Healthy Dye Free Pink Frosting (Refined Sugar Free)

Natural Pink Frosting for Kids

When you want to make homemade treats fun for your kids but you don’t want all the dangerous and unhealthy ingredients, working in the kitchen can quickly turn frustrating. But with this dye free pink frosting recipe, you can keep all of your pink festivities just as fun without any of the bad stuff.

There are many ways to naturally color your frosting pink, but what I love about this recipe is that it works for any occasion because the flavor is neutral. I also just love the creamy texture of this beautiful pink frosting.

And of course my kids love the taste, particularly my 3-year-old. She is a bit of a frosting fanatic and will eat just about anything topped with frosting. But she also just loves that this frosting is pink since she is quite the princess.

And while my 3-year-old enjoys her pink frosted treats, I have zero concerns about the health effects of her consuming my homemade, from scratch, refined sugar free, dye free frosting.

This natural pink frosting is also incredibly quick and easy to whip up whenever you need a healthier frosting option. It literally takes about five minutes to make and you can use it right away.

And this is one of my creamiest frosting recipes thanks to the addition of a small amount of heavy whipping cream. While cream cheese frostings naturally have a bit of a tart flavor, that is balanced out perfectly by the cream in this recipe to create the best fusion of cream cheese flavor and creamy taste and texture.

But the best part of this pink frosting without food coloring is how it is naturally sweetened. No powdered sugar or questionable artificial sweeteners in this recipe. It is sweetened entirely with raw honey (hey, your kids even get some gut health benefits when they eat this frosting!).

So with very little effort and very big smiles on your kids’ faces, you can top all sorts of sweet treats with refined-sugar-free and dye free pink frosting 😀

What to Use Dye Free Pink Frosting For

This is a creamy frosting that will firm up a bit in the fridge but it will not fully set into a hardened frosting the way my classic honey buttercream frosting will. It will remain somewhat soft even when chilled, so just keep that in mind when deciding how to use this frosting.

I originally created this healthier frosting recipe without dye to go with a dye free mini pink cupcake recipe I made for my Pinkalicious-loving 3-year-old (stayed tuned for that recipe coming soon). And it works extremely well as a soft, pipeable pink frosting for cupcakes.

And if you want some other cupcake options to put under this dye free pink frosting, it would also be great on top of my vanilla cupcakes, strawberry cupcakes or even lemon cupcakes. All of those cupcake recipes are naturally sweetened by the way.

This would also work as a naturally colored frosting option for icing maple-sweetened cut out cookies or honey-sweetened cut out cookies for Valentine’s Day, girls’ birthday parties, baby girl showers, Mother’s Day or even pink-themed Christmas events.

This frosting would also be delicious on top of my kid-friendly, nut-free, naturally sweetened rice Krispie treats, which would be an especially fun treat for Valentine’s Day.

I will note here that I have not tried using this soft and creamy frosting on a cake yet. Although it would be fine on a sheet cake, I don’t know how well it would hold up for frosting a layered cake. Personally, when I spend hours on a layered cake, I like the stability of hardened, chilled frosting to keep my labor of love from sliding and toppling over.

Ingredients

• Cream Cheese: Cream cheese is the main base of this pink frosting. Use whatever cream cheese brand you would normally use, but it will turn out best with full-fat cream cheese.

• Butter: Butter helps to soften the tartness of the cream cheese and add a layer of richness to the recipe. it also helps to firm up the frosting a bit when chilled. I usually use organic or grass-fed Irish butter.

• Honey: Thick raw honey is the natural sweetener in this healthier frosting recipe. Honey will thicken when chilled, so this will also help to stabilize the frosting somewhat when refrigerated.

• Heavy Whipping Cream: A bit of heavy whipping cream helps to smooth the texture of the frosting and creates a creamier flavor to further tame the tartness of the cream cheese. Make sure you use heavy whipping cream and not half and half.

• Dragon Fruit Powder: Dragon fruit powder is the source of natural color in this dye free pink frosting. The flavor of the powder is mild and is does not effect the taste of the frosting, making it the perfect healthy coloring alternative when you don’t want a fruity flavored frosting.

Instructions

Step 1

Add all ingredients to a medium-size bowl and mix with an electric mixer until fully combined and smooth. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom as necessary.

Step 2

Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Works great for piping onto mini dye-free pink cupcakes or icing naturally sweetened cut out cookies.

Substitutions & Tips

• You will want to make sure your butter is softened and your cream cheese frosting is at room temp before making your pink frosting. If you need to soften your butter quickly, you can heat it in 10-second increments in the microwave until soft but not melted.

• If you want to omit the heavy whipping cream, you can. Your frosting will be a bit more stiff and less creamy, but it will still be a delicious frosting.

• You can use however much dragon fruit powder you want depending on the shade of pink you want to achieve. Start with less than the amount recommended in the recipe card if you want a light pink frosting and add more until you have the shade you are going for.

• Remember that this frosting will not fully firm up in the fridge, so be sure to store your frosted treats in a way that the frosting will not get smashed.