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My nephew have lactose allergy and I want to bake his birthday cake , were we live we don't have a lactose intolerance products but I found a cacao butter can I used to make buttercream frosting??

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Cocoa butter isn't like regular butter as it is very hard at room temperature. It's what makes chocolate so hard when cooled, so it's not ideal for a creamy frosting. There are many other alternatives that would work better, for instance vegan butters which are designed to mimic butter's properties. Some vegetable shortenings can work as well, although they don't have much flavor.

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  • Thank u , the problem I'm facing is not having this option vegan butter aren't available , we only have margarine which isn't 100% vegan, But thanks for the help.
    – Jojo Mojoo
    Jul 27, 2020 at 13:18
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    As long as the margarine isn't dairy you shouldn't have any trouble. I only mention vegan butters as they are non-dairy by definition.
    – GdD
    Jul 27, 2020 at 13:31
  • I have no idea if this would work well, but it you have regular vegetable oil of some sort (that's mildly flavored), you might be able to melt a little cocoa butter and vegetable oil together, and then let it firm up again as a shortening substitute. I'm saying this based on my adventures melting olive oil and beeswax together for lotion... I can't recommend any proportions though.
    – kitukwfyer
    Jul 27, 2020 at 15:06
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Here are some different options for non-dairy frosting without vegan butter. Then I got on a roll, and came up with some non-frosting suggestions.

  • Make your own vegan butter, then use it in a buttercream frosting recipe.

  • Tofu cream cheese frosting. Drain and press some tofu. Substitute the tofu plus some vegan coconut yogurt into a cream cheese frosting recipe. If you can't get vegan coconut yogurt, experiment and try the recipe without the yogurt. If you tried this with a mild flavor like vanilla, it will taste mostly like tofu. This probably would work best with a recipe for chocolate cream cheese frosting.

  • Make chocolate ganache using full-fat coconut milk instead of heavy cream.

  • Make German chocolate frosting, using non-dairy milk instead of whatever milk product your recipe uses. You can try omitting the butter, or substituting some coconut oil. This type of frosting is surprisingly flexible, because it's basically just a sticky syrup holding together coconut and pecans. Here's a vegan recipe that uses coconut milk, soymilk, and cornstarch instead of butter, milk and eggs.

  • Make frosting with vegetable shortening. Substitute nondairy milk for the milk in the recipe. Yes, it does tastes a bit like vegetable shortening. If you have a container of shortening that's been sitting in your pantry for an unknown length of time, I recommend splurging on a new carton. Old shortening has a stronger taste to it. As with the tofu frosting, this one is probably better with a stronger flavor, like chocolate.

  • Make a simple glaze, using powdered sugar and citrus juice or nondairy milk. There are lots of recipes available for glazes of all different flavors, if you find one with butter in it, just omit the butter. It's not essential in a glaze.

  • Garnish with fresh fruit, and dust with powdered sugar. (You can do this alone, or on top of your frosting or glaze. But not with German chocolate cake frosting.)

  • For a layer cake, use jam or fruit preserves for the middle layer. This would pair nicely with a glaze drizzle on top.

Note: the first three suggestions are summarized from this blog. Visit the original site for details and recipes.

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