Vegan Chocolate Frosting (6 Ingredients)
This Vegan Chocolate Frosting is THE best — velvety, decadent, and so creamy! It’s only 6 ingredients, very easy and fool-proof to make, and great for all your cakes, cupcakes. Perfect for piping too!
Everything tastes better covered in Vegan Chocolate Frosting! Sometimes I’m in the mood for a simple vegan cream cheese frosting, but nothing beats creamy, fluffy chocolate buttercream with totally dairy-free ingredients but all the powdered sugar sweetness!
I’ve been using this chocolate frosting recipe for over 10 years in my chocolate cake recipe. The only difference is that I’ve veganised it. It’s still as velvety, smooth, sweet and chocolate-y as ever. P.S. try not to eat the whole thing before it reaches your end product okay?!
Notes on the Ingredients
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: I recommend using a high-quality unsweetened cocoa powder. This is where all the chocolate flavour comes from!
- Unsalted Vegan Butter: it’s also okay if you use salted vegan butter, just skip the salt below!
- Vanilla Extract: This simple extract adds excellent flavour! You could also use a different flavouring if you want to add an almond extract, orange extract, or even a chocolate extract.
- Sea Salt – if using kosher or table salt, use less so it’s not oversalted
- Powdered Sugar: you can also use confectioner’s sugar (it’s the same thing). You can also make your own by just blending any sugar in your blender before adding it to the frosting!
- Vegan Milk: your choice! Almond, oat, soy — you’ll only need a little to get the perfect consistency.
How to Make Vegan Chocolate Frosting (Step by Step Instructions)
First, add the cocoa powder, vegan butter, most of the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, sea salt and half the vegan milk to the bowl of an electric stand mixer or a hand mixer. Start mixing at slow speed, gradually increasing speed until it’s very thick and smooth.
Add the rest of the powdered sugar a bit at a time until it reaches your desired thickness and consistency. If needed, add in the other half of the milk about 1 tablespoon at a time.
Expert Tips and FAQs
Looking for some tips on how to make the best vegan frosting? I’ve got you covered:
- Sift Your Powdered Sugar: Be sure to sift your powdered sugar before making your vegan frosting! This makes such a tremendous difference to the creamy consistency of the frosting.
- Soften First: Make sure your vegan butter is soft enough to spread but not runny. This is the base for the vegan chocolate frosting texture.
- Keep Whipping: For the fluffiest frosting, you want to whip the air into the mixture. I prefer using a stand mixer because this can take about 5 minutes!
- To Avoid Thick Frosting: You don’t want the frosting to be runny, but you also want it to spread easily across the top of the cake. If your frosting turns out to be too thick, try adding a splash of milk to it.
How to Store Leftover Frosting
With its stable, plant-based ingredients, you can store this at room temperature for up to 3 days! If you want to store it longer than that, keep it in the fridge for a couple weeks or the freezer for up to 3 months.
Can you Freeze Chocolate Frosting?
Absolutely! Let it thaw overnight in the fridge before you plan to use it for the smoothest ready-to-use vegan frosting.
Related Vegan Dessert Recipes
- Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe
- Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
- Fudgy Vegan Brownies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cups
- Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake
Enjoy friends! If you make this Vegan Chocolate Frosting, please snap a photo and tag #jessicainthekitchen on Instagram! We’d also love if you would leave a comment below, and give the recipe a rating! Thanks so much!
Vegan Chocolate Frosting (6 Ingredients)
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup unsalted vegan butter, (softened) or if using salted, don't use the sea salt below
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of sea salt
- 2 ½ to 3 cups powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup vegan milk, plus 1 tablespoon extra if needed for consistency
Equipment
- Stand mixer
Instructions
- Add the cocoa powder, vegan butter, 2 ½ cups of the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, sea salt and half the vegan milk to the bowl of an electric stand mixer or a hand mixer.
- Start mixing it together at slow speed, gradually increasing speed until it’s very thick and smooth.
- Add the ½ cup of the extra powdered sugar at a time until it reaches your desired thickness and consistency. If needed, add in the other half of the milk about 1 tablespoon at a time.
Notes
Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
Yummy chocolate frosting, Jessica! I used a little less butter (miyokos) than called for, and it was still great. Spread it on a yellow cake. Thanks for another great recipe!
Do you mind saying where you bought those cute stars you decorated your cake with? They’re so pretty and classy. 🙂
HI Kelly, thanks so much for reading and leaving such a nice comment. I don’t remember the exact brand but we buy our vegan sprinkles on amazon. I hope this helps.
This frosting is amazing! It’s the new favorite at our house even among the non-vegans! So creamy and rich.
Thanks so much Susan! We’re so happy that you like it!
Does Becel margarine count as vegan “butter”?
Hi Monika not particularly acquainted with that brand but it should be able to be used. I hope that helps.
This chocolate frosting came out so amazing! I used to use a favorite family recipe that people went crazy over because it was so good but I couldn’t find it and wanted a vegan one anyway. I am so impressed with this recipe that I plan to stick with it for the rest of my life. If I knew it was going to be this good, I would’ve made twice as much so I could eat it freely and still have enough left over for my husband’s birthday cake.
Awesome! We’re so happy that you enjoyed it so much Laura-Jeanne.
This is so good! I used just 2 cups of powdered sugar and it was perfectly mildly sweet. Used some vanilla and some hazelnut flavoring and a few pinches of fine sea salt.
I got it to a great consistency and it was easy to make it look like tree bark for my Bûche de noël with my offset spatula!
Thank you!
Awesome we’re so happy you like it!
Love your frosting recipes but you did not list the quantity of butter. I’m assuming one stick?
Hi Brenda Thanks so much! Yes it’s half a cup or 1 stick. I hope this helps!
Would coconut butter be considered vegan butter? Technically yes but are you referring to some other type of product? What type of butters are acceptable here?
Hi Hanya! Technically yes, but we were referring to store bought vegan butters or home made ones using soy milk like the one on our website. I hope this helps.