Dairy free cake frosting

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Hello, been reading all the gems of knowledge you ladies have to offer for a while and very interesting it's been too.I can't tell you how invaluable some of your tips have been.
I was hoping one of you may be able to help me out. I have to make a birthday cake for a friend who is Dairy free for health reasons and although I can manage the actual cake I'm stuck on the frosting. I've been told they don't like royal icing or fondant so unless someone can enlighten me I can only think of the usual butter or cream cheese frosting.
I know there are a couple of vegans on here so maybe that's the way way to go and hoped they may be able go offer a solution.
I'm after something tasty that resembles a butter frosting.Something I could possibly pipe.
Thankyou all

VfM4meplse

Catch up on last night's GBBO (showstopper challenge which started about midway through), it will show you it can be done.

I think most of the contestants used vegan spread for their "buttercream" so keep your eyes peeled for the ingredients on their workbenches.

rach_k

I just substitute Vitalite for butter in a standard buttercream recipe. I can't taste the difference.

Rosemary7391

Yep, dairy free spread works fine. I've also made a coconut based frosting in the past, although I didn't write the recipe down....it used coconut cream and milk iirc...

grunnie

I remember going to a cookery demo and the cake frosting was made with cookeen. The white fat my mum used to fry chips in back in the day.
If I hadn't already sampled the cake I would never have tasted it knowing that but it did taste lovely.

katiepants

Everything I cook/bake has to be dairy free as my OH has an allergy.

I use dairy free spread (e.g. pure or flora dairy free), and soya milk in place of dairy alternatives. Buttercream made with soya marg IMO doesn't taste any different to the normal version.

kippers

I used to make dairy free frosting using pure margarine and it tastes lovely....you can also buy dairyfree chocolate from the 'free from' section in the supermarket to grate over the top and it makes it look even more special

buildersdaughter

I make a lovely 'buttercream' with PURE margarine as it doesn't contain whey. If your friend is allergic, then check any margarine ingredients carefully.
I do make a fantastic icing that uses vegan chocolate & coconut oil - I don't have the recipe to hand, so PM me if you want it.

Wraithlady

Pure should be fine - also Vitalite. I am lactose-intolerant and can quite happily have either

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Vegan bakeries use either vegetable 'butter' (sometimes coconut based for better flavour) or a combination of vegan cream cheese (often coconut based again) and whisked up juice from a tin of chickpeas. Nobody at worked asked about the ingredients in the cupcakes I offered and nobody noticed the slightest bit of difference in taste.