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Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting

October 10, 2015

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This delicious vegan dairy-free Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting recipe takes just minutes to prepare and you’d never guess it’s made with avocados! Jump to recipe →

Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting - this delicious vegan dairy free recipe takes just minutes to prepare and you'd never guess it's made with avocados! | VeggiePrimer.com

I just wish I had known about this recipe a few months ago.

I have a confession. I failed as a parent for my daughter’s fifteenth birthday. All she really wanted was a cupcake with thick gooey frosting. Sounds easy, right? Well, it’s a little tricky because she’s allergic to wheat and dairy.

Had I been prepared I could have pulled it off. But I was busy. I asked my husband to get store-bought gluten-free cupcakes. I was imagining the cupcakes we’d gotten in the past – the ones with the big piles of frosting. But that was before we knew she couldn’t have dairy. Those cupcakes were no longer an option.

My poor husband did the best he could. He wasn’t aware of the frosting requirement. He picked up gluten-free cupcakes without frosting (a.k.a glorified muffins). I didn’t notice until I pulled them from freezer five minutes before we were going to sing happy birthday. Ugh!

I didn’t think I had the ingredients on hand to quickly make a non-dairy frosting. We went with the naked cupcakes. My daughter wasn’t thrilled…

As my husband’s birthday approached I began a quest for an easy and delicious non-dairy frosting recipe. That’s when I discovered the wonders of dark chocolate avocado frosting.

Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting

Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting - this delicious vegan dairy free recipe takes just minutes to prepare and you'd never guess it's made with avocados! | VeggiePrimer.com

This Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting recipe is so easy! It’s made with just a few simple ingredients:

  • Avocados
  • Dark Cocoa Powder
  • Maple Syrup
  • Coconut Oil
  • Vanilla
  • Cinnamon

You blend the avocado in a food processor, add the remaining ingredients and blend some more. And voilà! You have a decadently dark and creamy frosting with just the right level of sweetness. You’d never guess it’s made with avocado!

Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting - this delicious vegan dairy free recipe takes just minutes to prepare and you'd never guess it's made with avocados! | VeggiePrimer.com

For my husband’s birthday, I added the frosting to my Gluten-Free Chocolate Snack Cake recipe. (I stirred mini dairy-free chocolate chips into the batter instead of sprinkling them on top.) It was super easy and made a delicious birthday cake. Both husband and daughter approved! No more frozen frostingless cupcakes for this family! 

Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting - this delicious vegan dairy free recipe takes just minutes to prepare and you'd never guess it's made with avocados! | VeggiePrimer.com
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Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting

This delicious vegan dairy free Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting recipe takes just minutes to prepare and you’d never guess it’s made with avocados!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 12

Ingredients

  • 2 ripe avocados med/large, peeled and pitted, 2 ½ small avocados
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 2 Tbsp. coconut oil (melted coconut oil will give you a silkier texturebut un-melted works okay too)
  • 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon optional

Instructions

  1. Add avocado to a food processor fitted with an S blade and blend until smooth.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and blend again until smooth. You may need to stop and scrape the sides with a spatula a couple of times. (Add the maple syrup on top of the cocoa powder to keep the dust down.)
  3. Use immediately or store in fridge until ready to use. Frosting should be okay in the fridge for a couple of days.

Recipe Notes

Recipe makes about 2 cups of frosting.

Recipe adapted from Coffee and Quinoa.

measuring spoons

You may have noticed these lovely measuring spoons in the photo above. A friend  brought them to my attention on Amazon. I love their weight and how they feel in my hand.

Note: I do not include nutrition information with my recipes because I subscribe to the theories presented in the book Whole and believe we should focus on eating a variety of whole foods instead of counting calories or keeping track of individual nutrients. Note: This page contains affiliate links. Veggie Primer earns a commission if you use the links. We only recommend items/brands we use and trust.


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Filed Under: Dressings, Sauces & Spreads, Recipes, Snacks & Desserts Tagged With: avocado, cake, chocolate

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Comments

  1. Chris Helthaler says

    October 10, 2015 at 6:40 pm

    I am the aforementioned provider of the frosting deficient cupcakes for our daughter’s birthday. As many are aware, it is difficult to provide special treats for people that can’t have gluten or dairy products because it makes them ill. The sad bald muffin wanna-be cupcake birthday experience drove my wife to adapt this frosting recipe so that our daughter could get some thick chocolatey frosting.

