• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Green Smoothie Gourmet
  • About
  • Recipe Index
  • Spring Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • Free eCourses
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • About
  • Recipe Index
  • Spring Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • Free eCourses
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home / Recipes / Cakes & Cupcakes

    Fluffy White Frosting

    Apr 9, 2021 · Updated: Mar 27, 2023 by Dee Dine · Affliate links disclosure.

    • Share
    • Tweet
    • Email
    Jump to Recipe

    A fluffy white frosting recipe with the light bakery-style crunch, and made bright white thanks to a whitening trick, and has a special ingredient that adds antioxidants in your frosting.

    white frosting

    My fluffy healthy white frosting that tastes incredible, and pipes onto cupcakes and cakes like a perfect dream, leaving a tiny crunchy surface just like bakery frosting. It's perfect on my fluffy vanilla vegan cake or my chocolate fudge cake, or even as the filling in my cream-filled hot chocolate cupcakes.

    And this healthy vanilla frosting is extremely fluffy thanks to my whipping technique. And it is bright white in color despite the addition of yellow butter and brown vanilla extract because of a special trick I'll share with you.

    Jump to:
    • Why You'll Love This Recipe
    • Ingredients
    • Steps to Make
    • What to Use White Frosting On?
    • Substitutions
    • Recipe Tips
    • How to Store
    • How Do I Make Buttercream White?
    • Other Frosting Recipes
    • 📖 Recipe

    Healthy Fluffy Frosting

    Why You'll Love This Recipe

    This healthy frosting recipe texture is light. This frosting recipe creates an old fashioned fluffy texture two ways: (1) ensuring ingredients are at room temperature, and (2) whipping it with a mixer for a minimum of 2 minutes.  Both factors allow air to be incorporated, resulting in a light and fluffy texture.

    It's nutritious for a frosting. This frosting is dairy-free, vegan and gluten-free. It also uses a healthy shortening made of healthy fats, including coconut oil and red palm oil. Coconut oil benefits are well-known, and red palm oil is considered to be a strong antioxidant that protects against disease and has other skin and heart benefits. It is gaining a growing interest by the medical community as the links between diet and health grow.  [source]

    It's an exceptionally delicious frosting. That's because of the combination of the palm oil shortening and organic powdered sugar. Organic powdered sugar makes frostings taste so much better than those made from regular powdered sugar in that it contains tapioca instead of corn starch found in most commercial powdered sugars. I challenge you to try it!

    Healthy Fluffy White Frosting

    Ingredients

    Organic Powdered Sugar: As I noted above, this sugar contains tapioca instead of corn starch found in most commercial powdered sugars, and it tastes so much better that you might want to always buy organic. My favorite brand is Wholesome.

    Butter: This butter provides half the fat and I normally use vegan Earthbalance sticks. Be sure to allow the sticks to be at room temperature before use; this takes about two hours or overnight.

    Organic Plant-based Shortening: The other half of the fat portion is shortening. Not the white lard-based shortening such as Crisco however. That type is extremely unhealthy.

    Instead, I use a plant-based shortening containing the healthier red palm oil. In my fudge frosting, I used a brand called Nutiva, which puts out a frosting that is a mix of red palm oil and coconut oil. It's delicious, but it is yellow, and we are making white frosting here. So while this brand is great for my Fudge Frosting, it's not so great for my White Frosting recipe here.

    So in this white frosting I use my other favorite brand, Spectrum's shortening. It contains only palm oil so is also still nutritious but white not yellow.
    Healthy Fluffy White Frosting

    Steps to Make

    This recipe makes enough frosting to frost about 18 cupcakes or 1 (2-layer) cake. The detailed recipe is at the bottom of this post but here is a brief overview of the steps:

    1. Be sure butter, shortening and milk are all at room temperature.

    2. Add all ingredients, except half the milk, to a bowl and hand mix until combined. Add the rest of the milk or more to reach the texture you want. Mix again only just enough to combine.

