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Home » Baking & Desserts » Icing » Dairy-Free Chocolate Buttercream

20 May 2017

Dairy-Free Chocolate Buttercream

10.1K shares

This dairy-free (and vegan) chocolate buttercream is so deliciously rich you’d never guess it doesn’t contain any dairy. Perfect for topping my dairy-free chocolate cupcakes.

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This dairy-free (and vegan) chocolate buttercream is so deliciously rich you'd never guess it doesn't contain any dairy. Perfect for topping my dairy-free chocolate cupcakes.A few days ago I shared my dairy-free chocolate cupcakes with the promise of sharing the buttercream (can you call it BUTTERcream if it’s dairy-free? what do you think?) to go on top.

As with the cupcakes, this buttercream gets it’s really chocolatey flavour from using a combination of both cocoa powder and real melted chocolate (dairy-free of course) in the mix and as with the cupcakes, you’d have no idea it was dairy-free unless you’re told – it’s delicious.

To get the dairy-free buttercream to have the same smooth texture as regular buttercream, I’ve used a combination of Pure Sunflower (a dairy-free spread) and Stork Baking Block. The Pure Sunflower is quite soft so can be used straight from the fridge, but as with butter, the baking block is hard and so it’s best to leave it out for an hour or so before you plan to use it to allow it to soften, otherwise you’ll end up with lumpy buttercream.  I do find it slightly harder to get the lumps out compared to when I use butter, so make sure you beat the two spreads together really well before adding any sugar.

This dairy-free (and vegan) chocolate buttercream is so deliciously rich you'd never guess it doesn't contain any dairy. Perfect for topping my dairy-free chocolate cupcakes.At this point I must say thanks to Midge who blogged at The Peachicks Bakery for recommending the half margarine, half baking block combination (although she uses Vitalite rather than Pure). As regular readers will know, I’m no dairy-free baking expert so if you’re looking for more dairy-free recipes and cooking tips take a look at my dairy-free cupcakes where I’ve got a list of places you can look for more recipes.

If you don’t fancy chocolate buttercream then you could easily adapt my coffee and vanilla buttercreams to be dairy-free by simply switching the butter in the recipe for half baking block and half dairy-free margarine. These recipes also call for you to to add a little milk to the mix to get the consistency right. For this simply switch the milk for a dairy-free alternative.

This dairy-free (and vegan) chocolate buttercream is so deliciously rich you'd never guess it doesn't contain any dairy. Perfect for topping my dairy-free chocolate cupcakes.

What You’ll Need

Before you start, make sure you have all of the equipment needed.

NOTE – These are affiliate links which means that if you purchase from Amazon after clicking on one the product links below I may earn a small commission. All of the products linked are ones I use in my kitchen.

  • Weighing Scales
  • Measuring Spoons
  • Knife – to cut the butter
  • Something to melt the chocolate in – either a bowl in the microwave, small saucepan, or bowl over a small saucepan.
  • Electric Mixer (or a bowl and hand mixer or wooden spoon)
  • Sieve
  • Piping Bags – if you’re planning on piping the cupcakes
  • Piping Nozzle – To pipe the cupcakes as shown in the pictures you’ll need a JEM 1B nozzle.

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Dark-Chocolate-Buttercream-4

Dairy-Free Chocolate Buttercream

This dairy-free (and vegan) chocolate buttercream is so deliciously rich you’d never guess it doesn’t contain any dairy. Perfect for topping my dairy-free chocolate cupcakes.
Makes enough icing for 12 cupcakes or to fill and coat a 2-layer 20cm round cake. 
5 from 10 votes
Print Rate Save Go to Collections
Active Time: 10 minutes minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes minutes
Servings: 12 servings
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INGREDIENTS

Metric - US Cups/Ounces
  • 125 g dairy-free margarine - I use Pure Sunflower
  • 125 g baking block - I use Stork – soft, at room temperature
  • 250 g icing sugar
  • 150 g dairy-free dark chocolate
  • 40 g cocoa powder
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Break the chocolate (150g) into pieces and melt it (either using short bursts in the microwave – stirring regularly, over the lowest possible heat in a saucepan – stirring constantly, or in a bain marie – stirring constantly).
  • Once melted remove it from the heat and pour into another bowl (this will help it to cool as it needs to be back to room temperature before mixing with the buttercream).
  • Beat together the dairy-free margarine (125g) and baking block (125g) until soft (it can take a bit of time to get it really smooth but persevere to ensure you get perfect buttercream). Add the vanilla extract (¼ tsp), cocoa powder (40g) and icing sugar (250g) and beat until fully combined (it’s easier to avoid the cocoa powder and sugar flying everywhere if you add it a spoonful at a time).
  • Once the chocolate has cooled to room temperature (DO NOT add the chocolate when it’s still warm as it’ll melt the butter and your buttercream will end up too runny) pour it into the buttercream and beat until fully combined. You should find that the buttercream is soft and spreadable.
  • Your buttercream is now ready to use.

