I need to make a dairy free frosting (no eggs either...so meringue is also out) for this weekend.

I generally make my buttercream with 1 stick salted butter, 1 stick unsalted butter, 1 stick crisco, 2lb bag of powdered sugar, vanilla extract and 5-6 tbs of milk.

I like the buttery taste of this and I was wondering if using the butter flavored Crisco sticks would work (likely 1/2 and 1/2 regular and butter flavored). Or if I should use margarine in place of the butter. I was planning to sub rice milk for the milk (can't have soy, either ...but soy oil in the shortening is okay).

Any tried and true recipes out there? Do I just need to experiment - not a whole lot of time for that...

That butter Crisco is horrible.

Vegans love Earth Balance margarine in the sticks. It can be overwhelming used alone so I pair it with Spectrum HR shortening and some coconut oil. Then add powdered sugar and any flavorings. Just adjust until you like it. I don't write down my vegan frostings because they are best by using the taste test.

The milk is not necessary unless you need to thin it. Then any milk sub will do.

It can't be buttercream if it's vegan. Icing, yes, frosting, yes, but technically not buttercream (no butter).

Experiment which vegan marg tastes and works best for you. Use a vegan milk substitution. Don't use honey - many vegans won't eat honey.

Check your sugar and use a vegan brand. Some brands of sugar are filtered through bone char and many vegans are aware of this (although some don't care).

We make vegan buttercream frosting using soy-based margarine (Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks) and high ratio shortening (Sweetex Z). The margarine we use contains soy protein so it's probably out, but Earth Balance does make a soy-free margarine, so that's an option if sunflower lecithin is OK (sunflower can be cross-reactive with nuts so we don't use it). Some experimentation will be necessary.

So, Earth's Balance sticks are out because they contain soy protein, but I could use the Earth's Balance tub or the shortening sticks (although I am guessing it wouldn't have that buttery taste).

As far as dairy free margarine, I have Fleishman's Unsalted margarine sticks which I successfully use while baking.

I guess I was wondering if it would be better to substitue margarine for butter or to make just an all shortening frosting with either the butter flavor crisco or imitation butter flavor.

So, it seems that for the best tasting frosting, I will want to use margarine in the place of butter.

Fleishmann's original and salted sticks have dairy, but their unsalted sticks do not. They do have soybean oil and soy lecithin (thankfully those are okay). I will experiment between using a Fleishmann's unsalted stick and using the tub of Earth's Balance buttery spread (their sticks have soy protein).

I guess the next question would be "will frosting crust the same way if margarine is used instead of butter as long as the amount of shortening and sugar are the same?"

Yes. That is the margarine I use. I also use Earth's Balance.

Thanks. I will double check it. The packages that I currently have don't list whey as an ingredient and they are marked Kosher "Pareve" which means that it can't have any trace amounts of milk in it under Jewish dietary laws and supervision. This is one of the very few margarines on the market that has that designation and has been that way for many, many years (I have used it for baking for at least 10-12 years - just not for frosting). And, the link to the product on the Wegman's site didn't list whey, unless it has another name on that list and I was missing it.

Okay, I see it now. And after pulling out the package that I have, the box looks different and what I have does not list corn oil as an ingredient so maybe there are different formulations.

The package I have is pretty much soybean oil, water and other stuff...no whey. I appreciate you pointing this out so that I can make sure and double check the package each time...you never know when there can be a formulation change...