Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (6-Minute Recipe)
This American Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is silky, whipped, decadent, and chocolatey with just the right amount of sweetness. It spreads and pipes beautifully over cakes and Chocolate Cupcakes.
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We love homemade frosting recipes from Vanilla Buttercream to Cream Cheese Frosting and of course this easy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. Homemade frostings have better ingredients and taste way better than store-bought.
Chocolate Frosting Video Tutorial
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Chocolate Buttercream Recipe
This chocolate buttercream frosting is thick and fluffy. It holds its shape well just like Swiss Meringue Buttercream so it’s great for decorating and piping. It also has a rich chocolate flavor.
How much frosting does this make?
Frosting Cupcakes? This recipe yields about 2 1/4 cups frosting and generously frosts 12 cupcakes or lightly frosts 24 cupcakes.
Frosting a Cakes? To frost a 9” 2-layer cake, increase the recipe by 50% (i.e. 1 1/2 cups butter, 4 1/2 cups sugar, etc).
The Key to Great Buttercream
For the best-textured buttercream, make sure the butter is at the correct temperature. Properly softened butter should be left at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours, or watch our video on how to soften butter in 5 minutes.
Your butter should feel cool to the touch and you should be able to indent it with your fingertip. Never melt or oversoften butter for the frosting.
Ingredients for Chocolate Buttercream
- Unsalted butter – should be softened at room temperature
- Confectioners sugar – also known as powdered sugar. Measured before sifting (sifting is not necessary).
- Cocoa powdered – natural unsweetened cocoa powder or dutch process.
- Heavy whipping cream – lightens up and thins the frosting.
- Vanilla extract – we use real vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Salt – balances the sweetness of the buttercream. It’s the secret ingredient in buttercream that makes it taste not too sweet. We use fine sea salt.
How to Make Chocolate Buttercream
The best [Title] is easier and takes less time than you think! (Amazon links for tools used)
- Beat butter in a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment on high speed for 3 minutes until creamy and lightened in color.
- Add remaining ingredients – confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Beat together on low speed until powdered sugar is incorporated then on medium/high speed for another 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl several times. Add more cream if needed to thin the frosting.
Pro Tip: Scrape down the bowl several times to ensure the frosting is evenly blended and even in color.
Common Questions
Use either unsweetened natural cocoa powder such as Hershey’s brand or dutch process cocoa powder for making chocolate buttercream.
You can thin the frosting with milk instead of heavy cream, but you may need slightly less. Add it until you reach your desired texture.
You can easily double the recipe, increasing your mixing times slightly.
Funny story, I spent years sifting the dry ingredients for this recipe until I decided to skip the step one day and found it did not make a difference. The ingredients incorporate easily without sifting.
How to Serve Chocolate Buttercream
This frosting is delicious over cakes, cupcakes, sweet bread, cookies you name it! Here are some of our favorite ways to use Chocolate Buttercream frosting:
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Sugar Cookies
- Vanilla Cupcakes
- Honey Cupcakes
- Greek Yogurt Cupcakes
- Chocolate Cake or Vanilla Cake – scale it up by 50% for a 2-layer cake.
Make-Ahead
- To Refrigerate: Store in an airtight container or ziploc bag for up to a week (do not store near fish or meat as it may absorb those fridge odors). Bring to room temperature and re-whip to make the frosting fluffy.
- Freezing: Package the same way as for refrigerating, then freeze up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight then bring to room temperature before re-whipping to a fluffy consistency.
Enjoy this easy 6-minute Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. It’s one I’ve been making for years and I will never stop loving this recipe.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (6-Minute Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 3 to 4 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- With a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat butter on high speed for about 3 minutes or until creamy and lightened in color, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, 3 Tbsp heavy cream, 2 tsp vanilla extract, and 1/4 tsp salt.
- Beat on low speed until sugar is incorporated then increase to medium/high speed and beat for 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl several times to ensure everything is well blended. Add another Tablespoon of heavy cream if needed to thin the frosting.