    A big bonus is that it is good. Really good. Better than I’d like to admit because I despise avocados. I don’t like the way the insides look or taste. So as an avowed avocado hater – try this recipe. It will satisfy your chocolate hunger.

    Reply
  2. aspoonfulofnature says

    October 13, 2015 at 6:54 am

    such an awesome idea!! thanks for sharing 😀

    https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      October 13, 2015 at 12:22 pm

      You’re welcome! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Nicole says

    January 7, 2016 at 3:41 am

    Any suggestions on what I can sub for the coconut oil? My daughter is allergic to coconuts also:-(

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      January 7, 2016 at 7:38 am

      Hmmm… Try grape seed oil – it has a light neutral flavor and I often use it in baking – you also don’t have to mess with melting it! 🙂 You could also try skipping the oil all together – I haven’t tried that, but it might work… Let me know how it goes.

      Reply
    • K.T says

      May 14, 2016 at 5:52 pm

      Avocado oil and it is good for high temp cooking too. Hope this helps.

      Reply
      • Margaret says

        May 15, 2016 at 10:31 am

        Thanks K.T. – there’s no cooking involved with this recipe. I suggested the grape seed oil because of it’s neutral flavor – but yes – it’s also good for high temp cooking! 🙂

        Reply
  4. Sara says

    January 20, 2016 at 4:12 pm

    Any idea how long this frosting would last? It seems to me that it would have to be stored in the fridge, and for not more than a few days.

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      January 20, 2016 at 4:24 pm

      Yes – store it in the fridge – it should last at least a few days – hard for me to say beyond that – it gets eaten quickly in my house!

      Reply
      • Sara says

        February 25, 2016 at 6:02 pm

        I decided to just try it, and I noticed a difference in flavour at three days. So I would say three days max; two is better. Very delicious though!

        Reply
        • Margaret says

          February 25, 2016 at 7:54 pm

          That’s good to know Sara – thanks! Like I said, I’ve never kept it longer than a couple of days!

          Reply
          • Leslie says

            August 7, 2016 at 7:28 pm

            It may be freezable. Guacamole is totally freezable, so this should be as well.

          • Margaret says

            August 7, 2016 at 9:30 pm

            I’ll have to give that a try – thanks for the suggestion! 🙂

  5. Rocio says

    February 24, 2016 at 7:24 pm

    Looks amazing! Do you know what can i replace the maple syrup with? Its really hard to find in my country

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      February 25, 2016 at 6:50 am

      You could replace the maple syrup with agave nectar – I like to use maple syrup because it’s a little healthier – but agave would work. 🙂

      Reply
      • T says

        March 12, 2017 at 2:35 pm

        I plan to try honey. Sugar is not an ok substitute for me!

        Reply
        • Margaret says

          March 12, 2017 at 2:39 pm

          Honey should work. 🙂

          Reply
        • Valerie says

          March 24, 2018 at 2:04 am

          Honey is just sugar, according to the way your body sees it.

          Reply
    • Sara says

      February 25, 2016 at 5:59 pm

      I used 2 cups of icing sugar instead of the maple syrup, and it worked great!

      Reply
      • Margaret says

        February 25, 2016 at 7:55 pm

        Glad that worked well for you!

        Reply
  6. Jordan says

    April 3, 2016 at 3:24 am

    Can i use regular cocoa powder instead of dark chocolate?

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      April 3, 2016 at 10:54 am

      Hi Jordan – Regular cocoa powder should be fine. The frosting just won’t have as deep of a chocolate taste – but it should still be delicious!

      Reply
  7. Rebecca says

    May 4, 2016 at 6:32 pm

    I made this with regular cocoa powder (more antioxidants) and paired it with the “healthier chocolate cake” from The First Year. It was just sweet enough, still had a great dark chocolate flavor. So delicious!!

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      May 4, 2016 at 9:41 pm

      Glad you liked it!

      Reply
  8. Kristin says

    May 9, 2016 at 2:46 pm

    Anything to replace the chocolate powder? i do not like chocolate.

