Can I make a buttercream using cacao butter?

Cocoa butter isn't like regular butter as it is very hard at room temperature. It's what makes chocolate so hard when cooled, so it's not ideal for a creamy frosting. There are many other alternatives that would work better, for instance vegan butters which are designed to mimic butter's properties. Some vegetable shortenings can work as well, although they don't have much flavor.

Here are some different options for non-dairy frosting without vegan butter. Then I got on a roll, and came up with some non-frosting suggestions.

• Make your own vegan butter, then use it in a buttercream frosting recipe.

• Tofu cream cheese frosting. Drain and press some tofu. Substitute the tofu plus some vegan coconut yogurt into a cream cheese frosting recipe. If you can't get vegan coconut yogurt, experiment and try the recipe without the yogurt. If you tried this with a mild flavor like vanilla, it will taste mostly like tofu. This probably would work best with a recipe for chocolate cream cheese frosting.

• Make chocolate ganache using full-fat coconut milk instead of heavy cream.

• Make German chocolate frosting, using non-dairy milk instead of whatever milk product your recipe uses. You can try omitting the butter, or substituting some coconut oil. This type of frosting is surprisingly flexible, because it's basically just a sticky syrup holding together coconut and pecans. Here's a vegan recipe that uses coconut milk, soymilk, and cornstarch instead of butter, milk and eggs.

• Make frosting with vegetable shortening. Substitute nondairy milk for the milk in the recipe. Yes, it does tastes a bit like vegetable shortening. If you have a container of shortening that's been sitting in your pantry for an unknown length of time, I recommend splurging on a new carton. Old shortening has a stronger taste to it. As with the tofu frosting, this one is probably better with a stronger flavor, like chocolate.

• Make a simple glaze, using powdered sugar and citrus juice or nondairy milk. There are lots of recipes available for glazes of all different flavors, if you find one with butter in it, just omit the butter. It's not essential in a glaze.

• Garnish with fresh fruit, and dust with powdered sugar. (You can do this alone, or on top of your frosting or glaze. But not with German chocolate cake frosting.)

• For a layer cake, use jam or fruit preserves for the middle layer. This would pair nicely with a glaze drizzle on top.

Note: the first three suggestions are summarized from this blog. Visit the original site for details and recipes.