Coconut Frosting

Want to make the best coconut buttercream frosting for your desserts? This Coconut Frosting from coconut milk is an irresistible creamy tropical frosting used to decorate coconut cake and cupcakes.

As mentioned with my coconut cupcakes, my dad’s favorite dessert flavor is coconut.

And you certainly can’t have cupcakes or small coconut cake without Coconut Frosting!

It’s a creamy buttercream frosting with coconut milk and coconut extract that gives it an irresistible tropical flavor in every bite.

Use it to frost your coconut cookie bars for a double coconut flavor.

Or go for complementary flavors and use it for carrot cake cupcakes or small carrot cake.

Ready to get started?

Ingredients For Coconut Frosting

To get started on your coconut buttercream frosting, here’s what you need:

• Coconut milk: Smooths out the frosting. Make sure you’re using canned and not a carton from the dairy aisle (see more below)
• Flour: Thickens the coconut milk so it’s not too runny
• Butter: Provides richness and creaminess of buttercream (hence the name)
• Powdered sugar: Thickens the frosting so you can easily spread or pipe it
• Salt: Add a pinch of salt if using unsalted butter
• Coconut extract: Similar to vanilla, it’s extract made with coconut meat. It brings out more coconut flavor. Otherwise it’s very subtle.

What is canned coconut milk?

Before we get to the recipe, let’s talk about coconut milk!

It’s a rich creamy liquid made by blending together coconut meat and water.

These are cans you find in the Asian, Mexican, and baking aisles – not the cartons in the dairy aisle. There’s a difference in the thickness of the milk.

Your label should say coconut milk. Not coconut water or cream of coconut. And certainly do not buy the lite version as it won’t have enough fat.

When you open up your can, you’ll see two parts – the coconut cream (solid white part) and the coconut liquid.

More than likely it’ll be separated in the can, so you’ll need to dump everything into a large bowl or measuring cup then whisk until completely smooth.

At this point it should be a thick pourable milk you can measure for your recipes.

What To Do With Leftover Coconut Milk

Because you can only buy coconut milk in cans, you’ll definitely have extra afterwards.

Don’t fret! Check out my recipes using coconut milk, including coconut milk hot chocolate, coconut milk pancakes, coconut popsicles, and more!

How To Make Coconut Frosting

Here’s how to make your coconut milk frosting:

Whisk together coconut milk and flour in a small saucepan then bring to a boil. Cook until thickened then chill for 15 minutes.

Beat together butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy then scrape down the bowl.

Add cooled coconut milk and coconut extract then beat another minute. If your frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar. If your frosting is too thick, add a few drops of milk.

That’s it! Use it right away or refrigerate for up to 3 days.

How much frosting does this coconut frosting recipe make?

Because I focus on small batch recipes, the yield for my coconut buttercream will vary depending on what you’re making:

• If you’re piping small batch vanilla cupcakes, you can frost between 6-8 cupcakes, depending on how tall you make the swirls.
• If you’re frosting lemon cupcakes with an offset spatula, you can frost 1 dozen cupcakes because you typically don’t use as much as you would piping.
• If you’re frosting a 6 inch small vanilla cake, you can frost the top and edges with about a spoonful or two left over, depending on how thick you like it.
• If you’re frosting an 8 inch cake, you can still frost the top and edges. Depending on how thick you like your frosting, you may or may not have some leftover.
• If you’re frosting an 8×8 strawberry snack cake, you can frost the top.
• If you’re frosting a small two layer lemon raspberry cake, you can frost the middle and top. Frosting the edges will depend on how much you’ve used so far. You can always leave it as a naked cake with the edges showing.

More Frosting Recipes

Enjoyed this Buttercream frosting with coconut? Here are more frosting recipes you can make including:

• Small Batch Buttercream Frosting
• Small Batch Chocolate Buttercream
• German Chocolate Cake Frosting
• Cinnamon Buttercream
• Strawberry Buttercream
• Small Batch Cream Cheese Frosting
• Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
• Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

First published September 8, 2020