Nutrition Per Serving
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I will preface this by saying I am not a huge chocolate frosting fan, but my son wanted this for his birthday. I made this frosting tonight and it is AMAZING. I have found a go-to chocolate frosting recipe!
That’s awesome, Kate! I’m so glad it was a hit.
Good piping consistency but the frosting comes out a bit gritty and Is overly sweet.
Hi Alicia. Buttercream frosting is generally very sweet but it shouldn’t be gritty. Did you make any substitutions? Was your butter softened to room temperature? Not using softened butter can cause it to be gritty, or using too much sugar and not enough liquid. Different types of sugar can also affect the texture. You may need to beat it a little while longer for the sugar to have time to dissolve. I hope that helps trouble shoot. If you prefer a less sweet frosting, you may try a whipped cream based frosting, or Swiss meringue buttercream.
I love all of your recipes no matter the dish, all come out delicious!!! Thank you! One thing that would be really nice for us watchers (I personally think would be a great idea) is to have a separate page with all your links to the cookware/bakeware (utensils, dishes, pots, mixers, baking necessities) you use and recommend.
Hi Ellie, thank you for your good comments and feedback. I have a separate page for all of the kithen coool that I am using, here’s my Amazon Affiliate Shop.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is so, so delicious.
My question is:
Do I have to refrigerate the frosted cake if it will last for a few days?
Hi Mary! It should stay refrigerated.
Can I use whole milk if I don’t have heavy whipping cream?
Hi Julie! That would be fine.
I may have a different pellet than you as well. My frosting was too sweet for me. I wish it had a darker color and better texture as well, more like a thick cloud, if you know what I mean. Sorry, I didn’t like it.
Hi Rose, the way you are describing it, you may enjoy our chocolate ganache more which you can also whip into a frosting once it has cooled.
Oh my goodness!!!!! I made your chocolate buttercream frosting and we all went crazy over it!!!!! I made a yellow cake with it on Sunday- it is gone!!! I am now making a chocolate cake with it now!!! Thank you so much for the recipe!!!! Mmmmmm (Also, oops! – I didn’t realize I needed to refrigerate it? Of course, it didn’t last too long to go bad anyhow!!! lol 🙂 ) Hugs to you!!
Yay! That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Janet!
With all the positive reviews, I thought I found a winner. I was looking for a truly delicious frosting and this just wasn’t it. Fortunately, I had made two different cakes for a large dinner party yesterday. The banana cake went over fabulously. No one liked the chocolate butter cream cake and I tossed over half a cake into the dumpster. It wasn’t worth saving. Didn’t like the texture of the frosting either. Just not “restaurant delicious”.
HI Sherry, this is a popular recipe and I’m wondering if maybe you swapped any of the ingredients which could have affected the texture?
Hi Natasha, I did not swap any ingredients. I suppose it’s possible something went wrong, but it’s pretty simple so I’m not sure. Just not the exceptional, delicious, and impressive flavor I was seeking.
This could be a 5 star, but unfortunately I was left with a lot of air bubbles. Should I have switched to a paddle attachment after whipping the butter? The flavor was incredible, a tablespoon of cooled fresh brewed coffee gives a nice richness. Lol, no one noticed the air pockets but me. 🙂
Hi Antoinette! Yes, you can switch to a paddle attachment and let us beat on low for several minutes to help removed some is the air bubbles. Or you hand use a spatula and give it a good stir by hand, pressing it up against the bowl. This will also removed some of the additional air bubbles.
I absolutely love this frosting! I’m making a bigger batch of cupcakes. Can this be doubled or would it be better to make separate batches?
Hi Martha, I address this under the Common Questions of the recipe post. See “Can I double the recipe?”
Such a moist delicious chocolate cupcake! 20 minutes was the correct oven temperature.
Delish!
Can I omit the cocao powder and add coloring to make a different color frosting?
