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This creamy icing is reminiscent of traditional cream cheese icing–> but without the heavy cream cheese!

Loaded with nutrient-rich raw cashews, it’s not your average sweet topping. It’s a great source of manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and vitamin K, and happens to be bursting with anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, thanks to the coconut oil and raw honey.

Enjoy over your favorite cupcakes and quick breads for a creamy, decadent treat!

Creamy Cashew Icing (Dairy-free)
makes 1 1/4 cups

Ingredients:

3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked 2-3 hours and rinsed
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
3 tablespoons raw honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

2-4 tablespoons water, as needed for blending

Directions:

Combine the first six ingredients in a high-powered blender, and blend until smooth and creamy, adding water as necessary to facilitate blending.

making creamy cashew icing in blender Adjust flavor to taste, then transfer to a bowl and chill in the freezer for at least an hour, to allow the icing to thicken.

The longer it chills, the thicker it will get!

Strawberry cupcake with cashew icing and freeze dried strawberriesSpoon it over your favorite baked goods, and serve immediately! (Keep the frosted treats chilled, if not serving immediately.)

creamy cashew icing

Creamy Cashew Icing (Dairy-free)

4.80 from 10 votes
This creamy icing is reminiscent of traditional cream cheese icing--> but without the heavy cream cheese! Enjoy it over any of your favorite baked goods.
prep10 mins total10 mins
Servings:10 servings (1 1/4 cup total)

Ingredients
 
 

  • 3/4 cup raw cashews , soaked 2-3 hours and rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil , melted
  • 3 tablespoons raw honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2-4 tablespoons water , as needed for blending

Instructions

  • Combine the first six ingredients in a high-powered blender, and blend until smooth and creamy, adding water as necessary to facilitate blending.
  • Adjust flavor to taste, then transfer to a bowl and chill in the freezer for at least an hour, to allow the icing to thicken. The longer it chills, the thicker it will get!
  • Spoon the icing over your favorite baked goods, and serve immediately! (Keep the frosted treats chilled, if not serving immediately.)

Notes

Make it Vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey.

Nutrition

Calories: 97kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 59mg | Potassium: 63mg | Sugar: 5g | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 0.7mg
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cashews, dairy free, dessert
Calories per serving: 97, Fat: 7g, Carbohydrates: 8g, Fiber: 0g, Protein: 1g

Enjoy!

 

Megan Gilmore leaning on her white countertop.

Megan Gilmore

Hi, I’m Megan. A former fast food junkie turned best-selling cookbook author. I create healthy recipes made with simple ingredients to make your life easier.

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Comments

  1. The consistency was very nice, also the flavor. I opted to add mejool dates to sweeten it a bit more.

  2. I made this using almonds instead of cashews and maple syrup instead of honey (for a vegan option!). It came out great!! I used it for a carrot cake. Thank you! Wish I could post a photo 🙂

  3. Made this to compliment my daughter’s birthday cake.

    I had to double the recipe and I know it wasn’t part of the orginal recipe but along with soaking the cashews, I soaked a half cup mini bag of roasted, unsalted Macadamia nuts and both of the flavors really worked nicely together.

  4. Delicious! Made recipe as directed, topped it on my gf vegan carrot cake! Everyone LOVEDit. Thanks for another amazing recipe.

  5. Can I pipe with this frosting? Does it hold its shape? Can I frost my cupcakes 1 or 2 days ahead? Thanks

    1. No, this one doesn’t hold shape for piping. Try one of my sweet potato frostings or chocolate frostings here on the website for something that you can pipe onto cupcakes.

  6. Delicious frosting! I’m not vegan but I appreciate recipes like these rather than the typical overly processed diet. Thank you!

  7. Thank you for this ! I am vegan except that I do eat locally produced raw honey (not industrial honey) from a very small beekeeper. … I would like to try it with maple syrup to make it officially vegan – but I am guessing it’s going to need more coconut oil or some other thing to firm it up if you use that because honey is so much thicker.
    To this recipe, I added about 2T of nutritional yeast to the recipe – makes it taste more cheese-y as it was for a butternut squash/date/pecan loaf. And I used a vanilla bean pod scraped rather than vanilla liquid.
    Also because I was out of lemons but was baking after stores were closed – I used Ume – su (a sweet Japanese plum vinegar) instead of the lemon. It turned out really nice with that. And it was pretty thick as well. Next time I may try adding agar agar … (for firmness) with maple syrup. It’s a flexible recipe. I am interested to try a chocolate version like some people have mentioned here. I wonder if adding nice soft dates into the chocolate powder for the frosting would help ?

  8. What a WONDERFUL recipe! My hubby and my girls LOVED it! Thank you so much for offering a dairy-free alternative!