Sweet Potato Frosting

This Sweet Potato Chocolate Frosting is made with all wholesome ingredients; no one will guess that it's as healthy as it is!

It's so easy to make and can be spread or piped onto cakes and cupcakes, and by using different varieties of sweet potatoes and the addition of cocoa powder or other natural dyes, you can make all kinds of fun colors too!

Desserts are one of the harder issues for people on special diets or who are simply trying to eat healthier. Sugar is in everything, and processed foods are made to taste great so we want more and more of them.

However, this healthy frosting is something special, and its base is truly a secret ingredient that no one will ever guess: the lowly sweet potato! It really is that good.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

This healthy frosting is amazing for so many reasons. It's

• Healthy: With sweet potato as the base, well, enough said. Plus it's full of fat to balance the carbs in the potato, and the fiber in the potato helps as well.
• Adaptable: You can use pretty much whatever sweetener you like, whether you're watching your carbs or not.
• Easy: Once the sweet potatoes are cooked, it's piece of cake (with healthy frosting)!
• Fun: Since you can get sweet potatoes in a number of colors (orange, purple, and white), and you can add colors to the white ones or cocoa to all of them, the sky's the limit on creative frosting colors that you can make with this recipe.
• Special-Diet Friendly: This recipe is free of sugar, nuts, gluten, grains, dairy, egg, corn, and soy. And this version is free of high-glycemic sweeteners too.
• Delicious: It seriously tastes like buttercream!

Ingredients

• sweet potato
• granulated or liquid sweetener
• liquid stevia
• cocoa or cacao powder
• unsweetened chocolate
• cashew butter
• coconut oil
• vanilla
• salt

How to Use

You can spread this frosting on brownies, layer it between cake layers, pipe it on cupcakes or muffins (like these Healthy Carob Muffins that can double as cupcakes); it holds its shape at room temperature), use it to decorate birthday cakes, or sandwich it between cookies or whoopie pies.

And if you’re really hankering for a sweet confection, you can just eat it off a spoon. I won't tell!

This frosting can be used as soon as it's mixed at room temperature as a dark, fudgy chocolate frosting that can be piped and will hold its shape.

For a lighter “buttercream,” refrigerate until firm and then whip.

Either way, no one will believe what is and what isn't in this!

Variations

There are so many fun frosting options to make with this recipe. You can off course add cocoa to any type of sweet potato to make chocolate sweet potato frosting as noted in the recipe card.

Also, you can make a plain frosting base with purple, regular, or white sweet potatoes and add natural colors (like natural blue food coloring) to a white sweet potato base for any color you'd like.

Add cinnamon to the “plain orange” frosting for a delightful flavor combination. Start with half a teaspoon and increase to taste.

Can You Freeze This Frosting?

Believe it or not, this frosting can be frozen! You can defrost it overnight in the refrigerator, then bring it to room temperature and beat it with electric beaters before using it.

My recommendation? Make a bunch of it and store it in the freezer so you can have Healthy Dairy-free Chocolate Frosting on demand!

Recipe Notes

• Coconut Oil Tips: If the coconut oil begins to separate (the mixture will appear oily and a bit curdled), OR if you find that the mixture is too thick, add one tablespoon more of the sweet potato purée at a time and blend again; it should come together in a silky, spreadable frosting.
• Puree: If using a canned sweet potato puree, make sure there is no added sugar; otherwise, it will be WAY too sweet!

Special Diet Options

• Sweetener: You can use a lower-carb sweetener instead of coconut sugar if need be. Xylitol is one option, and an erythritol/monk blend or allulose blend will work well too. You can use any sweetener you like; however, stevia extract would not work as well due to it not having any bulk.
• Liquid Stevia: You can use vanilla liquid stevia instead of plain. This Homemade Liquid Stevia will work as well.
• Cocoa Powder Alternative: Unsweetened cocoa powder can be substituted for the cacao, and you could also use carob powder, which works for AIP. Another option would be to use a combination of any of the three.
• Unsweetened Chocolate Alternative: You can use dairy and sugar-free chocolate chips instead of unsweetened chocolate. These Homemade Chocolate Chips would work great; make them with carob for AIP.
• Cashew Butter Alternatives: Sunflower butter or sesame tahini can be used instead of cashew butter for nut-free. Use coconut butter for AIP.
• Coconut Oil Alternative: I haven't tried it, but you could try a light olive oil or avocado oil, but melted butter or palm shortening will work better.

Other Healthy Treats You'll Love

• No Bake Almond Joy Bars
• Chocolate Avocado Truffles
• No-Bake Coconut Cookies
• No Bake Chocolate Mint Bars
• Silky Smooth Bean Fudge

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this frosting once you've tried it!

Top photo courtesy of Ricki Heller.

Recipe from Naturally Sweet and Gluten-Free: 100 Allergy-Friendly Vegan Desserts by Ricki Heller. Used with permission.

Ricki Heller is a prolific writer who used to share her vast collection of gluten-free recipes online. She's now focusing on writing and teaching others to write. Ricki’s second cookbook, Naturally Sweet & Gluten-Free, was released in September, 2013. Her first book, Sweet Freedom, is one of only three cookbooks recommended by Ellen DeGeneres on her website. Ricki was also an Associate Editor for Simply Gluten-Free Magazine and has written for Clean Eating magazine, Allergic Living, Living Without, VegNews, and many other publications. Ricki lives near Toronto, Canada, with her husband and two dogs.