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.
100g(⅔cup)raw cashew nuts (soaked in cold water overnight or in hot water for 15 minutes)
6tablespoonsmaple syrup(or sub any other sweetener)
3tablespoonslemon juice
For the coconut cream cheese frosting:
400g(14oz)tin of full-fat coconut milk *
2tablespoonslemon juice
2tablespoonsmaple syrup(or sub any other sweetener)
Instructions
For the cashew cream cheese frosting:
Drain the soaked cashews and add to a food processor with the maple syrup and lemon juice.
Whizz until completely smooth, adding some plant-based milk or water to thin out if necessary – 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.
Keeps covered in the fridge for a few days.
For the coconut cream cheese frosting:
You'll need to keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit 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 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.
Keeps covered in the fridge for up to a day - any longer than that and it will start to get clumpy.
Notes
*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!
The cashew cream cheese frosting keeps covered on its own in a bowl in the fridge for up to a few days so can be made ahead of time.
However, the coconut cream cheese frosting doesn't keep as well on its own - it can be kept covered in a bowl in the fridge for up to a day, but gets hard and clumpy any longer than that. So I'd recommend making this one fresh when you need to use it.