Did you know that you can make a beautiful Dairy Free Coconut Whipped Cream?
Well, you sure can! Recently I’ve heard of some having problems and I can understand that because at least one of the most popular posts (from another diet plan) on this subject is not very detailed.
So I’ve put this one together for those that are going dairy free but longing for a nice, doable topping for their yummy, dairy-free treats. At the bottom of this post, I will be linking to a few cakes and cookies that would benefit from this topping.
I do admit that this “whipped cream” messes with your head a bit because it looks and acts so much like a frosting but….it’s a light, refreshing, mildly coconut flavored whipped cream. On top of that is so versatile and maintains it’s texture so well that you can add a variety of wonderful flavorings to make it even yummier and more useful. It is a bit fragile, in that it requires refrigeration until just before serving if you’d like it to maintain it’s shape.
I originally became intrigued with this gorgeous whipped cream that looks like a decadent frosting a few years back and tried it to see if it was really all it was whipped up to be.
Turns out that if you want a nice, light, versatile, dairy-free whipped cream you really can have it and it can also make a nice frosting. You will need to follow the instructions exactly, but it’s super easy.
The first thing you have to do is IGNORE the instructions on the can and NOT shake the can. Instructions to shake the can are written right there on the label of many brands, but this recipe won’t work if you shake the can before opening it.
Secondly, buy the best brand of canned coconut cream that you can find, I’ve used Thai full fat not lite, successfully several times and recommend it.
Refrigerate this coconut milk for hours. I just put it in the back of my fridge and store it that way because this is the only way I really use this milk.
The can that I used to make the pictured frosting had been in the back of my refrigerator for several weeks.
Open the can carefully and use a spoon to lift the thick, cream off the top of the watery substance at the bottom of the can. I never use the substance at the bottom of the can but I’m sure it would be good in smoothies.
I’m actually borrowing this appliance to make some yummy treats since my regular mixer is broken and wow am I impressed! I recently found it for 32% off right and free shipping if you have Amazon Prime so if you can splurge, or have a special day coming up you should get one. Clicking on this picture will take you over to my affiliate link.
If you’ve never worked with this milk before I can tell you it is different than the dairy whipped cream, but in a good way, if you love the mild coconut flavor.
It whips up quickly and stays whipped and once it is refrigerated it doesn’t try to separate in fact, it gets a little thicker.
Coconut cream is very forgiving and you can mix extra ingredients into it without totally deflating like dairy laden whipped cream recipes often do.
Although this whipped coconut cream isnt as decadent tasting as the bakery-style sweet treats that cream cheese and buttercream frostings can produce it is a very good, and for some, healthier replacement.
Variations:
I added two fresh chopped strawberries and 1 tsp vanilla extract to the basic mixture, plus a little vanilla to make it the beautiful, yummy strawberry coconut whipped cream. As you can tell the whipped cream is just a little less thick but it is still a great whipped cream consistency and my past experience is that it will thicken just a little more in the fridge.
Add sugar free chocolate chips to the plain Chocolate Chip Coconut Whipped Cream
Add 1 1/2 teaspoons espresso powder to a batch for a nice little Espresso Coconut Whipped Cream.
This Dairy Free Hot Cocoa Mix is a sweet treat anytime, not just winter. Mix it into smoothies for a German Chocolate flavor all summer too.
Here are some more dairy-free treats that some of my blogger friends thought might taste good topped with this Dairy Free Coconut Whipped Cream:
Sugar Free Chocolate Cake ~ Joy Filled Eats
Carrot Cake ~ Oh Sweet Mercy
Chocolate Peanutty Cookies ~ Mrs. Criddles Kitchen
Dairy Free Chocolate Cupcakes ~ Northernnester
Low Carb Chocolate Pudding Cake for One ~ Briana Thomas
For the latest from my blog in your newsfeed follow me on social media:
*Instagram *Pinterest *Facebook and let’s connect over at THM Southern Foodies with Nana’s Little Kitchen.
