carrot cake with it.
Thanks so much for sharing, Elana! I've been hoping to find a soy-free vegan frosting that's delicious, and now I have. I know I'll be using this recipe over and over again!
[...] Sean’s Food, but you can use the Marshmallow Frosting Recipe in the Almond Flour Cookbook, Elana’s Coconut Cream Frosting, the Vanilla Frosting in Go Dairy Free, this Peanut Butter Fudge Frosting, or whatever creamy [...]
hey! one day i woke up and had a huge hankering for frosting...but i don't eat dairy so i was sad :( then i found your recipe... loved it...so i decided i should make it... turned out interesting but... its like some sort of crack-sauce... amazing... i had my doubts when the coconut oil was separating in the freezer but i just mixed it up and blended it when it came out... it has little chunks of coconut oil in it... again amazing... and it has little gummy things...again amazing... and great overall texture... it works and is super tasty!!!
So now i am :) because i got my frosting
:)
[...] from Sean’s Food, but you can use the Marshmallow Frosting Recipe in the Almond Flour Cookbook, Elana’s Coconut Cream Frosting, the Vanilla Frosting in Go Dairy Free, this Peanut Butter Fudge Frosting, or whatever creamy [...]
I just made this using 1/2 grapeseed oil and 1/2 coconut. I had to freeze it for about an hour, but turned out great. I added about a tbl. of vanilla to disguise the coconut taste as my husband is not a fan-but he gave it the thumbs up with the vanilla addition. Can't wait to frost a carrot cake with it tomorrow!
thanks for a great recipe!
Can any one tell me what I did wrong with this icing? It wouldn't get solid. I used the arrowroot and follow it to the tee I thought. What kind of coconut oil did you use?
Thank you
This frosting won't go completely solid. If you want to do that, I think adding some lecithin would help as it helps to maintain surface tension.