Sourcing Coconut Milk for Frosting

• You can usually find cans of coconut milk in both reduced and full fat options in the international foods aisle of your grocery store. In frosting, rich flavor is key and a thick texture is important for spreading properly onto the cake. For these reasons, it’s better to opt for a full fat coconut milk, which is thicker in texture and richer in taste. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also make your own coconut milk using fresh or dried coconut meat and water.

Thicken Up

• Before just dumping a can or two of coconut milk into your mixing bowl, thicken the coconut milk to prevent a runny frosting. The best way to thicken the coconut milk is to reduce it over heat. Reducing a liquid means that water evaporates as the mixture cooks, allowing it to thicken into a smaller volume. Boil the coconut milk for 25 to 30 minutes, remove from heat and chill until cool and thickened.

In the Mix

• If you’re using a coconut milk frosting recipe, add the coconut milk in as instructed. However, you can also substitute equal parts coconut milk for regular milk or cream in a frosting recipe, incorporating as directed. Generally, butter and confectioner’s sugar are beat together with an electric mixer, and then the coconut milk can be beat into the mix, followed by salt and any other flavorings.

The Spread

• Since coconut milk does not have a very strong coconut flavor, coconut milk frosting can be used just about anywhere you’d use frosting made with regular milk. However, there are a few types of baked goods with which coconut milk frosting works especially well. An obvious choice is a coconut cake, which will echo the mild flavors of the frosting. For an extra coconut kick, sprinkle shredded coconut over the frosting. Coconut also pairs well with lemon and chocolate flavors, making coconut milk frosting a natural choice for lemon cupcakes, a devil’s food cake, or any other treat highlighting those ingredients.