Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

A sweet and tangy vegan cream cheese frosting that comes together quickly. It’s perfect for frosting cupcakes, carrot cake, and red velvet cake too! All you need are a few simple ingredients to achieve a fluffy frosting that you can pipe.

Growing up carrot cake was my all-time favorite cake! It was the sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting paired with the warm spiced carrot cake that did it for me every time! At our wedding, I requested a carrot cake at our coffee station so that we could nibble on the cake all night long!

When I became vegan, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to enjoy this special dessert treat again! Vegan cream cheeses don’t have the same taste and texture as regular ones, so making a vegan version can be a challenge.

It’s also essential that you use powdered sugar for your frosting. As you may or may not know, not all powdered sugars are actually vegan! So, this makes it doubly difficult!

Not only that, but if not done right, your vegan cream cheese frosting recipe can turn out too thin and runny which can cause it to run right off your cake, or even make the cake layers slide about!

After some experimenting, and testing with different ingredients and methods, I’ve found the absolute best way to make a light, fluffy, and stable vegan cream cheese frosting that has all the sweet tanginess you love!

💗 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Only a few simple ingredients
• Nice Balance of Sweetness
• Tangy
• Thick and creamy
• Firm and stable enough to pipe

🥣 Ingredients and Notes

The ingredients you choose to work with are key to making a light and fluffy frosting that will whip up firm and stable enough so that your cakes don’t slip!

Vegan Butter: Use room temperature vegan butter. I recommend Earth Balance or Miyokos. Earth Balance has baking sticks that work well. Remove them from the refrigerator, and give them time to come to room temperature. It’s important that they are not too cold that they won’t whip, but also not too soft, that they melt.

Vegan Cream Cheese: There are many different kinds of vegan cream cheese on the market. They’re not all created equal! My favorite is Violife Spreadable Cream Cheese, Kite Hill, or Miyoko. It has the closest taste and texture to regular cream cheese that I’ve found. Be sure to drain any extra water before adding it to your mixing bowl.

Vanilla Extract: This gives a hint of vanilla that compliments the cream cheese and sugar.

Vegan Powdered Sugar: If you live in the United States, you may not know that the powdered sugar you buy at the grocery store, may not actually be vegan! I know, I was shocked too! Refined cane sugars are often filtered through bone char. However, if you buy sugar that uses the words organic, natural, unrefined, or raw, then the sugar is vegan. I use Wholesome sugars, as they are organic, certified vegan, non-GMO, and gluten-free.

📋How to Make Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting – Step by Step

Step 1: Add room temperature butter to your mixing bowl. Beat until creamy, about 30 seconds.

Step 2: Drain any excess water from the cream cheese, then add to the bowl, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Beat for 30 seconds to a minute but no longer! Beating for too long can cause a runny texture.

Step 3: Run a spatula along the sides of the bowl. Then add 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time beating on low speed until it becomes thick. At the very end add the salt. You may need to add a bit more or less powdered sugar depending on the consistency. When all the sugar is added, turn the mixer to medium-high and beat until fluffy and stiff. Be careful not to overbeat the frosting. As soon as you notice it thicken and fluff, turn off the mixer. It can quickly become runny!

Step 4: Use the frosting immediately. If the frosting is not thick enough for you, place it in the fridge for 15 minutes. Remove it, stir, and test the thickness. If it’s still not quite as thick as you’d like, put it in the refrigerator for another 15 minutes, and stir again! It should be nice and thick at this point! Or repeat, until desired consistency is reached.

💭 Expert Tips

• Use the best ingredients! It’s important to use quality room temperature vegan butter. The cream cheese can be cold, but you must drain any water that has accumulated. Vegan cream cheese can have a bit more moisture.
• Add more or less powdered sugar to reach desired consistency. It shouldn’t be off too much by the 4 ½ cups, but you may need a little more or a little less.
• Don’t overbeat your frosting. This is how you end up with runny frosting that is difficult to pipe, or causes your cake to slip!

❓ Recipe FAQS

❄️ How to Store Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

It’s best to keep this vegan frosting recipe refrigerated since it uses cream cheese as the main ingredient. It’s fine to keep a cake out at room temperature for a few hours, but longer than that, it should be placed in the refrigerator.

👩🏻‍🍳 What do you put vegan cream cheese frosting on?

• Carrot Banana Muffins or Vegan Carrot Cake
• Vegan Red Velvet Cake
• Vegan Banana Bread
• Pumpkin Bread
• Brownies
• Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

😋 More Vegan Cake and Frosting Recipes!