This Chocolate Vegan Frosting is quick & easy to prepare, calling for just a few simple ingredients. I love how it’s fruit-sweetened for a healthy frosting option, and that it’s naturally dairy-free and oil-free, too.
Vegan Frosting Ingredients
You’ll need just a few simple ingredients to make this easy frosting recipe.
- Medjool dates (or any soft, squishy variety)
- Coconut cream (from a can of coconut milk)
- Cacao powder
- Vanilla extract (optional)
- Salt (optional)
This idea came to me after trying to make a date-sweetened frosting several different ways. In all of my test runs, the frosting ended up tasting too much like dates, and not quite “creamy” enough.
In a move of desperation, I decided to simply blend dates and cacao powder with a full can of coconut milk to see what might happen… and the taste was amazing!
Using a full can of coconut milk creates more of a chocolate pudding that never sets, so using only the solid “coconut cream” that you’ll find in a can of coconut milk is key to making this recipe work. (You can save the liquid for a smoothie recipe later!)
Several stores now sell cans of coconut cream, so you can try using that, if you prefer. In this case, you’ll still use only the solid cream, not the whole can. (I noticed that in the two cans pictured above, the amount of solid cream inside the can was exactly the same, so the can of coconut cream wasn’t a better value.)
How to Separate the Coconut Cream
If you’ve ever worked with coconut oil, you may be familiar with the fact that it is solid in temperatures below 76ºF. This same fat is why many cans of full-fat coconut milk are solid, in part, when you open them. You’ll only want to use the solid part in this recipe!
My air-conditioned kitchen makes the cream in my cans of coconut milk solid at room temperature when stored in my pantry. If your pantry runs warm, be sure to place the can of coconut milk in the fridge the night before you want to make this, so the cream will be solid. The cream is softer if you can open the can at room temperature, and I think that makes it easier to work with and measure, but be sure to chill it if you think it won’t be solid otherwise. You can usually shake the can to hear if it sounds solid inside.
You might want to buy 2 cans of coconut milk for this recipe, in case one can doesn’t have enough solid cream inside.
How to Make Chocolate Vegan Frosting
To make this healthy frosting recipe, you’ll combine the ingredients in a food processor or blender, and then blend them together until very smooth. It’s the easiest to do this if you melt the coconut cream so that it’s liquid first.
I melt the coconut cream by placing the solid cream in a heat-safe bowl, then making a double-boiler out of a saucepan filled with one inch of water.
Arrange the bowl of coconut cream over the sauce pan (the bowl needs to be larger than the top of the pot so that it will sit on top), bring the water to a boil, then stir until the coconut cream is liquid. (You can probably also do this in a microwave, but we don’t use one.)
Once the cream is melted, add it to the blender along with the dates, cacao powder, vanilla, and salt. Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the blender to make sure there are no chunks of dates left.
You can also add 2 to 3 tablespoons of liquid to help it blend, if you needed. I use 1 to 2 tablespoons of the remaining liquid from the can of coconut milk, but any type of milk or just water will work. For a sweeter result, you can use maple syrup as the liquid, if you prefer.
This takes about 5 minutes in a food processor, or about 60 to 90 seconds in a high-powered blender with the use of a tamper. Either way, be sure to scrape down the sides to make sure everything is evenly incorporated.
What Does It Taste Like?
This frosting definitely has a chocolate-coconut flavor, and it’s not quite as sweet as a traditional frosting, but it almost is. You can increase the amount of cacao powder you use to give it a richer, darker chocolate flavor if you’d like to, which can help to hide the coconut flavor even more.
What’s nice about this recipe is that you can taste as you go! If you want it sweeter, you can add up to 2 or 3 tablespoons of maple syrup as the liquid part of this recipe, without affecting the final texture.
Coconut Cream Substitutions
If you don’t have coconut cream on hand, I’d recommend that you try making a frosting using a base of sweet potatoes instead! My Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting is a fan favorite, and you can easily swap out the flavorings to make a chocolate version.
Chocolate Vegan Frosting (No Powdered Sugar!)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Medjool dates , pitted (8 ounces; 227 grams)
- 1 cup coconut cream (the solid part in a chilled can of full-fat coconut milk)
- 1/4 cup cacao powder , or more to taste (24 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
- pinch of salt
- 1 to 3 tablespoons water , if needed for blending (you can use the liquid leftover from the coconut milk can)
Instructions
- First, melt the coconut cream so that it's liquid. (You want the cream chilled solid first so that you can separate it from the liquid in a can of coconut milk, but then you want to melt it so that it's liquid in the blender.) I melt the coconut cream using a double boiler, but you can most likely use a microwave to do this, if you prefer.
- Add in the melted coconut cream, dates, cacao powder, vanilla, and salt to a high-speed blender or food processor and blend until silky smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides of the machine to keep everything moving, or use a tamper for the blender if you have one.
- Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water, if needed to help thin out the frosting and ensure that the dates are completely broken down. I use some of the remaining liquid from the can of coconut milk, but water will work, too. For a sweeter frosting, you can use maple syrup as the liquid, instead. Be sure to taste as you go and adjust the flavor to your liking.
- Transfer the blended frosting to an airtight storage container and let it set in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight. It will thicken as it chills, and then you can use it to frost your favorite cake or cupcakes.
- This frosting can be stored in the fridge for up to a week, or you can freeze it for up to 3 months. (It turns into a thick ice cream when you freeze it!)
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is for roughly 2 tablespoons of frosting. This information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is just an estimate, not a guarantee.
If you try this recipe, please leave a comment below letting me know how you like it. And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too! We can all benefit from your experience.
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Reader Feedback: Do you have a favorite frosting recipe? Feel free to share links in the comments below!
Can you get one cup of coconut cream from just one can or does it take multiple cans?
I got it out of 1 can the three different times I made this recipe, and even if it’s just barely under a cup it will still work!
I made this frosting yesterday and it was TO DIE FOR. So so so good. I highly recommend it. It wasn’t super heavy which I loved and I spread it on a coconut cake, which was delicious:) Thanks you!
Yay!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for letting me know!
Hey Megan, do you mind sharing the brand of pots, pans and bakeware that you use? I’m remodeling my kitchen and starting from scratch and am confused whether to buy Lecreuset cast iron or stainless steel (I think 18/10?). I will be cooking primarily from your cookbooks and website. Thanks…
do you have any suggestions of substitutions for the coconut cream? with quarantine, we have limited supplies here. The only coconut product we have is the oil.
What else could you use instead of coconut cream for backup
Can I use a food processor instead of a blender so that it is easier to take out and makes clean up easier?
You can definitely try that! My food processor can’t break down the dates quite as smoothly, but I think it will still taste great that way.
Made this for a girlfriend’s birthday and we both suffer from LPR, so I swapped the cocoa with carob powder and it was still epicly good. Thanks for doing this exploration for us refluxers so we can still have a luscious dessert!
Amazing frosting! For the almond flour cake that you posted I doubled the recipe for frosting.
Thank you for this recipe Megan! I used my kitchen aid food processor and it turned out perfect!
Fantastic!!! I didn’t even melt the coconut cream, jut put it in a food processor. This tastes so good, was nice and smooth and will definitely be my go-to icing.
Mind blown!
I was hoping to make a buttercream type frosting without sugar but didn’t think it would be possible. But thanks to you – I did it! The appearance, texture, and mouthfeel are so spot on. And it’s healthy!
I found it helpful to soak my dates in hot water before adding to the recipe.
Thank you.
My coconut milk didn’t solidify, is there something I can use instead?
I can’t rate this recipe yet because I’m in the process of attempting to make it
AMAZING! My new go to frosting recipe. Thank you!
This frosting is amazing! My 9 yr old said it was better than “regular” frosting. Creamy texture and great flavor. This was my first time using dates but it won’t be the last. Thank you!
Could I leave out the dates? Or would that mess up the texture of the frosting?
Came out great!
Wow! This frosting is amazing! Thank you so much for all your experimentation to come up with such a delicious recipe that doesn’t use powdered sugar. Now I can have my cake and eat it too. I really appreciate you!
Hello! I’m on an anti-candida diet, so dates are not allowable for me. Do you know if a granular stevia sweetener would be an appropriate substitute? Thanks!
I’m not sure how that would work out, so you might want to try my 2-ingredient vegan ganache, using a stevia-sweetened bar, or use an unsweetened chocolate bar and add stevia to taste?
Thank you!!
Loved the icing, didn’t feel guilty eating it on top of the cupcakes
This was absolutely delicious! I made it for my mother-in-law, who can’t have sugar or some of the other ingredients in typical frosting, but we all thought it tasted great! I used it on your chocolate almond flour cupcakes, which were also fantastic. Thanks for sharing your recipes!
I loved this so much when I made it for cupcakes, I decided to make it again with your ice cream idea in mind. I used a small cookie scoop (2 teaspoons, I think) and scooped the frosting onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet. I then sprinkled a little sea salt on all of them and froze them overnight before putting them into a container in the freezer. I have been having one a night after dinner and they make such a decadent little treat!
Best frosting recipe EVER! We use this one at all the birthday celebrations in our family because everyone who tries it is absolutely in love with it! Thank you for this recipe!!
This frosting is excellent! I had to scrape down the sides of the blender several times and used the 3 tablespoons of water, but it worked out beautifully. I did not refrigerate the frosting before using it, as I wanted it to be easily spreadable. I will definitely be making this frosting again.
Hi, I’m curious to know if I could use Coconut Manna? they call it coconut butter, so it’s somewhere between the coco cream and ground coconut? thanks for any help you can give!!
Ooh, I haven’t tried that yet! My guess is that it will make the frosting more grainy in texture, so it won’t be silky smooth. But, maybe it’s worth experimenting with? Let me know if you try.
What about using deglet noor dates. It’s all I have