Hi! I'm wondering if any of you have a good non-dairy/nut free vanilla frosting that would work under fondant. I tried one using coconut oil/butter and powdered sugar and it was WAY too sweet! It just tasted like powdered sugar. :-P I've scoured the internet for recipes and can't seem to find one that works. Anyone have any ideas? It would be greatly appreciated!!

You wanted dairy free yet you used butter?

You could try substituting a dairy free liquid (i.e. soy milk) in Indydebi's Crisco-Based Buttercream recipe...

http://www.cakecentral.com/recipe/6992/indydebis-crisco-based-buttercream-icing

(due to some forum issues I am unable to add the link directly, but the web address is above)

@AAtKT  she used coconut butter (coconut oil) not dairy butter. You can get various dairy free margarines line  Nuttelex that you can use in place of butter in your icing recipes. I used to just replace the butter with it, no changing the recipe other than that. If your recipe calls for a tiny bit of liquid you could use water.

Cooked flour frosting...tastes like Swiss Meringue bc, but much less sweet. I substitute almond or rice milk instead of cows milk in the recipe, also you can use all shortening instead of butter...and it will still not be too sweet. Add some butter flavor extract to take away the greasiness of the shortening. 

Careful though, Dream whip has dairy in it. But maybe subbing a powdered non-dairy coffee creamer would work?

I used my ABC recipe but used vegan butter (Earth Balance) and rice milk instead. Worked great and the taste and texture were similar too :-)

Oh... I thought she used a combination of  coconut oil and butter... My misunderstanding...  

Thank you all for your suggestions! I'll try and experiment with a few recipes and see what I like.

I usually replace the butter in my usual buttercream recipe with earth balance to make it non-dairy.  Just be aware that there are different earth balance types and they all taste a bit different in buttercream.  Please be careful with non-dairy coffee creamers.  Even though they say non-dairy, when you look more closely many still contain casein, which is a dairy protein that many people who have dairy allergies are allergic to.  Ridiculous to have a dairy product in something called non-dairy I know, but you would be shocked at how many products are like that.  Your best bet is to look for products labeled vegan.  

I have a lot of clients that request dairy-free cakes. one of my go-to options are dairy-free ganache.  I use a vegan/dairy-free cream with a good quality chocolate.  1200g chocolate to 600g non-dairy cream.  I love the taste and ganache is a pleasure to work with under fondant. good luck!

Thank you for the warning FrostedMoon. I was unaware that casein had milk proteins in it. H0mesweeth0me - I've made non-dairy ganache using coconut cream and Droste cocoa powder. It was delicious but didn't harden like typical ganache does. I'd like to try getting sharp edges with the upside down method for this cake. What non-dairy cream have you used, and does it "harden" like typical ganache? I may try it with coconut milk and the cocoa powder to see if I can obtain the right consistency ( I can't use a baking chocolate bar because the cake has to be nut free as well and most bars are made in a factory containing nuts).