What better way to garnish your sweet baked goods than with a delicious chocolate frosting? But if you’re worried about the excess sugar and fat, our vegan healthy chocolate frosting comes to the rescue! It’s silky, shiny and indulgent – only two ingredients are needed.
The classic frosting consists of soft butter that is whipped with lots of powdered sugar, cocoa powder and milk. Although it’s quite tasty, it’s not that healthy as it’s high in fats and sugars. It is also unsuitable for people with milk allergies or a vegan diet.
Instead, we just used applesauce and dark chocolate in our healthy glaze – done. You can use store-bought sugar-free applesauce or make it from scratch using the steps below. Then combine it with melted dark chocolate in a bowl and your delicious glaze is ready.
The great thing about this recipe is that the frosting is a mixture of buttercream and ganache. You can chill it for 10-15 minutes and use it as a spreadable filling or topping for layered cakes like this applesauce cake. Alternatively, you can let it set longer in the fridge, about 30-40 minutes, and then pipe it onto cupcakes; It beautifully retains the piping patterns.
We chose applesauce as a vegan substitute for butter to add structure to the frosting while keeping the fats low. Applesauce is a great fat alternative in casseroles like cakes and cookies, and it works really well in this icing too. For chocolate, make sure to use a dark variety with at least 70% or more to avoid excess sugar and fat.
What makes this chocolate icing healthier than other recipes is that we didn’t use any added white sugar. All of the sweetness comes from naturally occurring sugars in apples and the small amount of sugar found in dark chocolate. Sweet!
NOTE: With the standard ingredients, you can glaze 12 medium cupcakes or an 20 cm (8 inch) two-tier cake.