Greek Yogurt Frosting for Cakes

Why frosting with Greek yogurt?

I chose to combine Greek yogurt into this frosting as it creates a lighter taste and mouthfeel than the buttery cream cheese topping typically spread on carrot cakes and cupcakes.

Generally, the frosting for a carrot cake is made with:

• cream cheese
• butter
• icing sugar
• vanilla essence

However, for this recipe, I have switched the butter with Greek yogurt and the icing sugar with maple syrup for a lighter caramel taste.

It is so morish and doesn’t have that sickly sweet taste that frosting often has. Yet it is beautifully thick and tangy. I could spread it on about anything!

Ingredients for Greek yogurt frosting

Cream cheese – typically used in tangy frosting. Use block cream cheese as it is firmer than the cream cheese you can purchase in a tub [it has a lower water content]. Further, full-fat cream cheese will give a thicker, more luscious texture than low-fat cream cheese.

Greek yogurt – use a thick, natural, full-fat and unsweetened Greek yogurt to give your frosting flavour and smoothness. Low-fat yogurt will result in a runny frosting, while full-fat Greek yogurt ensures your frosting will be thick and creamy, holding its shape on cakes and cupcakes.

Maple syrup – gives a caramel sweetness without the grittiness of sugar and a luscious off-white colour. I chose maple syrup over honey, which can become gritty when cooled. However, the sweetener you use will depend on your taste preferences and what you have available. Hey, there is no reason you can’t use icing sugar!

Vanilla extract – gives a light vanilla flavour to your frosting.

How to make this yogurt frosting

Mix the cream cheese, Greek yogurt, maple syrup and vanilla extract together with a whisk, handheld mixer or Thermomix for about five minutes.

You may need to scrape and repeat a few times to combine all the ingredients thoroughly and to ensure it becomes creamy. Once combined, the frosting should be smooth with no lumps.

How to use Greek yogurt frosting

You can use your Greek yogurt frosting on anything you’d normally put frosting on, such as carrot cake and cupcakes. I slathered it on my pumpkin, prune and coconut loaf—yum!

However, this frosting is so moreish you may like to enjoy it on bagels with sliced stone fruit or strawberries.

You can simply spread your frosting over cakes and bagels with a spatula or put it into a piping bag and pipe it onto cupcakes. To pipe the frosting onto cupcakes, use a piping bag or fill a sandwich bag with frosting and cut a corner off. Depending on room temperature, you can generally pipe it immediately, or it may need chilling first.

This recipe makes enough to top a cake or 12 cupcakes generously.

Try as a Greek yogurt cream cheese fruit dip

There is no reason you couldn’t use this frosting as a dip for fresh fruit on a sweet grazing platter. Double the quantity of Greek yogurt and ta-da; you have a fruit dip to die for.

Storage of your frosting

Store your frosting in an airtight container or piping bag in the fridge for up to one week.

The frosting will soften at room temperature. If you use it to top cakes or cupcakes, store them in the fridge, too.

Tip for perfectly creamy frosting every time

• If your frosting is runny, you may need to place it in the fridge to cool before spreading or piping.
• Your frosting may also be runny if you don’t use full-fat Greek yogurt or use cream cheese from a tub rather than block, which both have a higher water content.
• Bringing the cream cheese to room temperature before mixing minimises lumps in your frosting.

Is this a healthier version of frosting?

I can’t deny that many other recipe developers would declare this is a healthier version of frosting due to omitting butter and icing sugar and then combining probiotic-rich Greek yogurt. It is lower in saturated fat than regular frosting and does contain health-promoting probiotics. Still, labelling food as healthy or unhealthy is unhelpful and, at worst, can be harmful, leading to eating disorders such as orthorexia.

When we label a food as healthy, for example, we can create the perception that we can eat it with abandon. While when we label a food as unhealthy, we can feel immense guilt and shame for indulging in it.

Cake with frosting is one of life’s joys!

In my humble opinion, dessert is not where we ought to assess the nourishment value of food. We don’t eat cake for nourishment but for enjoyment. So, let’s release the guilt.

I chose this combination of ingredients for taste and how it feels in my body, which I believe are more important than any label of healthy or unhealthy.

So, whether you think this combination is tempting or want to stick to what you’ve always enjoyed, it is up to you.

Is this Greek yogurt frosting sugar-free?

This frosting recipe contains no refined sugar. However, this does not mean that it is sugar-free!

Maple syrup is a simple sugar like white or raw sugar. And there aren’t any health benefits of choosing maple syrup over white sugar, which I discuss in my blog on whether you can sugar detox [the quick answer is no].

My choice of sweetener in this frosting recipe has more to do with taste and texture than it supposedly being a healthier option.

You could use brown sugar instead of maple syrup. However, I think the flavour of maple syrup contrasts the tartness of the Greek yogurt and cream cheese best.

Have you tried this frosting?

I’d love to hear if you have tried this frosting. Let me know if you enjoyed it or whether you changed up the recipe in any way. Leave your comment below.

If you are looking for other frosting recipes, you may enjoy my recipe for wholesome chocolate frosting made with sweet potato and dates. Yes, you read that right!