This luxurious, tasty coconut buttercream provides a beautiful tropical addition to your favorite desserts. It can be used to frost cakes, cupcakes, or layered desserts (see list below for more ideas).

I made this buttercream to be paired with my pineapple curd, and it was a huge hit.

Tasty Coconut Buttercream

This buttercream was created for a wedding celebration for a friend. I’m at the age where my friends’ children are getting married. What a joy it has been. It’s been a busy summer with 6 weddings paired with six showers. As someone who loves to bake, I’ve been a part of the all-hands-on-deck crew to bring desserts to the festivities.

This particular young lady eloped, and we were able to have a Hawaiian-themed wedding celebration for them, since they are going to spend the early years of their marriage on one of the islands.

It’s so fun, as a baker, to play with flavors. I haven’t created many tropical-themed desserts. I watch all the baking competition shows, so I imagine what I would do. Now, I had the opportunity to do it.

The compiled dessert, using both the buttercream and pineapple curd, is yet to come, but making this buttercream was essential to the flavor combination I was looking to make.

What’s in a coconut buttercream?

I adapted this tasty coconut buttercream from my favorite buttercream recipe that I use all the time. When creating new flavors, I always start with my base recipes that I know work well.

Butter – Room temperature is important. If you forgot to leave it out to have it ready for the dessert, follow my tips here for perfect, room-temperature butter. Butter provides richness and flavor. I go against the professional flow and use salted butter. I find it adds that little extra salt that hits at just the right moment.
Powdered Sugar – This is where the sweetness comes in, and it helps stabilize your buttercream. Frosting too thin? Add a bit more powdered sugar.
Salt – Salt helps break through the sweetness and enhances the other flavors.
Cream of Coconut – You might be wondering what the difference is between cream of coconut and coconut milk. The key differences are sugar content and consistency: coconut milk is a lighter liquid with a higher water content, whereas cream of coconut is a very rich, sweet, and dense product with added sugar. If you only have coconut milk on hand, it could work as well. You just want to start off with less coconut milk and build up to the texture you want. Just taste and consider the texture as you add. Not thick enough? Just add more powdered sugar to your mix. Cream of cocont adds to the smooth, creamy texture, as well as adding the all-important coconut flavor.
Vanilla Bean Powder or Vanilla – The biggest difference between the two is the form. One is powder and one is liquid. The vanilla extract (affiliate link to my favorite kind – It’s more affordable and so much better than what you find in the grocery store) has the vanilla bean steeped in alcohol, while the vanilla bean powder, which is made from ground, dried vanilla beans and offers a strong, pure vanilla flavor. It is a more recent discovery I am embracing in my desserts. I love how it creates the vanilla bean specks in the buttercream.

Tasty Coconut Buttercream

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Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Course Dessert

Cuisine Baking

Ingredients

1 cup butter room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar sifted for best resut
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp cream of coconut
1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder or 1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Add softened butter to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix for about 2 minutes until the butter is lighter in color and fluffy in texture.
Add sifted powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing completely between additions. Always start the mixer slowly so the powder doesn't explode out the top. A tea towel over the mixer also helps keep the powder in the bowl.
Add salt, cream of coconut, vanilla bean powder, or the vanilla extract. Blend on low speed until combined.
Scrape down the side of the bowl, and then beat on high for 3-4 minutes until the buttercream is nice and fluffy. Adding air creates a light, fluffy texture that pipes beautifully.

Keyword buttercream, cake, cupcakes

How to Use Coconut Buttercream

cakes
cupcakes
parfaits
layered desserts
pastries
cookie frosting
brownies
cake pops
macrons

Like with my pineapple curd, I’m going to give you a sneak peek at the compiled mini-dessert I made for our wedding celebration. Full instructions coming soon!