This recipe for vegan chocolate frosting without margarine came about because I dislike margarine. It’s a very simple way to make a healthy frosting. My recipe is refined sugar free being sweetened with a little coconut syrup and dried apricots. You could use maple syrup if you can’t get coconut syrup.

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As my regular readers will know, I started to not tolerate cows dairy a few years ago. In addition to that ‘Roo’, having had a cows milk protein allergy as a baby, still doesn’t tolerate it well.

When I first started this blog I used to make things dairy free by using margarine. Sometimes that is necessary depending on the recipe. In fact I wrote about butter alternatives here.

However, as time has gone on I’ve tried to avoid it as far as possible.

Now-a-days I prefer to eat a natural diet where possible and processed fats don’t play a role here.

The turning point for me on my understanding of fats was when I read Dr Steven Linn’s Dental Diet book. It’s a fascinating book that highlights the importance of eating a natural diet for your body and teeth.

He says that healthy teeth (and if you read the book you’ll realise why you want them and it’s not just about the teeth) require healthy gums.

If you have bleeding gums it’s a sign of inflammation in the body.

What’s wrong with margarine?

The problem with processed vegetable oils, such as those found in margarine, is that they are very high in omega-6 fatty acids.

Now I’m sure you’ve heard of omega fatty acids and may be confused at this point. That’s because we are often told to increase our intake of omega-3 fatty acids (high levels in oily fish).

This is because our body is designed to eat these fatty acids in a 1:1 ratio.

Instead, with our reliance on processed vegetable fats, that ratio is more like 16:1 (omega-6:omega-3).

This imbalance of fatty acids leads to inflammation in the body and increases our risk of obesity and inflammatory diseases. Which is why we are told to increase our omega-3 fatty acid intake and decrease our omega-6 intake.

Margarine, being made from processed vegetable fats is one thing to consider cutting back on if you want to get your omega ratio back on track. However, the majority of processed food (including staples such as bread) is high in omega-6 fatty acids due to the vegetable oils used.

What oils are high in omega 6?

Sunflower oil

Corn oil

Soybean oil

Cottonseed oil

The solution, of course, is to cook your food from scratch using the best quality, natural, unprocessed ingredients you can find.

I personally tend to use virgin coconut oil when I’m baking dairy-free. However, it does have a coconutty flavour so I’ve used cashew nuts as the base to make a dairy free frosting without margarine.

Cashews make a delicious, decadent icing that I know you’re going to love. And what’s more you get the added nutritional benefits from the nuts themselves.

You can read about the benefits of cashew nuts here.

How do you make this vegan chocolate frosting without margarine?

As I mentioned above, I often use coconut oil instead of margarine in my recipes. However, for this purpose I felt it was too strong in flavour so I’ve opted to make a cashew nut frosting instead.

I also wanted to make a more healthy frosting so I’ve made this refined sugar free by sweetening it with coconut syrup and dried apricots.

There is one vital piece of equipment that you’re going to need if you want to make it. And that is a good high powered blender like this one I have. That makes sure that you don’t get a lumpy frosting but a lovely smooth healthy frosting that everyone will enjoy.

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