NOTES

You can find the recipe for my dairy-free chocolate cupcakes here.
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a comment and rating at the bottom of the page to let others know what you thought.
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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 299kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 169mg | Potassium: 144mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 775IU | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1.9mg

Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.


This dairy-free (and vegan) chocolate buttercream is so deliciously rich you'd never guess it doesn't contain any dairy. Perfect for topping my dairy-free chocolate cupcakes.

Free From/Suitable For…

  • Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans
  • Dairy-Free
  • Egg-Free
  • Gluten-Free
  • Nut-Free
  • Soy-Free

The ingredients for this recipe are easily available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.

This dairy-free (and vegan) chocolate buttercream is so deliciously rich you'd never guess it doesn't contain any dairy. Perfect for topping my dairy-free chocolate cupcakes.

10.1K shares

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Yvonne Webster says

    December 28, 2024 at 6:55 pm

    5 stars
    Love the taste but I let my melted chocolate cool too much, as when I added to my mixture the chocolate went hard in places, so I was unable to pipe on top of the cupcakes as the nozzle got clogged up. I used a knife instead.

    I’m assuming this is how it went wrong. Tasted great

    I used Flora Original and Stork.

    Thank you!

    Reply
  2. Hannah says

    December 08, 2024 at 8:49 am

    Of all of the millions of variations of vegan chocolate buttercream on the internet, of which I have tried MANY, I have this recipe book marked as my go-to chocolate buttercream recipe. I think that says it all! Thank you for this recipe

    Reply
  3. Janette says

    July 16, 2023 at 10:15 pm

    Do not understand the two types of dairy free margarine/butter can you explain please

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      July 21, 2023 at 12:40 am

      Like regular dairy, margarine is a softer spreadable-from-the-fridge option that is most often sold in tubs/containers. Both the dairy and non-dairy kinds of butter are sold in more solid blocks. They need to be brought to room temperature to spread or beat as they are too hard straight from the fridge. I hope that helps.

  4. Sarah says

    April 29, 2023 at 6:00 pm

    5 stars
    Brilliant! My dairy intolerant grandson loved it on his fat free chocolate birthday cake. I iced inside and the top and have enough buttercream to do another, so it’s in the fridge! Thank you

    Reply
  5. Jess says

    October 16, 2021 at 7:54 am

    5 stars
    Great result! I used these on a gluten and dairy free chocolate cupcake recipe and they turned out great! When I first tasted it I was disappointed I could still taste the dairy free butter but once it was on the cupcake it was MAGIC. I will be keeping this in my recipe book.
    I used nuttlex, Solite & Vego chocolate buttons. Perfect.
    Thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Pauline says

    April 29, 2021 at 10:13 am

    This is gorgeous no one would ever guess that it’s dairy free.

    Reply
  7. Kathy says

    March 28, 2021 at 5:49 pm

    5 stars
    Hands down, best vegan butter cream I have made to date!! Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
  8. Anita says

    March 25, 2021 at 2:39 am

    I’m from New Zelaand and we don’t have baking blocks, or stork branded foods. Can you confirm if this product is a vegetable shortening?
    Thank you

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      March 26, 2021 at 11:35 am

      Yes, it’s vegetable shortening.

  9. Lauren says

    October 15, 2020 at 5:57 pm

    5 stars
    Hi I have made this before for a cake and it was amazing! Can it be halved for a smaller recipe?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      October 19, 2020 at 8:48 pm

      Absolutely. You can make as much or as little as you like.

  10. Samantha says

    September 25, 2020 at 11:34 am

    Hi there – does this work under fondant icing do you know?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      September 25, 2020 at 1:22 pm

      Yes it does.

  11. Nikki says

    August 15, 2020 at 3:25 pm

    Is it possible to freeze this buttercream?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      August 18, 2020 at 11:22 am

      I haven’t tested it. However I have found that chocolate buttercream can tend to go fudgey after freezing. It tastes good, but looses it’s lovely pipeable consistency.

  12. Nicola G says

    June 23, 2020 at 11:51 pm

    5 stars
    This dairy free buttercream recipe is delicious, thank you !

    Reply
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5 from 10 votes

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