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      May 9, 2016 at 5:45 pm

      Hi Kristin – I haven’t tried making other types of frosting with avocado… It’s an interesting idea to explore, but I’m afraid I don’t have any suggestions right now…

      Reply
    • Kelly Heck says

      February 24, 2017 at 10:06 pm

      Maybe vanilla protein powder would work? What do you ask think? The icing would be such a weird color though!

      Reply
      • Betty says

        July 6, 2017 at 2:48 pm

        It would be green! 🙂
        You could just use powdered sugar and whichever extract you would like. If you like matcha, you can even make a matcha flavored frosting!
        You could also substitute cacao powder for a very fine almond flour, and add almond extract… Or add pistachios!

        For other flavors, I would do key lime, mint, or even hazelnut, peanut butter, or oreos… Anything that would look nice as a green or brown frosting would work!

        Reply
        • Margaret says

          July 7, 2017 at 9:51 am

          Thanks for the suggestions Betty!

          Reply
  9. Whit says

    May 10, 2016 at 8:02 pm

    Did you use real maple syrup or just any old pancake/waffle syrup

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      May 11, 2016 at 9:45 am

      I always use real maple syrup. It’s a bit healthier than the fake stuff. 🙂 You can try other sweeteners if you don’t have real maple syrup. Some folks use agave syrup. I tend to steer clear of agave because of it’s high fructose content.

      Reply
      • Jennifer says

        May 16, 2016 at 5:20 pm

        I was wondering about using monk fruit sugar substitute. I steer clear of agave as well. Maple syrup although good for you, I would like to make this diabetic friendly for people in my family. I just wonder if monk fruit could be ground to almost a powdered sugar and used. Hmmmm. May have to try soon. Looks really good by the way 🙂

        Reply
        • Margaret says

          May 17, 2016 at 8:55 am

          That’s a really interesting idea Jennifer. I’m not familiar with monk fruit sugar substitute. If you try it, let us know how it turns out!! 🙂

          Reply
  10. Danielle says

    September 18, 2016 at 11:39 pm

    Would this frosting work on a cake that will be on a counter for about 4 hours or will it need to be refrigerated?
    Thanks,
    Danielle

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      September 19, 2016 at 1:14 pm

      Hi Danielle – I think it would be okay on the counter for 4 hours if you refrigerate it ahead of time. It just gets a little soft when it’s at room temp, but it shouldn’t run or spoil in that amount of time.

      Reply
  11. Christy says

    November 15, 2016 at 10:44 am

    Has anyone tried freezing this?

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      November 15, 2016 at 6:22 pm

      Hi Christy – I have not tried freezing this frosting. I would also be curious to hear from anyone who has!

      Reply
  12. Milena says

    November 17, 2016 at 10:00 am

    Can i use honey in place of the maple syrup? Also could i use melted non-dairy butter in place of the coconut oil? Thanks

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      November 17, 2016 at 7:24 pm

      The honey should work fine. You can try the non-dairy butter and see how it works…

      Reply
  13. Maria Garcia says

    November 24, 2016 at 7:47 am

    Hi Margaret,

    I would like to try this recipe but I am wondering what kind/brand of cocoa powder to buy? I have seen these two options in the nearest grocery:

    1. https://well.ca/products/camino-natural-cocoa-powder_102873.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAvNrBBRDe3IOwzLn6_O4BEiQAmbK-DuFxzZzEBORuBYoMvxUv5Y3oMpCiX2BtKg0-Cc2pUocaAtQs8P8HAQ

    2. https://well.ca/products/cuisine-camino-organic-cocoa-powder_18783.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAvNrBBRDe3IOwzLn6_O4BEiQAmbK-Dixm4GAsgeYdEzXTE-HH5wj55M_b_TVovYBAcCJxHV0aAgSq8P8HAQ

    I am coocking a banana cake for my daughter’s 1st birthday 🙂

    Thank you,

    Maria.

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      November 24, 2016 at 9:45 am

      Hi Maria – I have to confess, I use Hershey’s Dark Cocoa Powder. I’m sure whichever unsweetened cocoa powder you opt to use would work fine. 🙂

      Hope your daughter has a wonderful birthday!

