Looking for that perfect frosting with the right balance of tanginess and sweetness for your next healthy dessert? My vegan cream cheese icing has you covered – it’s literally the icing on the cake!
I’ve seen versions of vegan icing using soaked cashews or coconut cream or vegan cream cheese (say whaaaaaaat?! basically a processed food you add a bunch of sugar to if you want to turn it into vegan cream cheese icing) which I don’t have in my fridge or pantry and the recipes had a gazillion steps.
My vegan cream cheese icing is easy peasy and uses ingredients you probably have on hand already.
Carrot cake just isn’t carrot cake without cream cheese frosting, making this perfect for my vegan, paleo and gluten-free Carrot Cake Cupcakes. They’re made with almond flour so they’re packed with protein and fiber. Oh, and there’s also some carrots of course… gotta get your veggies where you can.
Don’t you love when dessert comes with nutritional benefits?
Should You Make Your Own Almond Milk?
There are pros and cons of making your own milk alternatives. The best part of making things from scratch is you know what’s going into your food: whole ingredients that are high quality. You can avoid added sugars, cheap oils and salt.
The con: your homemade milk alternative won’t have the calcium and vitamin D of fortified storebought milk alternatives. This means you’ll need to pay special attention to getting these nutrients from other foods or supplements.
How To Make Your Own Almond Milk
It’s super easy. You literally soak the nuts overnight, blend them with water (1 cup almonds to 4 cups water), strain through a cheese cloth and there you have it: delicious and nutritious dairy-free milk.
I like to use the pulp that’s left behind in the cheese cloth by baking it at a low temperature so I can use it as flour. It’s full of fiber! You can use the almond flour in my Carrot Cake Cupcakes, Almond Cocoa Cookies or Almond Flour Blueberry Pancakes. So yummy! And that way, none of this almond goodness goes to waste.

Servings | Prep Time |
12 (icing for 12 cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes) | 6 minutes |
Cook Time | Passive Time |
7 minutes | 1 hour |
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This sweet and tangy vegan cream cheese frosting is the perfect icing on your cake! It's gluten-free with no refined sugar.
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- 1/2 cup Almond milk
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp arrowroot powder
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- In a small saucepan, warm the almond milk, maple syrup, vanilla and salt over medium heat for about 7 minutes.
- Add the arrowroot powder and 1 tbsp water to a small bowl and mix. Add the mixture to your pot. Stir and bring to a boil.
- Take the saucepan off the burner and blend in the coconut oil with an immersion blender. Let the icing cool and then put in the fridge for about an hour. You'll notice it really thickens up!
- After you take the icing out of the fridge, blend it again with the immerision blender to get the perfect consistency. Ice your cake or cupcakes and don't forget to lick the spoon!
instead of maple syrup .can I use rice malt syrup or will the taste be altered?
Hi Jasmine, great question… I haven’t tried it with rice malt syrup. Maple syrup does have a prominent taste, so I imagine using something more neutral like rice malt syrup could be even better if you don’t want any maple flavor.
Let me know how it turns out 🙂
can u sub the arrowroot powder for anything else?
Hi Vanni, the arrowroot powder is there to thicken up the icing. You can substitute instant tapioca or corn starch in the same amount. Hope you love the cupcakes!