I love coconut and nuts so much, my mom gave me some for my birthday. She had one ulterior motive, though: she wanted me to bring her a treat! I’m supposed to be at her house in 10 minutes with that treat in hand.
My kid had started making brownies, but we needed pull off the coconut-pecan portion, stat. I found this recipe for vegan German Chocolate Cake frosting, but I ran into a few issues: I like toasted coconut and roasted pecans but had neither, nor the time to do that separately. I also didn’t have a potential 1-2 hours for things to reduce down.
So here’s what I did. And I cooked it in a pan so I could taste it as I went. This is sweet like you’d get it at a nice unhealthy bakery, but if you like things less-sweet or more purely vegan in its processing, use unsweetened coconut and add a little more maple syrup as needed.
Update July 4, 2026: These days I make it with unsweetened coconut and add about a tablespoon of brown sugar to the mix. This turns out something that is more flaky than sticky, and more rich than sweet, which is more to my tastes now. Check it out on gluten free vegan cupcakes here.
Quick Coconut Pecan Frosting
Cook Time
10m
Cooling time
15m
Servings
9
Ingredients
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut, lightly packed
1/2 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup canned full-fat coconut milk
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 t salt
Instructions
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Lightly toast coconut and chopped pecans in a large, non-sticky frying pan over medium heat. I actually used a pan-safe chopper to chop my pecans, then added the coconut, and then stirred constantly until the coconut started to get slightly browned on the edges. It will keep cooking with the next steps, so proceed as soon as it begins to toast.
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Add coconut milk, maple syrup, and salt. I had set my can in a warm spot so it was fully liquified, then shook it up, took the lid off, and measured my 3/4ths cup (about half a can) straight into the frying pan. Then I used that same 1/4 cup measure to measure out the maple syrup. Add it all to the pan and keep stirring.
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Keep stirring until it’s tan and the bubbles pop slowly, then take it off the heat. That’s it! Let me know how it worked out for you.
Legend of Velda 
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