Hello all! After a long baking break break due to pregnancy I'm back and dying to decorate some cakes! I need to bake a vegan cake for my daughter's baptism and have a few questions about making vegan icing:

1. I've only used non-vegan shortening. What shortening can I use that will crust nicely and will also hold up in Mississippi heat? I'm concerned about it crusting and being the right consistency since it won't have any trans-fats. I used trans-fat free Crisco when I did my first cake and the icing was a disaster.

2. What about other ingredients? We already use soy-free Earth Balance spread at home...will it be an adequate substitute for butter? Will the consistency of the icing come out the same?

In case it matters, I'll be covering the cake in fondant and it will be tiered - either 2 or 3 tiers, not sure yet. I'd also like to know that the icing works well alone (i.e. not under fondant) so I can use it for my vegan customers as well.

Thanks in advance!

I don't use any shortening in my vegan icing. I use all Earth Balance and I just increase the amount of confectioners sugar until I get the consistency I need.

I use it for cupcakes, cakes, everything...

This held up in August, in NY, with very high humidity under fondant for my son's birthday cake .

I have the recipe on my blog under " how I do vegan " if you would like to check it out.

Awesome! I'll check it out! Thanks!
 

I'm bookmarking that page! It's SUPER helpful, thanks so much! Can't wait to try out the recipes!

Question - does it matter if I use the soy free Earth Balance? And does it have to specifically be the whipped Earth Balance?

Also, I'm assuming water can be substituted equally for coconut milk, correct? My husband has tree nut allergies which includes coconut

What vegan fondant do you use?

AOur vegan buttercream is made with Sweetex Z (you can use regular Sweetex is trans fats are not banned in your area) and Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks (not soy-free). Satin Ice fondant is vegan.

I use Satin Ice also for my vegan and non vegan cakes.

I have always used the whipped Earth Balance , I have not tried it with the soy free. If I could get the EB sticks in my area I would prefer to use those though. I don't imagine soy free would make a difference but you may want to whip up a small test batch to make sure.

I have never substituted water for coconut milk, if you have done this in recipes before and it worked, it should work in mine, but again, I would make 1/2 a recipe just to test it out. The coconut milk also adds to the flavor so I would test it with the substitutions before I made a lot.

i use satin ice as a vegan fondant and i use Copha as a vegan shortening and i use it with nuttelex which is a vegan margarine spread. Copha is apparently pretty hard to come by in the US but Palmin which is the same product under a different name is suppose to be easier for you to find.

I also have a wicked vegan lime frosting recipe, if you're interested.