Last year I posted my recipe for Classic Vanilla Buttercream. It’s the recipe I use for decorating cupcakes and birthday cakes, especially if I know kids will be the ones eating it. For wedding cakes I like to use a more silkier type frosting that I’ll share with you in the near future. But for everyday cake frosting, the vanilla buttercream is what I use. From that post, I received many comments and emails requesting a chocolate buttercream frosting which could also be used to frost cakes and for piping decorations.
I often referred readers to my most favorite chocolate frosting I use for glazing, frosting, filling, and piping. As you can see from the picture above, chocolate ganache is very versatile and best of all it is made with heavy cream and chocolate. But this frosting is also heavy and very decadent, unless you whip it. Some people would write me and tell me they didn’t want ganache but wanted a more true buttercream. So by popular request I made a batch of American chocolate buttercream over the weekend to share with you. It is great for frosting cupcakes and cakes. It can also be used for frosting brownies or cookies. Like its name suggests, it is more buttery, creamy, and slightly sweeter than ganache. And like ganache, it pipes decorative borders very nicely.
You will need to make sure your butter is soft enough to cream. Do not be tempted to softened it in the microwave unless you know how NOT to melt the butter. Melted butter will not work for this frosting. But if you do use your microwave, I like to place cold sticks in the microwave for 8 seconds. If it’s still too firm, I will microwave it for 2 more seconds.
Next, you’ll want to cream the butter and then then add sifted sugar and cocoa.
This is my daughter Mimi. She likes to help me in the kitchen whenever chocolate is involved. I’ve taught both of my daughters about the baker’s reward philosophy. If you help me in the kitchen, you also get to lick the spoons. Oddly enough, they never seem to want to help me when I’m cooking vegetables. Those stinkers.
Be sure to start your mixer on slow speed after adding the dry ingredients. Otherwise you will have cocoa and sugar fly everywhere landing on everything within a couple feet of you. Your frosting will look strange like clumps of clay. Don’t worry. Once we add some cream it will transform into beautiful chocolate buttercream.
When deciding on whether or not to use milk or cream, I prefer cream. It just makes the frosting… well.. more creamier. Half and half works too. But if you do use milk, it is better to use whole milk for the added fat content. I also prefer to use almond extract when making frosting. It enhances the flavor so nicely and a little bit goes a long way. But if you only have vanilla, use it!
As you can see by these photos, this frosting pipes really nicely. The frosting can be refrigerated to use later. Just make sure it’s in a lidded container. Allow the frosting to warm up to room temperature on the counter before using. Happy cake decorating!
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or ½ pound), softened (but not melted!)
- 3½ cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
- Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn off the mixer. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.
Here’s a great short video tutorial I did for PBS on how to pipe these beautiful frosting flowers using vanilla buttercream on cupcakes, but you could easily do this with the chocolate one from this page. If you enjoy the video, please like it so I’ll be able to do more!
And here’s another short PBS video tutorial I did on how to make Cookie Monster Cupcakes.
Melissa Druss says
Does this frosting freeze well? Wanting to use it on an ice cream cake.
Leanne says
LOVE this recipe! Thanks for sharing. And thanks for the addition of the almond extract. I was hesitant to try it on my own but it was reassuring to hear it from someone else. I only added 1/2 tsp of the extract for fear of it overpowering the frosting and it still came out great! I don’t actually like chocolate frosting so Ive never made one… Hence, this was the first chocolate I’ve made and I have to say I actually loved it!! My 2.5 year old said repeatedly, “that’s soooo yummy mommy!” Thanks again – just wanted to express my thanks!
SCKDC says
Uh, yeah. Use vanilla instead.
Lois says
Hello! I just made this icing….and the almond extract taste is a little over whelming….is there anything I can do to help diminish that?
Hogs'n'Quiches says
Powdered sugar, icing sugar and confectioner’s sugar (also known as 10xxx) are all the same.
The other white sugar is sometimes referred to granulated or crystal sugar.
This is an excellent chocolate buttercream frosting recipe. The only thing I do differently is add either instant espresso granules or coffee extract. It really bumps up the chocolate flavor without any noticeable coffee flavor.
Thank you, Alice, for a wonderful site! And your daughter, Mimi, is gorgeous!
K says
This is my favorite frosting 🙂 I use earth balance to make it vegan, and I think I’ve made it with every non-dairy milk there is and it always turns out perfect. I think the earth balance sticks are already salted so I omit the salt. Thanks eh!
