Special Diet Notes: Cream Cheese Vegan Frosting
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, grain-free, optionally nut-free, peanut-free, vegan, plant-based, and vegetarian.
Cream Cheese Vegan Frosting
Prep time
Total time
Thanks to the wonderful invention of dairy-free cream cheese, this old favorite is possible. While many vegan hard "cheeses" fail the palatable test, soft "cheeses" fair much better. Brands such as Tofutti and Sheese (there are a few others I believe) "cream cheese" are remarkably similar to the "real thing." So grab a tub and enjoy this dessert topper. Thanks to the Vegan Chef for this great recipe!
Author: Vegan Chef
Serves: 2½ cups
Ingredients
- 8 ounces vegan “cream cheese,” softened
- ⅓ cup dairy-free margarine
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
- ½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
Instructions
- Using an electric mixer or in a large bowl with a hand held mixer, place the “cream cheese” and margarine, and cream them together.
- Add the sugar, vanilla, and almond extract, and continue to beat the mixture until light and fluffy.
7 Comments
Hi! Getting ready to make the carrot cake for Easter, but having trouble finding the dairy free marjarine for the frosting. Any suggestions? Do you have to order online?
Hi Karen, there are several brands on the market these days. Look for Earth Balance, Smart Balance, Melt, or certain varieties of Fleischmann’s. I’ve never bought it online – most of the stores in my local area (including conventional grocers) carry at least one brand.
I baked Alisa’s dairy-free Carrot Cake & Cream Cheesy Vegan Frosting – at local health food store, I had bought 2 types of dairy free cream cheese for frosting – I first used the 1 with higher calories (thinking fat content would make frosting “fluffier”)….it did not, even w/ Alisa’s suggestions to use less powdered sugar. Next day, with final layer to frost (recipe yielded 3 – 8″ rounds) – I made frosting with the ‘Daiya” brand dairy-free cream cheese & it came out much fluffier with less calories. Bingo.
Glad it worked out for you Ruth and I appreciate your thoughtful comments!
Just made this recipe. It was excellent! My husband loves it, too. I am going to freeze a few pieces against my husbands wishes. He feels we will eat the whole thing :./ hahahaha Thank you!
I made this icing today and I could not get it to set-up. I mixed it for close to 10 minutes and it did not get “fluffy.” I then refrigerated it and decided to wait some time and see if mixing it again would bring some “fluff” and it did not happen. It still tastes good, just did not turn out a good consistency for me.
Hi Lauren, I’m so sorry this recipe didn’t work for you. The results can vary depending on the brand of cream cheese alternative that you use. Also, the more powdered sugar added, the more it will thin (this is with the cream cheese alternative specifically). The recipe above was shared by Chef Beverly, however, I do make cream cheese frosting different myself to get thicker results. For the carrot cupcakes that I made for Allergic Living magazine, I use just 1/4 cup of margarine and 1 to 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar. I can’t publish the full recipe here yet, I have to wait one full year. However, those are the ratios that I use. It produces more of a “cream cheesy” result that contrasts nicely with sweet cupcakes. Once I can reprint that, I will redirect this recipe to that one.