Endlessly versatile and totally foolproof vegan buttercream frosting, vanilla flavour. Ideal for frosting cupcakes, layer cakes and all sorts of other dreamy desserts.

I spend most of my cake baking times googling "vegan buttercream frosting" and bouncing around from one recipe to another. But recipes vary so dramatically in end results that I finally decided "hey, I'm a recipe developer! Why don't I just write a vegan buttercream frosting recipe!?" - and that's exactly what I did!

It's super easy to make and perfect for all sorts of desserts, so I'm hoping you'll bookmark this recipe for use whenever you've got a nice lil cakey in the oven! We're talking about literally only three ingredients and I guarantee it'll work every time!

How do I make vegan buttercream frosting!?

As always, the FULL RECIPE is at the bottom of the page - scroll on down if you're in a hurry. If not, allow me to walk you through a little step by step!

1. Soften your vegan butter !

Probably the most important step for this vegan buttercream frosting begins before you even start cooking - TAKE THE BUTTER OUT OF THE FRIDGE! That's right - you NEED the vegan butter to be room temperature before you start working with it. If you've ever made vegan buttercream and it's split or gone grainy, this is most likely the reason why. Get it nice and soft, then whack your vegan butter in the stand mixer and beat like crazy until smooth.

Any vegan butter will do but I like to stick to softer options like Stork or Naturli for this recipe. 

2. Add your icing sugar, bit by bit!

It's essential to sieve your icing sugar (aka confectioners sugar) before adding to the softened butter, so do this first. Then you're going to add little by little to the vegan buttercream frosting, beating between additions. This again stops the buttercream from splitting or becoming grainy. 

3. Add your vanilla!

If you can access decent vanilla bean paste, this is my top pick for this recipe. You'll get those gorgeous little flecks of vanilla seeds in the buttercream this way. Otherwise, a decent vanilla extract is also great! Just beat the vanilla through and hey presto! You have your buttercream!

You're now set for applying your vegan buttercream frosting to anything, in any way you like, such as my vegan Victoria sponge cake! You can also use this recipe for my vegan jam filled cupcakes! If you're more of a chocolate fan, you can find my chocolate version of this buttercream here! And finally you can find my vegan cream cheese frosting here! I like to pipe my buttercream which means transferring to an icing bag. The buttercream pipes best at room temperature but stores best in the fridge, so keep this in mind. 

I really hope you love this vegan buttercream frosting recipe as much as I do. Hey, guess what, if you DO love this recipe, you can leave me a five star review below (just under the photo in my recipe). You can also leave a comment, which will really help me improve this recipe!

Also, if you make my vegan buttercream recipe, be sure to tag me on instagram so I can see what you've made. THANK YOU LOVE YOU!

Vegan Buttercream Frosting, Vanilla

Richard Makin

Endlessly versatile and totally foolproof vegan buttercream frosting. Ideal for cupcakes, layer cakes and all sorts of other dreamy desserts.

5 from 23 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine English

Servings 1 portion

Calories 2062 kcal

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 150 g vegan butter (at room temperature)
• ▢ 300 g icing sugar (sieved)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste ( or vanilla extract)

Instructions

 

• Place the vegan butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed for at least 3 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides.
  150 g vegan butter
• Reduce the mixer speed to low and, working with a few tablespoons at a time, add the icing sugar, allowing the previous addition to become fully beaten before moving onto the next.
  300 g icing sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• Once all the sugar is added, add the vanilla bean paste and increase the mixer to medium/high speed and beat the buttercream for a further 30 seconds or until nice and fluffy.
• If you're using a piping bag to apply the buttercream to a cake, store the buttercream at room temperature until ready to use. If not, cover and keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours. The buttercream will firm up while refrigerated but should remain light and fluffy.

Notes

- Make sure your vegan butter is at room temperature. The best vegan butter for this recipe is the kind which comes in a block. If you can't find that one, use a vegan margarine instead. I like to take my vegan butter out of the fridge at least an hour before making this recipe. If not, the butter tends to split and curdle on contact with the icing sugar.

- Many icing sugars (or confectioners sugar in the US) are vegan but some arent. They occasionally use bone char as an anti-caking agent in certain brands. It's important to check the brand you use online before purchase.

- Not all vanilla flavourings are created equal. Use real vanilla seeds or vanilla bean paste if you can. If you can't get hold of these (as they're crazy expensive) use vanilla extract instead. Vanilla essence is a no-go. This is truly an imposter product! It's completely synthetic and contains no actual vanilla. Remember, vanilla is the only flavour we're adding to this recipe so it's important to use a good one if you possibly can.

- Don't try to use refrigerated vegan buttercream frosting in a piping bag. It'll be too firm and may cause the bag to rip.

Nutrition

Calories: 2062kcalCarbohydrates: 303gProtein: 0.2gFat: 97gSaturated Fat: 25gPolyunsaturated Fat: 27gMonounsaturated Fat: 39gTrans Fat: 1gSodium: 975mgPotassium: 48mgSugar: 296gVitamin A: 5729IUCalcium: 3mgIron: 0.2mg

Keyword Vegan vanilla buttercream

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WANT MORE VEGAN DESSERT!?

Why not try:

Chocolate Lava Cakes

Chocolate Chip Sheet Cake

Coconut and Lemon Cake