Hi Rosaria, I would recommend using our Vanilla Buttercream recipe and add the coloring at the end a little at a time until you reach your desired color.
Hubby loves chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, the more frosting the better. Omg.
This was soo good. I cut the ingredients in half and baked an 8×8 for about 30 minutes.
Amazing. It will be gone tomorrow, it’s that good.
Thanks so much for this awesome review, Terri!
Super easy and so delicious! Highly recommend and will keep this one in my recipe box!! Thank you!
You’re welcome! Great to hear that you enjoyed it!
Im making my moms wedding cake. Im ok at it bc i make the family cakes for special event. Im stumped tho. My mom wants 3 layers. @ vanilla and 1 chocolate. All layers with 2 fillings :Chocolate mocha mouse and raspberry filling. My dilema is, What do i crumb coat with bc im doing fondaunt on all layers? Ur chocolate buttercreme sounds amazing bu ti dont know how it would pair with chocolate cake and the 2 fillings with the fondaunt…..thoughts?
Hi Shelby! I think this flavor will work great with those flavor combinations. I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t use this as your crumb coat. I hear buttercream works great underneath a fondant layer.
I make this frosting all the time and love it. I dknt have heavy cream today. Can i sub milk in the frosting?
Hi there, good to hear that you always use our recipe. I honestly have’t tested subbing it with milk to advise.
My daughter and I made a chocolate cake last week and she found this recipe for the icing. It was so delicious. I`m making another chocolate cake and decided to use this recipe again. It is a keeper for sure.
Hi Linda! I’m so glad you found this recipe! Thank you for the feedback.
I made a cherry chocolate cake that suggested just powdered sugar or chocolate buttercream frosting. I have rarely made a chocolate buttercream so searched and found this recipe. It’s joining the family faves in my oldbinder and my online recipe files. I had to slap hands away while waiting for the cake to cool. My son said thank you for taking his birthday cake to the next level!
Aw, I love that! Thank you so much for sharing. I’m so glad you found a new favorite to add to your collection. I hope your son had a wonderful birthday!
This was by far the most delicious chocolate frosting I have ever made. Thank you Natasha’s kitchen.
That’s wonderful, Heather! Thank you for the feedback.
good not the best I’ve had. Co uld use some melted semi sweet chocolate.
Absolutely delicious not overly sweet and so very easy to make. Thank you this is definitely a keeper.
You’re very welcome, Pia. Great to hear that you enjoyed it!
I am making 48 mini cupcakes and want to pipe a design on them. Will I need 1 or 2 batches of icing. Also, though your picture shows a piped design, will it harden a little so that it holds it’s shape? Thank you!
Hi Jean! This buttercream is a stable frosting and it pipes very well. You can adjust the consistency of the frosting by adding less or more heavy cream (start with a small amount and add more as needed). I have not made this for miniature cupcakes to know exactly how much frosting you will need. I’m sorry I can’t be more help.
This is the best frosting! I used salted butter and didn’t add any salt. I will use this recipe always. I used it on my wedding cake!
Hi Becky! That’s wonderful. I’m so glad you found a new go-to recipe!
Very creamy and not to sweet not to chocolaty and overall delicious
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, J!
Chocolate buttercream frosting was a big hit at a birthday party. So many compliments about how light and fluffy it was.
That’s great, Bonna! So glad to hear that.
Until I tried this recipe, I had never had any luck using my Pampered chef decorator tool to frost cupcakes. This not only tastes wonderful but was easy to fill the tube and press out beautifully frosting!
That’s wonderful! Thank you so much for that feedback.
This is by far the best chocolate frosting I’ve ever tasted! It’s easy to make, smooth, creamy and so delicious. Definitely my new go to.
Hi Susan! I’m so glad you found a new favorite on my blog! I hope you try more recipes soon!
This is literally the best chocolate frosting I’ve ever tasted and now I have the power to make it at home.. It’s so smooth and creamy.. And can frost more than the 12 cupcakes it states.. I’ll definitely be making this repeatedly..