    3. Add the ¼ drop of blue food using the method I describe in detail below on how to make your buttercream bright white.

    4. Now it is time to mix the frosting for a solid 2 minutes to incorporate air and achieve an old fashioning fluffy texture.

    4. Store your white frosting for two weeks in the refrigerator.

    Healthy Fluffy White Frosting

    What to Use White Frosting On?

    I used it on my dairy free chocolate cake. But I also use it on my fluffy vanilla cake as well. As I mentioned, it pipes beautifully and holds the shape overnight or longer.

    Substitutions

    There aren't a lot of swaps here. I suppose you could use all butter instead of using any shortening but then you won't have the lovely light bakery frosting crunch on the surface, or the rich flavor.

    Recipe Tips

    How do you make white frosting from scratch?

    It's very easy to make this white frosting. Just put all ingredients in a bowl, mostly sugar, butter, shortening and mix and you have frosting.

    How do you thicken white frosting?

    I normally thicken frosting by adding powdered sugar or even tapioca or arrowroot if you don't want to add more sugar.

    Why is my white frosting grainy?

    Any shortening frosting can seem a bit grainy if you don't mix it enough.

    How to Store

    I keep mine refrigerated for a couple of weeks, or frozen for 3 months. However, I keep frosted cupcakes or cakes on the counter at room temperature for about 24 hours. After that I refrigerate them.

    How Do I Make Buttercream White?

    Here is how to whiten your frosting and remove the yellowish tinge from butter and vanilla.

    Step 1: Add a teeny smear of blue food coloring to your frosting. Getting "a teeny smear" though takes some effort. It's about ¼ of a drop - read drop, not teaspoon - so you can't just drop a full drop from a food coloring bottle into your frosting.

    Step 2: To achieve just a ¼ of a drop of food coloring, drop a drop on to a spoon, then dip a corner of a paper towel to the drop and let about ¾ of the drop become absorbed. This leaves ¼ of the drop on your spoon.

    Step 3: Dip the spoon holding the remaining ¼ drop of food coloring that is not on your paper towel into the frosting and transfer the coloring.

    Step 4: Whip up the frosting, making sure to incorporate the blue dye. What a few minutes to be sure the color registered in the frosting and to your eye. If need be, repeat the process. Sometimes I do have to do this twice - I think there are variations in yellow in certain butters and vanillas.

    It works to whiten buttercream because the blue is opposite yellow in the color wheel, so blue offsets the yellow and brings out the white. Beautiful!

    Other Frosting Recipes

    Fudge Frosting
    Cookie Dough Frosting
    Vegan Royal Icing for Sugar Cooking Decorating
    Vegan Buttercream Frosting
    Sweet Potato Chocolate Frosting
    Peanut Butter Frosting

    Are you on Pinterest? Perhaps share this image.

    I invite you to keep up with me on: Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter

    Don't miss a thing, subscribe here to get recipes delivered to your inbox!

    If you try my recipes, please leave a comment and rating below and tag me on your Instagram post with @greensmoothiegourmet so I can see and share your remakes!!

    📖 Recipe

    white frosting

    Fluffy White Frosting Recipe

    Created by Dee Dine
    A fluffy white frosting recipe with the light bakery-style crunch, and made bright white thanks to a whitening trick, and has a special ingredient that adds antioxidants in your frosting.
    5 from 2 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe SaveSaved! Rate Recipe
    Prep Time 5 mins
    Cook Time 5 mins
    Total Time 10 mins
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American
    Servings 18
    Calories 201 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    • ½ cup butter (I use vegan Earth Balance sticks)
    • ½ cup organic shortening (Spectrum (white) or Nutiva (yellow) - Both contain healthier organic red palm oil)
    • 4 cups organic powdered sugar
    • 3-4 tablespoon dairy free milk
    • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ¼ drop blue food coloring
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions
     

    Prep

    • Set the butter out to allow it to reach room temperature overnight or at least two hours before using. Make sure shortening and milk are also at room temperature.
      ½ cup butter