Watch for affiliate links to products I have used in these recipes when testing them and those which I can fully recommend.
If you need anything from the Trim Healthy Mama Store it would be a help to me if you could use my link and at no extra cost to you. Thanks for helping me keep producing and offering these free recipes. 🙂
Dairy Free Coconut Whipped Cream
Prep
Inactive
Total
Yield 1 1/2 Cups
Ingredients
- 1 14 ounce can full-fat canned coconut milk, very cold, separated
- 2 tablespoons powdered Gentle Sweet or other powdered low carb sweetener
- 1/16 tsp mineral salt
- flavorings of your choice
Instructions
- Open the cold coconut milk can carefully and lift the coconut cream out with a spoon. Leave behind all of the watery substance at the bottom of the can and use for another purpose.
- Add these cream, sweetener and salt to a mixing bowl and beat thoroughly using either a hand or stand beaters. Continue beating until you have stiff peaks and it is thoroughly mixed.
- You can serve it immediately or refrigerate.
- The photo shown is right after beating it, but I have stored it in the refrigerator for days and found it to be still whipped and ready to go and as I said it gets a little firmer and more pipeable.
Notes
The first thing you have to do is IGNORE the instructions on the can and NOT shake the can. It's written right there on the can but this recipe won't work if you shake the can before opening it.
Secondly, buy the best brand of canned coconut cream that you can find, I've use Thai full fat, not lite, successfully.
Refrigerate this coconut milk for hours. I just put it in the back of my fridge and store it that way because this is the only way I really use this milk. The can that I used to make the pictured frosting had been in the back of my refrigerator for several weeks.
Open the can carefully and use a spoon to lift the thick, cream off the top of the watery substance at the bottom of the can. I never use the substance at the bottom of the can but I'm sure it would be good in smoothies.
Courses Dessert
A little trick I use is to store my can of full fat coconut milk UPSIDE DOWN in the fridge. That way when you turn it over to open it all watery stuff in on top and easy to pour off. You can use it in baking too.
Good to know Diane! Thanks for the info, I will definitely use it and pass it along. 🙂 <3
This sounds like the perfect solution to my need for a dairy-free option! I will be trying it on the Carrot cake recipe you shared. Love having creative and tasty options!
This sounds like the perfect solution to my need for a dairy-free option! I will be trying it on the Carrot cake recipe you shared. Love having creative and tasty options!THM
I tried this recipe and followed it exactly including the brand of coconut milk. Mine never whipped up after 20 minutes of running the mixer. Tasted good but useless for the cupcakes I needed to frost.
Hi Joy. Sorry to hear you had no success with it. I’ve made this for years and have never had a failure so if your coconut milk was well chilled and you were careful to include only the solid cream part plus you used the correct brand I’m at a total loss as to how that happened. If I’d ever had even one failure with it I wouldn’t have posted it so hopefully, that was a one time fluke.
How much does one can yield? Is it stiff enough to pipe on a cake and be refrigerated decorated? Any subs for the powdered gentle sweet? I only have super sweet and pyure …I’m an experienced baker and want to make a small coconut cake with this as frosting for my in-laws 40th (my MIL is egg free, sugar free, dairy free, nut free, gluten free diet…thanks!
Hi Anne! I didn’t actually measure it per se but I’m thinking it whips up to almost a couple of cups? Just to be on the safe side use two cans for sure. That could change a bit if you use a less bulky sweetener like Pyure which I measure at twice as sweet as gentle sweet. If you don’t mind the flavor of Swerve the confectioners should work very well for this though and just use twice as much as called for with the gentle sweet. Hope this helps.
I would love to see a picture of this when you get it decorated if you can share. I fully intend to get some dairy-free cupcakes iced with it soon. And yes it is perfectly pipeable if you keep it chilled and don’t add any wet ingredients like juices or anything. Adding the two strawberries worked very well and it kept its thickness. 🙂