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Chels!
I’ve made this before according to the recipe & loved it. Today I made it using plant-based butter & whipping cream to accommodate a family member’s dietary restriction-absolutely delicious!
Hi Martha! That’s amazing. I’m so glad it turned out for you.
Second time making this and I just can’t believe that something so delicious can be so easy. Amazing chocolate taste.
Hi B! I’m so glad you love it! Thank you for the feedback!
Hello Natasha, big fan love your recipes! I just made your vanilla cake and it was absolutely Devine. I frosted it with chantilly cream and put it in the fridge overnight. When we cut another piece in the morning, it was not the same texture at all. I let it sit for 30min on the counter and it was amazing. I would love to make this cake and leave it covered on the counter with your 6 min chocolate buttercream but I’m not sure if it’s food safe to leave it that way or if it has to be refrigerated. The cake was so good it didn’t last 24hrs, but I would love to just cut a piece without having to wait the 30 min. Please advise and thank you for sharing your amazing recipes!
Hi Judy! That sounds amazing! This buttercream frosting is safe to leave a room temperature for several hours but I would refrigerate it if longer than 1 day.
Love this chocolate buttercream frosting. What chocolate cake recipe would you pair with it?
Hi Elizabeth! We love it with our go-to chocolate cake recipe.
Wonderful recipe! The flavor is amazing, I love the rich chocolate flavor! Do you have any cake recipes that are good with this frosting?
Hi Sunny! I’m glad you loved it. This frosting is very versatile and you can pair it with many cake recipes. You can view my cake category here for some ideas. A few that come to mind is the vanilla cake, chocolate cake or red velvet cake.
My frosting didn’t turn out as I expected to, and turned out very much like a liquid, and wasn’t very fluffy. The flavor was wonderful, and the consistency might have been my fault. Thank you so much for the recipe, trial and error is the best way to learn!
Hi Sunny! Did you make any substitutions to the recipe? Your butter should be soft, meaning when you press your finger into it, it leaves an indent but you don’t want it to be overly soft. Read through my process again to see if you missed anything. You can reduce the heavy cream if needed. The heavy cream is added to help thin out the frosting and give it a creamy and fluffy consistency if it’s too thick. The temperature in your kitchen could effect the consistency of your frosting as well. You can try to refrigerate it for a bit and then re-whip it for a few minutes to see if that helps thicken it up. I hope you give it a try again.
I have a question… if I want to skip cocoa powder do I need to add anything else of its fine with rest recipe to follow?
Please help
I haven’t tested this recipe without cocoa powder to advise. I recommend not skipping it to get the best results.
Hello! Similar to Jen’s comment below from April 8, 2023, I made the chocolate buttercream recipe, and it was too dark a chocolate flavor for my family. The recipe is a dream, and I loved the recipe itself, just wanted to know how to lighten the flavor so it is not quite so deep a chocolate flavor. Thanks! Your recipes are awesome!
Hi Nancy! This can depend on the type or brand of cocoa used, some are darker and more bitter than others which can cause the buttercream to taste like dark chocolate. You can reduce the cocoa amount and add this to your preferred taste. It may affect the texture so you may need to use less heavy cream.
Hi Natasha,
Can I add instant coffee to this buttercream recipe and how do I go about doing so ?
I can’t wait to try out your recipe!!
Hi Megan, I haven’t tested that one of our readers shared this “This recipe is amazing! I made chocolate-coffee cupcakes with this buttercream icing. Normally my buttercream icing separates, but using this recipe made the icing come out so delicious and fluffy. I’m using this recipe again!”
Made this recipe tonight, it makes an extremely dark chocolate flavor of buttercream. Very much not what I expected and took a lot more powdered sugar and vanilla to fix to what I wanted.
Wow, I am completely blown away by this recipe. First buttercream recipe I’ve tried that didn’t flop! The frosting was unbelievably sweet and creamy, almost like ice cream. This is definitely going in my recipe bookmarks! Thank you so much for this fantastic recipe 🙂
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Kris!
