Healthier Dairy-Free Buttercream

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As I write this blog post, I think back to the beginning of my dairy-free journey and laugh at myself when I thought "great. I can't even eat frosting on a cake now," and while some may very well know that all you need is a stick of vegan butter and powdered sugar, I did not know that. And maybe, quite possibly, you did not either. But don't stop reading and hop in the kitchen just yet. This healthier dairy-free buttercream of mine does NOT use powdered sugar, because, as you may know, I really try to avoid the refined sugar.

What Makes This Dairy-Free Buttercream Healthier?

While most vegan butter you use isn't the absolute healthiest for you, we're gonna need just a couple sticks of it. But the real game changer in this butter cream is that it is refined sugar free! This part is really gonna blow your mind.

I learned a while back how to make your own powdered sugar. It's simply just tapioca starch/tapioca flour (they're the same thing), which is basically just like corn starch, (they have the same texture and are used interchangeably in recipes) and ground up cane sugar! So the powder comes from tapioca starch! So you're going to need some of that if you want to leave out the refined sugar.

Sooo.. Where does the sweetness come in??

Honey!

Honey is a bit high in sugar and carbs, but it contains some antioxidants in it and is a bit lower on the glycemic index compared to cane sugar. Cane sugar has zero nutritional content, so honey is going to clearly take the win. As like everything else, moderation is key. But I'm not gonna lie. It's gonna be pretty hard. This buttercream tastes like there's somehow cream cheese in it. I don't know why but even my non dairy-free friend raised the question of cream cheese when trying it.

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Ingredients You'll Need

Vegan butter- one that you like the taste of!

Tapioca starch/flour- While I don't use corn starch, it will work perfectly fine for this recipe. However, you are going to need two cups of it

Honey

Vanilla extract

Vanilla bean paste is optional, but it gives it a really nice vanilla flavor and it looks pretty! That's enough reason, right?!

Here's the link for the vanilla beans I use

How To Make Dairy-Free Buttercream?

First, you want your vegan butter to be softened just enough where it can be mixed with a hand mixer. Leave it out on the counter for a bit. Half an hour should be plenty of time.

Plop the butter in a large mixing bowl and mix until smooth

If you have a stand mixer with a cover to catch the powder from getting everywhere, use that! WARNING: this will get a little messy.

Slowly add the tapioca starch about ½ cup at a time and mix it in with the butter.

Add in the honey and vanilla and continue to mix until everything is well incorporated.

Put the vanilla in a piping bag (or skip this step if you don't plan on piping) and then place in an airtight container or a ziplock. Refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight if you don't plan to use it right away.

I like to refrigerate mine so it's a bit firmer. If you choose not to, the buttercream will be very soft, which is perfectly ok!

Pipe your cupcakes and enjoy!

Pro tip: you can pipe the cupcakes ahead of time and store them in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Just leave it on the counter about an hour before you're ready to eat them! They are still perfectly edible out of the fridge though. Sometimes you just can't wait!