Creamy and tangy, this delicious cream cheese frosting is vegan and so easy to make! It's the perfect topping for carrot cake, brownies and red velvet cakes. It's dairy free, vegan, gluten free, easily made nut-free and completely addictive! You'll want to make more cakes, just to spread it on.
This cream cheese frosting is the perfect topping for my favourite cake of all time, which is the Vegan and Egg free Carrot Cake it's photographed on, as well as being ideal for topping all kinds of other baked goodies. Why not make a batch of Chocolate Banana Brownies and top it with that? Or try out my fabulously green Vegan Cardamom & Spinach Cake and use it to top that?
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🍰Ingredients
Just a few simple ingredients are needed for the perfectly tangy vegan cream cheese. Check the quantities in the recipe card below.
- Vegan Cream Cheese : Vegan cheese has come a long way since I first started baking! I really like using the vegan version of Philadelphia cream cheese. It's available in most UK supermarkets. I have also used the Violife cream cheese successfully, although I don't love the flavour of that quite as much. For US based bakers, I hear good things about Kite Hill cream cheese and before it left the UK I used to use Follow Your Heart cream cheese.
- Powdered Sugar: Also known as icing sugar. Be sure not to accidentally get Royal Icing sugar as that often has egg white in it. Throughout Europe and Australia sugar is always vegan, however in North America please check your source is, as sometimes it is refined using bone char (ewwww)
- Vegan Butter: I like Naturali and Flora plant based butters best for baking and making this frosting. (UK) Nuttelex is super popular in Australia (and used to be my go-to when there) For US bakers, Earth Balance is easily available and works well as does Miyokos.
- Vanilla: Good quality vanilla paste or essence adds a subtle vanilla flavour.
- Lemon Juice: A little lemon juice adds acidity and boosts the tangy cheese flavour that is really the whole point of cream cheese frosting.
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🍳Instructions
You'll need an electric whisk, beaters, a stand mixer or food processor for the best results.
Cream together the butter and sugar. Whip until the sugar dissolves so it is lump free, and the butter becomes fluffy and aerated. Add in the vanilla and lemon juice.
Add the vegan cream cheese and beat again. Be sure to beat in well to avoid lumps and clumps.
If it's looking a little too runny, add more powdered sugar bit by bit.
Hint: I find that this vegan cream cheese frosting is best if made at least an hour before you use it and chilled in the fridge to firm up. You can even make it the night before you need it.
🍋Substitutions and Variations
- Nut Free-Make sure to choose a vegan cream cheese that does not contain nuts.
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting- Add a tablespoon of cocoa powder and omit the lemon juice.
- Orange Cream Cheese Frosting- Substitute the lemon for orange juice. Delicious when frosting an orange scented cake.
- Berry Cream Cheese Frosting- whip raspberries or strawberries through the cream cheese frosting. You might need to add extra icing sugar to help thicken up this frosting.
- Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting: A teaspoon of cinnamon in the frosting with extra sprinkled on top is a delicious alternative. Use to frost cinnamon buns or on carrot cake.
🔪Equipment
Unless you have very strong arms, a handheld whisk will be difficult to use to get this cream cheese frosting really smooth. I suggest electric handheld beaters, a stand mixer with whisk attachments or a food processor with a whisk attachment for the best, fluffiest, cream cheese frosting.
🥫Storage
Store any leftover cream cheese frosting in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze the frosting for up to three months. To use, gently defrost. You might need to whip it again for a fluffy texture and to remove any ice crystals that might have formed while frozen.
❗Top tip
To pipe the frosting you will need a wide nozzle on your piping bag. To hold the piping bag steady while you fill it, pop it in a glass, nozzle side down, then fill and squeeze, being sure to twist the open end so you don't end up with frosting everywhere when you pipe it out.
FAQ
Yes there are many brands now offering a dairy-free alternative to cream cheese. Check your local store for these brands: Violife, Philadelphia Plant Based (UK only), Miyokos (USA), Kite Hill (USA) and plenty of other brands according to your region.
I find that it needs refrigerating if the weather is very warm. It also benefits from being chilled before piping or spreading on cakes as it helps set the frosting.
This might be caused by too much liquid in the cream cheese, or adding too much lemon juice. Add more powdered sugar and put the frosting in the fridge to set up to fix this issue.
Love Baking?
Try some of my other sweet treats.....
- Banana Raspberry Muffins with Choc Chips
- Easy Biscoff Flapjacks (Dairy Free & Vegan)
- Vegan Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate Chips
- Boozy Fruits: Alcohol-Infused Fruit
Where to use:
This Dairy Free and Vegan Cream Cheese frosting is the perfect partner on all these cakes and bakes:
📖 Recipe
Easy Dairy Free Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 400 g (3 ⅓ cups) powdered sugar (icing sugar)
- 300 g (1 ⅓ cups) vegan cream cheese (this happens to be 2 packs of the vegan Philadelphia cream cheese or 10 ⅗ Oz)
- 100 g (½ cups) vegan butter (you can also use coconut oil or vegan shortening. (3 ½ Oz) )
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Cream together the vegan butter and icing sugar, adding the icing sugar (powdered sugar) bit by bit.400 g powdered sugar, 100 g vegan butter
- Keep beating the butter and icing sugar until it is smooth and lump free.
- Whisk in the lemon juice and vanilla2 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Now gently fold in the vegan cream cheese. Keep mixing it until it's combined and smooth.300 g vegan cream cheese
- If the mixture is looking a little runny, add more icing sugar in bit by bit. I also find it helps to put the mixture in the fridge to cool and set for an hour or so.
- Pipe or spread onto fully cooled cakes, muffins or brownies.
Notes
- Nut Free-Make sure to choose a vegan cream cheese that does not contain nuts.
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting- Add a tablespoon of cocoa powder and omit the lemon juice.
- Orange Cream Cheese Frosting- Substitute the lemon for orange juice. Delicious when frosting an orange scented cake.
- Berry Cream Cheese Frosting- whip raspberries or strawberries through the cream cheese frosting. You might need to add extra icing sugar to help thicken up this frosting.
- Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting: A teaspoon of cinnamon in the frosting with extra sprinkled on top is a delicious alternative. Use to frost cinnamon buns or on carrot cake.
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