The Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe
The Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe
This recipe is the fluffiest and creamiest homemade chocolate buttercream frosting! All baked goods taste great – you’ll never want to buy frosting from the store again!
Every homemade cupcake recipe needs a homemade frosting to compliment it perfectly! This chocolate buttercream is perfect for peanut butter cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes, and especially our chocolate cupcakes!
Fluffy + Creamy Chocolate Frosting
Do you want to know the main difference between baked style cakes/cupcakes and sub-par homemade treats? frost!
I assure you, making homemade frosting instead of using a container of store-bought stuff will make all the difference in your baked goods. Plus, making a batch of buttercream is a lot easier than you might think!
This Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe makes the fluffiest, creamiest frosting with just the right amount of cocoa flavor. It’s the perfect compliment for cakes, cupcakes, bars, cookies and anything else you want to suffocate with these đ
these ingredients
This recipe doesn’t need anything special or fancy – in fact, you probably don’t even need a trip to the store if you usually have baking supplies in your pantry! Here is what you need:
- butter – Make sure it’s soft! If you need a quick trick to soften butter, go here.
- cocoa powder â Regular or Dutch processed cocoa is fine.
- powdered sugar – I highly recommend sifting the powdered sugar (more tips below).
- milk or half and half -Half and half will result in a slightly thicker/creamy frosting, but that’s only a slight difference.
- vanilla – I prefer pure vanilla!
- a pinch of salt – You can precisely control how much saltiness your frosting gets with this pinch of salt.
How to Make Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Grab your beater and get ready to whip this frosting!
Beat butter and cocoa powder until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and salt. Mix until well combined, adding additional milk if needed to bring the frosting together.
Continue beating for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Recipe Tips
- Use unsalted butter. You can use a “pinch of salt” to control the amount of salt you like.
- You can choose from regular or Dutch processed cocoa. Whichever you choose, make sure it’s premium, because the better the quality, the better the taste.
- Room temperature ingredients: Make sure the butter is softened so it creams easily. Also, drinking milk/half and half at room temperature will also help this frosting cream come together nicely and easily.
- Sifting: The extra step of sifting the powdered sugar and cocoa powder may seem tedious, but it helps ensure you don’t leave behind any hidden clumps of powder.
- Skip the whisk and use the whisk blades with a stand mixer. It produces a creamier frosting.
Piping Tips + Recipes Using Frosting
I usually only use my piping tips when pouring cupcakes or other small desserts. The following steps are how I use piping on cupcakes, But you may find these tips apply to other treats.
- Choose your tip. The larger the tip, the thicker the pipe. I like to use larger tips like the Ateco 808 for smooth tubing, or the Ateco 844 for star tubing.
- Place a tip of your choice in the bottom of a piping bag. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can trim the corners of a gallon ziplock bag. It will have smooth edges like the Ateco 808.
- Fill the bag with icing sugar. I like to place the bag in a tall cup, fold the end of the bag over the edge of the cup, and use a baking knife to fill the bag. Make sure to leave enough room to screw the top of the bag down.
- Gently push the frosting to the bottom to make sure you don’t have any air pockets. Tighten the top.
- Make a dollop of frosting in the center of the cupcakes. The clumps will be guides for the rest of the frosting.
- Frost around the center clump. Once you’ve done a full rotation lift to the second layer, move in slightly, and continue to squeeze out the frosting. Repeat the layers until you are happy with the height and look.
- When you roll out the frosting, be sure to use even, steady pressure.
We hope these help so you can have beautiful piping cupcakes!
Chocolate Frosting Dessert
This chocolate buttercream frosting recipe is perfect for cupcakes, cakes, brownies, bars, cookie cups. Here are some of our top snacks on our site where you can add frosting.
Frosting FAQ + Storage
how much can i cover with so much frosting? Depending on how thick you make the frosting, depending on how much coverage you get. Example: We can pipe the frosting on 12 cupcakes, but if we use a butter knife to spread the frosting, we can do more.
Too thick or too thin? Getting the right frosting consistency is key. For example, if you’re going to have cupcakes with a wide top, you’ll want a thicker consistency. Other desserts may be better with thinner frosting. You can easily adjust the consistency by:
- If too thick, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time
- If too thin, add 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar at a time
How to store frosting?
- Refrigerator: Frosting will keep for 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Store in an airtight container. Be sure to bring it to room temperature and remix before frosting your dessert.
- Freezer: Place frosting in an airtight freezer-safe container. Can be frozen for 2-3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and return to room temperature. Mix well before use.
For more frosting recipes, check out:
Course dessert
American food
Prep time 10 minutes
Total time 10 minutes
Serving Size 12
Calories 133 kcal
by Lil’ Luna
- 1/2 c butter softened
- 1/4 c cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 c powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk or half and half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- a pinch of salt
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Beat butter and cocoa powder until light and fluffy.
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Add powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and salt. Mix until well combined, adding additional milk if needed to bring the frosting together.
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Continue beating for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
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Squeeze cream over cooled cupcakes.