    Make Frosting

    • Put all ingredients - except hold back 2 tablespoons of milk - in a large bowl and use a hand-mixer to mix the frosting until ingredients are just combined. Add the 2+ tablespoons of milk if needed to get the texture you want. Up until now, your whipping is only to combine, not to fluff.
      4 cups organic powdered sugar, ½ cup organic shortening, 3-4 tablespoon dairy free milk, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

    Make color bright white

    • To make your frosting bright white, put a drop of blue food coloring on a spoon. Use a tissue corner to absorb nearly ¾ of it off. You want only the tiniest smear of blue to remove the yellow tinge and make your frosting bright white. Repeat as needed.
      ¼ drop blue food coloring
    • Once you have achieved the color you want, make the frosting exceptionally fluffy by whipping it two minutes.

    Store

    • To keep the frosting wet until you are ready to frost your cake, put a soaking wet paper towel over the bowl. This will keep the frosting soft for an hour if you keep the paper towel wet so plan your baking around this window.
    • Store this frosting in a sealed container in the refrigerator for two weeks. To use it, let it sit at room temperature until it is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir or even whip again briefly if needed for texture.

    Video

     

    Notes

    This recipe makes enough frosting to frost about 18 cupcakes or 1 (2-layer) cake.
    Organic powdered sugar. You can also use regular powdered sugar. The organic type has tapioca instead of cornstarch and tends to taste better, thus your frosting will taste better.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 201kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 1gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 47mgPotassium: 6mgFiber: 1gSugar: 26gVitamin A: 167IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 5mgIron: 1mg
    Keyword fluffy white frosting, healthy white frosting, white frosting recipe
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    More Cakes & Cupcakes

    • Hostess Cupcake Recipe
      Homemade Hostess Cupcakes
    • Vanilla vegan cake sliced with cake in background.ound.
      Fluffy Vegan Vanilla Cake
    • Baked Powdered Donuts
      Baked Powdered Donuts
    • hot chocolate cupcakes
      Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
    • Share
    • Tweet
    • Email

    Feel Great in 2023

    1. Ginger Shots
    2. Ginger Juice
    3. Celery Juice
    4. Turmeric Shots
    5. How to Make Ginger Tea

    Buy My Two Cookbooks

    4-Ingredient Dessert Cookbook 4-Ingredient Smoothie CookBook

    About GSG

    Welcome to GSG, a healthy food blog sharing plant based recipes for healthy desserts and recipes, making clean eating easy!

    About Dee

    Chocolate and ginger enthusiast. Animal lover, a nutritional juicing aficionado, and probably chopping chocolate in my Washington DC kitchen right now. Read about Dee → »

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
    Dee Dine of Green Smoothie Gourmet

    I'm Dee! Welcome to GSG! I make classic desserts and meals healthier and lighter, drawing on my science background to balance the nutrition in each recipe. Everyone will love them, whether following a plant based diet or not.  About Dee →

    Spring Holidays

    • overhead view of two chocolate bars
      How to Make Chocolate (Dark or Milk)
    • Fudge filled eggs with one broken open.
      Chocolate Easter Eggs
    • chocolate sauce dripping down a jar of vanilla ice cream
      Chocolate Sauce Recipe (3-Ingredients)
    • chocolate avocado mousse overhead view with sprinkles
      Chocolate Avocado Mousse

    Popular

    • glass of peanut butter smoothie with a bottle next to it
      Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie
    • a chocolate chip cookie with a bite out of it and a stack behind it.
      Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • frothed apple cider vinegar drink in glass with apple slices and lemons
      Apple Cider Vinegar and Lemon Juice
    • overhead of 7 overnight oats recipes topped with carrots, chocolate chips and zucchini
      Easy Overnight Oats (7 flavors)
    logos of publications that shared green smoothie gourmet content

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About the Author
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Newsletter
    • Cookbooks

    Follow

    • Instagram
    • TikTok

    an amazon associate member

    Copyright © 2023

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest