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

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.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup canned coconut milk (see Notes to ensure you're measuring properly)
- 1 + 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- Pinch of table salt (if using unsalted butter)
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- Small Coconut Cake or Coconut Cupcakes, for serving
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the milk and flour. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Once boiling, cook for 1-3 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes or until cool to the touch.
- In a large bowl on medium-high speed (with paddle attachment if using stand mixer), beat together the butter, sugar, and pinch of salt until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Scrape down the bowl then add the thickened milk and coconut extract. Beat another 1 minute or until fluffy.
If the frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar to thicken it. If the frosting is too thick, add a few drops of uncooked milk to thin it out.
Use right away or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
- To measure canned coconut milk: Shake the can well then open and add to a bowl. Stir the solid and liquid together until smooth and pourable. Measure then save the rest for future use. Check out my recipes using coconut milk for ideas.
- If using leftover coconut milk stored in the refrigerator, it needs to be room temperature. If it's too thick, microwave in 10 second increments until smooth then measure.
- Enjoyed this recipe? Check out my full list of Frosting Recipes, including chocolate, strawberry, and more.
- Need cake ideas? Check out my full list of Small Cake Recipes and Small Batch Cupcake Recipes.
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Thank you for this recipe, the frosting was light, fluffy, & yummy! Everyone really enjoyed it, most of all, it had a nice rich coco nutty flavor!
Oh wonderful! Happy to hear you enjoyed it.
I made it. I tasted good but very runny. I had to add the entire bag of sugar. When I went to frost, it was like a dump cake. Frosting everywhere.
Hmm if your frosting was still runny, it sounds like maybe an issue with the coconut milk part. What brand/type did you buy for the coconut milk? And did you boil it until thickened?
This frosting is ridiculously amazing. I could eat the whole bowl on nothing but a spoon. Realized too late that I did not have any coconut extract, but honestly it doesn’t even need it.
Glad you enjoyed the frosting! The coconut extract adds a little more oomph but is still delicious without it (as you discovered).
I am so glad to have found your site! I made the coconut cake and frosting today, it was very tasty and had a nice texture. Due to my health, I adjusted the ingredients slightly and used avocado oil (instead of butter for the cake) and unsweetened coconut flakes. For the frosting I did use butter and just replaced a couple tablespoons with avocado oil. I plan to try the German chocolate cake next!
Glad the cake still worked with your adjustments!
Hi this is Nina, and am SO GLAD I found your ‘specialized’ recipe site. I am older and single and LOVE to bake, in fact I regularly bake a birthday cake for myself if/when no friends are around or are free enough -my b-day is just before X-mas so…-to bake one for me. Not a biggie!
But here is my question. I’m big time into coconut cake( am trying your recipe today) but also have a love of lemon flavor like yourself. I want to change this cocnut buttercream frosting into a COCONUT LEMON frosting BUT am fairly sure that adding lemon juice would hurt the consistency of this marvelous recipe SO am thinking of using lemon extract instead. Could you tell me how to, and in what quantity to add it.? And also if I should add the lemon zest as well? Thanks a mill. And Merry Christmas!
You can start with 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract then you can add more if needed. Lemon zest would help as well! Probably 1 teaspoon but you could taste and decide if it needs more.
Thanks for answering so quickly, and on Christmas to boot! I’m on my way home to try this right now. Hope you’re having a good holiday!
this recipe is great, it was easy to make and sooo delicious! I only had enough frosting to decorate the top and fill in most of the middle of the two individual layers I made. (also added just a bit of unsweetened grated coconut to the very end, next time I will use the flakes instead of the grated coconut) But it was still fantastic!
What size layer cake did you make?