4 Ingredient Easy Vegan Chocolate Frosting Recipe (2024)

This is the BEST vegan chocolate buttercream frosting ever!! Even traditional dairy lovers love this vegan chocolate frosting! Just 4 ingredients, ultra rich and lush, super quick and easy to make, and perfect for cakes, brownies, cookies, cupcakes, and more!

The BEST Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Ever

If you’re looking for a dairy free vegan chocolate frosting that everyone in your family will love, vegan or not, then you’ve come to the right place.

Adding to our collection of vegan frosting recipes (we already have vegan vanilla buttercream, vegan peanut butter frosting, and vegan cream cheese frosting!) is this amazing chocolate frosting.

This is THE vegan chocolate buttercream frosting to make. In fact, my entire family requests this frosting specifically for every cake we have at a gathering or family birthday. And they’re not used to dairy free baking, so you can imagine my excitement over the fact that they wanted a VEGAN frosting by choice!

This vegan chocolate frosting is so silky smooth, lush, and decadently rich. It’s made with rich cocoa powder and can be entirely refined sugar free using just powdered coconut sugar!

Use it on vegan cakes, cookies, brownies, cheesecakes and more- it goes great on my gluten free vegan chocolate chip cookie cake recipe in my vegan cookbook!

You’ll just love how easy it is to make your own homemade chocolate frosting. No more store bought!

Ingredients & Substitutions:

To make a homemade chocolate buttercream, you’ll need a few key ingredients (actually just 4 at the max!):

• Vegan butter: I recommend Miyoko’s or for nut-free, you can use Earth Balance STICKS not tub
• Cocoa powder: you can use cacao powder if desired.
• Powdered sugar: for refined sugar free, swap in powdered coconut sugar! You can swap in an equal amount of coconut sugar. If you need a sugar free version, feel free to swap in the powdered variety of your favorite no sugar sweetener.
• Creamy dairy free milk: I recommend soy milk or oat milk here.

Overview: How to make a super smooth and creamy vegan chocolate frosting

The full written instructions, including gram measurements and cup measurements, are found down below in the recipe card. However, let’s go over the basics here!

We’re using a 1:2 ratio of vegan butter to sugar/cocoa powder. This is the classic formula for an American buttercream, the easiest of the buttercream recipes! Only this one is entirely vegan and dairy free 😉

But similarly to a classic buttercream, you’ll simply cream the vegan butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Then sift in the powdered ingredients in increments. Use the dairy free milk to help you achieve a super soft and lush texture, then use for your main recipe!

This vegan chocolate frosting is perfect for cakes, cupcakes, as a cookie sandwich filling, brownies, and so much more!

More vegan buttercream tips & tricks

• Read this awesome article for what room temperature butter actually means. Many are confused with this- it actually doesn’t mean that your butter comes to 72F! Like classic butter in baking, vegan butter at room temperature should still feel cold to the touch, but you’ll be able to easily indent it.
• SIFT the cocoa powder and powdered sugar before beginning. No one likes a clumpy frosting, and trust me, it’s much easier to smooth the frosting onto a cake with a bench scraper without any bumps! Use a mesh pasta strainer or sifter to make sure that there are no clumps of powdered sugar or cacao powder before beginning.
• Use cacao powder for a richer chocolate buttercream. I adore a deep dark chocolate taste. Plus, cacao powder offers many wonderful benefits. However, all natural coconut powder with have a deeper chocolate color to it.
• For cake decorating: pair this vegan chocolate frosting with my vegan chocolate ganache for a double chocolate drip cake!
• If your vegan chocolate frosting is too thick: Add in a tablespoon or two more of dairy free milk to help with the consistency.

I hope you absolutely love this vegan chocolate buttercream frosting as much as I do! If you try it, definitely leave a comment down below as well as a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others can hear how it turned out for you!

As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations, so be sure to tag me on Instagram and Pinterest!

Happy frosting making!

More vegan frostings you’ll love:

Vegan Vanilla Buttercream

Best Vegan Coconut Whipped Cream

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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