I have wanted to create a super low sugar icing that tasted good for ages. I believe it’s here, if I do say so myself. This is inspired by one of Jude Blereau’s recipes from her Wholefood for Children book, where the way you get the sugar out is by thickening some coconut cream first and incorporating it into the beaten butter / sugar… This is even higher in the coconut mixture and half the sugar again with a rapadura for a really caramelly taste – I figured as part spread where there will be several sweet things grabbed in quick succession, I wanted to see if I could go ‘super low’ on teh sugar and it still pass the taste test. You could ice 20 cupcakes with it and the recipe calls for 50g rapadura. The average cupcake will have 1/2 a tsp of sugar on top, instead of the usual 2.5 tsp sugar per cupcake in a traditional icing recipe – A massive improvement and the best part is it tastes super yummy and is packed with healthy fats!
It all came about because a friend of the family asked me to bake a super nourishing round of cupcakes for their son’s party. Then the pic of them iced the other day where I fluked the icing and didn’t measure anything out… So, much to the despair of my son, we had to test it again today as one of you guys was desperate for the icing recipe and I had some time this afternoon – such a selfless little boy, isn’t he to make it with me and be a food tester. Test passed. Hope you enjoy!
Yay! I want pictures of your various creations for this one! Tag me @lowtoxlife when you pop your treats on instagram.
Need a cake to ice? Try my choose your own adventure cake, my coconut cupcakes, my spiced fig and ginger bread, banana bread or chocolate coconut cupcakes.
I hope you love it. There’s way too much of this in my fridge right now. I’m the only one here!
Real treats. happy bodies.
Whipped Caramel Icing Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 ml coconut milk
- 2 tbsp tapioca or arrowroot flour
- 1 tsp vanilla bean powder
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 100 g butter softened at room temp overnight
- 50 g rapadura sugar (if you can’t have fructose at all, use the praline from my milo recipe and mix 50g of that in so you get that crunchy caramel vibe minus the fructose)
Instructions
- Heat a small saucepan over the stove with the coconut milk and tapioca / arrowroot
- When it thickens, whisk over the heat for 1 minute.
- Pour the big blob into a bowl and pop some baking paper over its surface.
- Pop in the fridge until it cools (2 hours)
- Then once it’s cooled you can make the icing
- Pop into a kitchenAid mixer or using handbeaters, whip the butter until a couple of shades paler.
- Add vanilla powder and sugar and beat on high for 30 seconds
- Then add the blobby cold thick coconut milk / flour mix and the 2 tsp lime/ lemon juice
- Beat on high for 1-2 minutes until well combined and the texture is a marshmallow whipped texture.
- You’re done. Pop in the fridge for 30 minutes before working with it. It’s going to be easier once thickened a little. It will set really nicely and not spill or wobble so pop in the fridge and take out a couple of hours before serving so the butter isn’t hard any more.
Colour / flavour options
- To make it pink – Add 1 tbsp beetroot juice or 1 tbsp raspberry juice from frozen raspberries
- To make it chocolatey – Ditch the lime / lemon juice and add 1-2 heaped tbsp cocoa powder (raw or dutch processed) and whip that into it with the sugar.
- To make it chocolatey – Ditch the lime / lemon juice and add 1-2 heaped tbsp cocoa powder (raw or dutch processed) and whip that into it with the sugar.
- To make it “Christmas in July” – You didn’t hear it from me, but a tbsp cognac instead of the citrus juice and a tsp ground cinnamon, turns it into eggnog icing. I’m serious.
