Name: Easy Vanilla Frosting (Reduced Sugar)
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup plus ⅓ cup Sucanat (6 ounces); 24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter , softened; 3 tablespoons heavy cream; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why This Recipe Works

While sophisticated flavors certainly have their place, a great vanilla frosting is sure to please every palate and pair with any cake. For this simplest of toppings, we decided to keep the method simple to match. Since we were only using a few ingredients, the flavor of the sugar could really shine through, an added bonus when using highly flavorful sugars like Sucanat and coconut sugar. Many frosting recipes call for milk, but we found that heavy cream gave us the silkiest texture. Usually, making frosting is as easy as whipping everything together until it's light and fluffy, but the key to the smoothest texture lay in an added step: grinding the Sucanat in small batches for a full minute. Since vanilla works well as a base for other flavors, we decided to create a few flavor variations to make our simple frosting even more versatile. While we love the hearty molasses flavor that Sucanat adds to this frosting, it produces a light brown–colored frosting.

Before You Begin

You can learn more about Sucanat in this article. For a more mild flavor and traditional, white-colored frosting, use confectioners' sugar in place of Sucanat. Do not use salted butter or omit the heavy cream or you will ruin the frosting. Do not skip grinding the Sucanat in step 1 or the frosting will be gritty.

Instructions

Working in 4 batches, grind Sucanat in spice grinder until fine and powdery, about 1 minute. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip butter, cream, vanilla, and salt together on medium-high speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.

Reduce mixer speed to low, slowly add ground Sucanat, and whip until incorporated and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high and whip frosting until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.