Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting (2 ways!) - Rhian's Recipes (2024)

This Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting is sweet and tangy, luxuriously creamy and super versatile. It's completely homemade but quick and easy to make. Perfect for frosting cakes, cupcakes and cookies! This recipe shows two ways to make it, using either cashews or coconut milk, so you can pick the one that's best for you! Both are gluten-free, refined sugar free and soy-free.

I've made two different types of healthy vegan cream cheese frosting. One alternative to cream cheese frosting is made using blended cashew nuts, and the other is made using coconut whipped cream.

How to make the Cashew Cream Cheese Frosting

Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.

• Place soaked cashew nuts, maple syrup and lemon juice in a food processor.

Tip: Make sure the cashew nuts are soaked to make them easier to blend. Soak them overnight in cold water or in boiling water for at least 15 minutes.

• Whizz until completely smooth, adding some plant-based milk or water to thin out if necessary.

Tip: You will have to mix it around a few times to make it easier to blend up.

• Taste and adjust flavour if necessary, adding more maple syrup and/or lemon juice if you wish.

• The blending process will make the frosting warm, so it's best left to cool before using to frost cakes.
• Make sure the cake has cooled completely before applying this frosting, otherwise it will melt.

How to make the Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

• You'll need to keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight for the rich creamy part to separate from the watery part at the bottom. Make sure it is full-fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won't happen and you won't be able to make this frosting!
• Open the tin upside down - the coconut cream will be at the bottom and you can just pour off the watery liquid (save this for adding to soups or smoothies).
• Place the thick, creamy part into a glass mixing bowl.

• Add the lemon juice and maple syrup.

• Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip up the coconut cream until light and fluffy.

• Taste and adjust flavour if necessary, adding more maple syrup and/or lemon juice if you wish.
• Make sure the cake has cooled completely before applying this frosting, otherwise it will melt.

Substitutions you can make

• You can use any type of sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
• The coconut whipped cream can be replaced with any thick plant-based yogurt. This means you won't have to whip it up, and because yogurt tends to be naturally tangy anyway you can use less lemon juice as it might become too sour otherwise!

Ways you can adapt this recipe

There are different ingredients you can add to this dairy-free cream cheese frosting to colour or flavour it for different types of cake:

• Cocoa powder - make sure to add extra sweetener to balance out the bitterness.
• Matcha powder - make sure to add extra sweetener to balance out the bitterness.
• Beetroot powder - for a pink colour.
• Cocoa butter - for a white chocolate flavour.
• Strawberry, raspberry, cherry or blueberry jam.

Tip: Add any of the above along with all the other ingredients before blending or whipping up the frosting.

Ways to use this Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

• This frosting can be used for frosting layer cakes, loaf cakes, cupcakes or cookies.
• To spread over a cake, cupcake or cookie, use a palette knife for frosting.
• The coconut cream cheese frosting is generally better for layer cakes, working well as a dairy-free carrot cake frosting or vegan red velvet cake frosting.
• It also generally works better for cupcakes, like vegan red velvet cupcakes or vegan lemon blueberry cupcakes, as it's fluffy and creamy.

• The cashew cream cheese frosting is a bit firmer and tends to keep its shape, so is generally better for loaf cakes like this Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake or Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake.
• This means it's also better for spreading over cookies, like these Gluten-Free Vegan Sugar Cookies or these Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Cookies.
• And it's also better for piping.

More vegan dessert recipes

• Strawberry Trifle
• Madeleines
• Chocolate Truffles
• Blueberry Cheesecake
• Chocolate Mousse

If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog,I’d really love to hear anyfeedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes onInstagram! Thank you.

Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.

More Baking & Dessert Recipes