Joy says
I just made this for a sheet cake. I made it almost exactly as written, except I used milk instead of cream. I also used vanilla instead of almond flavoring. As far as the directions…I followed those to a tee minus one and was surprised at the outcome. I’ve never made icing before that was so fluffy and creamy…and I’ve made plenty of buttercream frostings. The minus one was using my microwave to soften my butter. I have a setting for softening butter and watched it closely. Before, I always melted my butter for buttercream recipes. I had no idea it made such a huge difference! This will be my go-to frosting recipe from here on out! Thanks so much!
Jay Kauffman says
Hey Lorraine – your parents forgot to teach you manners didn’t they??? Talk about a special kind if stupid – it’s “you’re” not your.
Alissa Odedra says
Just made this frosting right now… and OMG, tastes freakin amazing! Never going back to another site/recipe. This one is going in the written recipe box. YUM YUM!! I am one happy happy lady…and my husband is going to be one too when he gets home from work. Happy, that is – not a lady… lol 😉
Brandi says
This was my first attempt at chocolate buttercream frosting- I make Alice’s vanilla buttercream regularly. Although mine came out much much lighter than the chocolate frosting pictured, the taste was incredible. My 4 kids loved it, and so did the adults. I was in a hurry and did not sift the sugar or cocoa and didn’t have any trouble with lumps. I did use heavy cream and it is SO creamy, but also fluffy. We will never have another tub of store-bought frosting in this house. Thanks Alice!
Alice Currah says
Glad you liked it Katrina. Thanks for stopping by!
Lee-Anne says
Wow, that wasn’t necessary now, was it? Guess your parents never told you that calling people stupid wasn’t a nice thing to do.
Katrina Schlachter says
Just made this icing and it is wonderful – thank-you! Beautiful consistency and delicious flavour. Great chocolate taste without being too sweet. I would highly recommend this recipe!
Lorainne says
Your A special kind of stupid aren’t ya?
its cause you put it in the fridge which made the icing harden. just let it become room temp and maybe add cream if it is still to hard.
good luck!
Laurel says
I’ve been making this recipe for a few years now. It started as cupcakes for my son’s classroom birthday treat but has now become folklore among the teachers. Since I use a Cake Mix Doctor recipe for the cupcakes I’m pretty sure that the frosting is what people remember.
Sadiqa says
Hi! i have a question, confectioners sugar is simple powdered sugar or is it icing sugar?
Greg says
A little late, but: I would stick with the unsalted and add the salt. Different brands of butter use widely varying amounts of salt, so it is really hard to know how much is right. This is one of those “general rules of baking.”
Salted butter “holds” longer than unsalted, so it’s what you keep around to put on veggies and bread, but unsalted is more reliable for baking (but won’t keep as long, so buy fresh or freeze). Hope this helps!
Ginni says
OMG!!! This recipe is sooo good!!! I also made your regular icing as well, and I am glad I found your website!!! Thank you, you’ve ruined me on store bought icings, and that’s ok! I will never go back to store bought again!!! 🙂
Tina says
This is the most delicious icing I’ve ever made! It does, however, come out much lighter than the photos show (or at least mine did). But really, it tastes almost like chocolate soft serve ice cream but is stiff enough to pipe with. Perfect! Thank you 🙂
Mary Davis says
For those saying they didn’t have a sifter, you can use a wire mesh strainer to sift the sugar. In fact, I prefer using one to a hand sifter.
Allison says
Most icing does this in the fridge. If you let it get to room temperature and you stir/mix it back up it will be usable again. It just takes time to warm up and it takes mixing to get the contents back together. I deal with this all the time when I’m frosting sugar cookies over a span of a few days at Christmastime.
Simi says
Hi there
I have taken down the chocolate ganache recipe. Its my boy’s birthday on Sunday, so I’d like to do some piping and make it all fancy. The cake weight would work out to two squares of .75kg each. I plan to layer them – so I need icing in between, all around glaze and a square frame of piping. So would your basic recipe suffice? or how much more do you think I would need ?
Do drop a note ..I would like to hear from you!
Thanx!
Carrie says
Early in the directions it says to add 3 cups of sugar and the cocoa to the mixture. So you need to reserve a 1/2 cup of powered sugar for later. Towards the end of the directions, it says “If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.” Hope this helps.
Wendy says
This is the best chocolate buttercream ever! I only use your buttercreams for my cakes and cupcakes. So glad I found your recipes.
Amy says
This was the best chocolate buttercream frosting I’ve made in a long time. I used the whipped cream. Thank you!! Time to get back on the diet. :/