      Reply
      • Maria Garcia says

        November 24, 2016 at 8:51 pm

        Thank you very much!!

        Reply
  14. kotchiko says

    December 10, 2016 at 6:32 am

    Hi! Can i use blender in rep for food processor?

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      December 10, 2016 at 5:12 pm

      That should work fine. I just find it easier to scrape the frosting out of the food processor. 🙂

      Reply
  15. Kimberly says

    January 12, 2017 at 7:49 pm

    I made a variation of this recipe last week and we LOVED IT!!!! So good, I’m going to use that recipe in my cooking class next month! Thank you! 🙂

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      January 13, 2017 at 5:53 pm

      Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂

      Reply
  16. Sara says

    February 1, 2017 at 10:54 am

    what is the reason for the maple syrup? Just for sweetness? Am I able to leave it out completely? We are all out and I’m trying to avoid another grocery store trip!😬

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      February 2, 2017 at 5:22 pm

      Hi Sara – yes, the maple syrup is for sweetness. If you don’t have any you can substitute another sweetener to taste – not sure if you’d want to leave the sweetener out all together!

      Reply
  17. T says

    March 13, 2017 at 12:30 am

    So I tried it with a rather strongly flavored raw honey, which I could taste. I think I should use a milder flavored honey next time, or go with the maple syrup. Also, I forgot to add the cinnamon, which might have covered the honey flavor a bit. It was still extremely creamy & I loved the flavor overall. Looking forward to trying it again soon!

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      March 14, 2017 at 6:49 pm

      I prefer using maple syrup – but a milder tasting honey might also do the trick. 🙂

      Reply
  18. Tamara Valley says

    March 22, 2017 at 12:41 pm

    Hello! I have a quick question. Do you think this would work in this icebox cake recipe? Or would something funny happen with the avocados in the fridge overnight? http://livingsweetmoments.com/icebox-matzo-cake-recipe-great-dessert-idea-passover-seder/

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      March 22, 2017 at 6:55 pm

      The icing keeps well in the fridge for one or two days – so I think it should work in the recipe just fine. Let me know how it goes!

      Reply
  19. Beatriz says

    May 11, 2017 at 2:51 pm

    For decorative purposes, how well does this icing hold it’s shape? Do you think that you could use it to create designs? Wondering because I would like to be able to sub this in for buttercream icing.

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      May 12, 2017 at 4:34 pm

      I can’t say for sure, because I haven’t tried it. But it appears to have a good consistency so it might work!

      Reply
  20. Linde says

    May 13, 2017 at 11:20 am

    Hello, so I made the frosting for my chocolate red bean cake, super simple recipe btw all vegan. Just made this frosting and it is AMAZING. I cant stop eating it and its not even put on the cake… The taste is so good I dont even know… Time to read the rest of your website and join the mailing list.

    Thank you very much I’m pretty sure my motherday cake is gonna be amazing cuz of you.

    Reply
    • Margaret says

      May 14, 2017 at 11:58 am

      Thanks Linde – glad you like it. I know what you mean about eating it before it gets on the cake. I’m guilty of that as well. 😉

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 75+ Avocado Recipes for Every Meal (Even Dessert!) says:
    March 10, 2016 at 6:42 pm

    […] 64. Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting […]

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  2. 36 Vegan Ways To Eat Avocados | Collective-Evolution says:
    March 25, 2016 at 6:00 pm

    […] Recipe: Avocado Frosting […]

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  3. Invite Avocado to Dessert: The Best of Avocado and Chocolate – Honest Cooking says:
    July 28, 2016 at 1:30 pm

    […] Feel free to slather this creamy frosting on cupcakes and brownies—or, just eat it straight from the bowl. (No judgment.) See the recipe. […]

    Reply
  4. 7 Uses for Avocado | Luvo says:
    January 17, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    […] No, I don’t mean force your avocado to chug a Smirnoff Ice. I mean use it as icing for your desserts! It might not sound like a logical idea, but just like avocado makes for smooth blended beverages, it can also produce creamy icing without having to use dairy. Try this recipe: Dark Chocolate Avocado Frosting. […]

    Reply

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Margaret HelthalerHi! I'm Margaret. I share simple recipes and insights on how to follow a plant-based lifestyle.
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