4 Ingredient Easy Vegan Chocolate Frosting Recipe
This is the BEST vegan chocolate buttercream frosting ever!! Even traditional dairy lovers love this vegan chocolate frosting! Just 4 ingredients, ultra rich and lush, super quick and easy to make, and perfect for cakes, brownies, cookies, cupcakes, and more!
The BEST Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Ever
If you’re looking for a dairy free vegan chocolate frosting that everyone in your family will love, vegan or not, then you’ve come to the right place.
Adding to our collection of vegan frosting recipes (we already have vegan vanilla buttercream, vegan peanut butter frosting, and vegan cream cheese frosting!) is this amazing chocolate frosting.
This is THE vegan chocolate buttercream frosting to make. In fact, my entire family requests this frosting specifically for every cake we have at a gathering or family birthday. And they’re not used to dairy free baking, so you can imagine my excitement over the fact that they wanted a VEGAN frosting by choice!
This vegan chocolate frosting is so silky smooth, lush, and decadently rich. It’s made with rich cocoa powder and can be entirely refined sugar free using just powdered coconut sugar!
Use it on vegan cakes, cookies, brownies, cheesecakes and more- it goes great on my gluten free vegan chocolate chip cookie cake recipe in my vegan cookbook!
You’ll just love how easy it is to make your own homemade chocolate frosting. No more store bought!
Ingredients & Substitutions:
To make a homemade chocolate buttercream, you’ll need a few key ingredients (actually just 4 at the max!):
- Vegan butter: I recommend Miyoko’s or for nut-free, you can use Earth Balance STICKS not tub
- Cocoa powder: you can use cacao powder if desired.
- Powdered sugar: for refined sugar free, swap in powdered coconut sugar! You can swap in an equal amount of coconut sugar. If you need a sugar free version, feel free to swap in the powdered variety of your favorite no sugar sweetener.
- Creamy dairy free milk: I recommend soy milk or oat milk here.
Overview: How to make a super smooth and creamy vegan chocolate frosting
The full written instructions, including gram measurements and cup measurements, are found down below in the recipe card. However, let’s go over the basics here!
We’re using a 1:2 ratio of vegan butter to sugar/cocoa powder. This is the classic formula for an American buttercream, the easiest of the buttercream recipes! Only this one is entirely vegan and dairy free 😉
But similarly to a classic buttercream, you’ll simply cream the vegan butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Then sift in the powdered ingredients in increments. Use the dairy free milk to help you achieve a super soft and lush texture, then use for your main recipe!
This vegan chocolate frosting is perfect for cakes, cupcakes, as a cookie sandwich filling, brownies, and so much more!
More vegan buttercream tips & tricks
- Read this awesome article for what room temperature butter actually means. Many are confused with this- it actually doesn’t mean that your butter comes to 72F! Like classic butter in baking, vegan butter at room temperature should still feel cold to the touch, but you’ll be able to easily indent it.
- SIFT the cocoa powder and powdered sugar before beginning. No one likes a clumpy frosting, and trust me, it’s much easier to smooth the frosting onto a cake with a bench scraper without any bumps! Use a mesh pasta strainer or sifter to make sure that there are no clumps of powdered sugar or cacao powder before beginning.
- Use cacao powder for a richer chocolate buttercream. I adore a deep dark chocolate taste. Plus, cacao powder offers many wonderful benefits. However, all natural coconut powder with have a deeper chocolate color to it.
- For cake decorating: pair this vegan chocolate frosting with my vegan chocolate ganache for a double chocolate drip cake!
- If your vegan chocolate frosting is too thick: Add in a tablespoon or two more of dairy free milk to help with the consistency.
I hope you absolutely love this vegan chocolate buttercream frosting as much as I do! If you try it, definitely leave a comment down below as well as a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others can hear how it turned out for you!
As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations, so be sure to tag me on Instagram and Pinterest!
Happy frosting making!
More vegan frostings you’ll love:
Best Vegan Coconut Whipped Cream
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
Print4 Ingredient Easy Vegan Chocolate Frosting Recipe
- Prep Time: 5
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 7 Cups 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: no bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This is the BEST vegan chocolate buttercream frosting ever!! Even traditional dairy lovers love this vegan chocolate frosting! Just 4 ingredients, ultra rich and lush, super quick and easy to make, and perfect for cakes, brownies, cookies, cupcakes, and more!
Ingredients
- 2 cups (460 g) vegan butter, room temperature*
- 1 cup (100 grams) SIFTED cocoa powder
- 3 cups (600 grams) SIFTED powdered sugar*
- 1/4–1/3 cup creamy dairy free milk (such as soy milk or oat milk)
Instructions
- In a stand mixer with whisk attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream the vegan butter until fluffy and light, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the cocoa powder and 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Continue creaming the mixture, adding in the remaining powdered sugar in 1 cup intervals until smooth. Add in 1-2 tbsp dairy free milk at a time to help achieve a creamy texture.
- Use immediately on cakes, cupcakes, and desserts.
Notes
Vegan butter: For nut free, and an all around great vegan butter, I recommend Flora Plant Butter. For Paleo vegan, I recommend Miyoko’s Creamery. Other brands that work well for this are Earth Balance baking sticks and Forager Project oat butter.
Refined sugar free: you can swap in coconut sugar for the powdered sugar, and have an entirely refined sugar free vegan chocolate frosting!
I made this frosting with the yellow cake recipe for my sister’s birthday last night. She was recently diagnosed with the tick borne illness Alpha-GAL and she can’t eat any products that come from mammals. It’s been a tough transition and she’s missed desserts the most. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is her favorite, and she was SO happy when she cut into the cake! It was really delicious. I didn’t think it lacked anything that the yellow box cake has, and it was simple to make! Thank you so much.
We camped for her birthday, and she also really wanted s’mores. I found vegan marshmallows but I didn’t manage any melting chocolate, so we used the extra frosting and it was so delicious, too! I’m so glad she didn’t have to feel like she was giving up her favorite foods on her birthday 🙂
I’m so beyond grateful to hear that you and your sister loved this recipe!! My fiance has struggled with Lyme disease in the past, which is why we do a lot of gluten free, so my heart goes out to you and your sister with that- I know it’s frustrating at first to figure everything out! But I’m just so happy to hear the cake and the frosting went well 🙂 Enjoy and thank you again! Happy belated birthday to your sister!
I made this cake recipe with the chocolate frosting for two birthdays this week. I’m not a regular baker but the instructions were easy and both cakes turned out beautifully. Thank you so much!
Rachael
This is awesome!! So happy to hear it 🙂 Enjoy, and thanks for the review!
I made this using coconut oil instead of vegan butter. It came out good, probably would have been even better if I used coconut cream but I’m too cheap.
I added a splash of vanilla and it was perfect, chocolatey and rich, yet light and easy to use.
Sounds just delicious 🙂 Thank you for the review!!