Followed your recipe to a t and it came out way too thick that it burst a hole through my piping bag while trying to pipe it out and ruined my whole cake thanks!
Hi Mitch! I’m sorry to hear that. This can happen if the butter is too cold, it needed a little more heavy cream or mixed a while longer to get light and fluffy. The temperature in your house can also affect your buttercream consistency.
I just made this it is so easy and so delicious best chocolate buttercream frosting I’ve ever made
That’s wonderful, Kathy! So glad you loved it.
Best frosting I’ve ever had! And I’m 60 years old! I’ve never really cooked, but I certainly will start making my own frosting now. I’m finding most commercial desserts now rather uninteresting and usually too overly sweet. It is so rich and perfectly sweet and salty at the same time. Simply amazing! Now I need to learn to make the perfect yellow cake for it. I love chocolate cake but I think chocolate frosting is best on yellow cake. Thank you so very much!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Rebecca!
I have found an easy way to make any buttercream frosting. Put butter in first, add powdered sugar, then double vanilla stirred in the heavy cream. Stir a bit. Start the stand mixer fitted with wire whisk, start on low until somewhat combined, increase to medium until fully combined then turn to high for 5 minutes. Done and creamy. Enjoy
Thank you for sharing, Sha! 🙂
Hi Natasha, I made this today. It is so easy and tastes amazing. Thank you for another amazing recipe.
That’s great, Stephanie! That’s great, so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Delicious- I doubled and used half cocoa powder and half dark. Came out perfect
pro-tip, add grams to your recipe, makes it way easier to make for people who use scales. 👍
Hi Sloona, If you scroll down to our printable recipe card, most of our recipes have a metric conversion option on the printable recipe card. We are currently working on adding metric measurements to all of our recipes, but it is taking some time to add them one at a time. Thank you so much for being patient! In the meantime, check out our post on measuring which should help.
This recipe is delicious and the exact amount needed to frost a 9 inch double layer cake.
Hi Cara! Thank you for sharing. I’m so glad you loved it.
Love this recipe will never buy Iceing again. And easy to make
Hi Sheryl! I’m so glad you liked it. It really is so much better than store-bought frosting.
Hello! I am making a football cake into a sub sandwich for the super bowl. So I need mostly chocolate for the football, but white for football details as well as for “mayo” on the inside. Is it possible use this recipe for white, remove the amount I need, and then add cocoa powder? Hope I’m making sense😆
Hi! I assume it could work but not sure that once you remove the amount you need, the cocoa powder may be too rich for the remainder of the frosting left. You’d have to experiment with it.
Will milk work in place of heavy cream? I’m ready to make this and realize I don’t have the cream.
Hi Mary! That should be fine to use a little bit of milk instead.
This sounds very decadent! Can you add red food coloring to this recipe?
Hi Abby! You can definitely try it, but I do not know what shade you’d get. It will most likely be a darker maroon/burgundy but still with a brownish color.
Great recipe for icing with one addendum; it took me about a 3/4 cup of cream to make it a spreadable consistency. So if you’re just piping it a few tablespoons might be enough, but if you’re spreading it with a spatula to layer a cake with, you’ll need more cream to make it a workable consistency.
Thank you for sharing, Steve! I’m glad you loved the recipe.
Hi!
Was excited to try this with your chocolate cupcakes. Cupcakes turned out great, but frosting did not :(. So many great reviews so I figured I might’ve done something wrong. It turned out the consistency of a powder. I thought maybe butter was too cold, but I left it out for 1.5 hours like you said, and my house isn’t especially cold or anything. Not sure what went wrong. Measured all ingredients with spoon & level method.
Hi Iris! I’m sorry that you had this experience. The butter should be soft enough that when you press it leaves an indentation. Continue to mix it until it has a nice creamy smooth texture. You may try to use a little more heavy cream.
HI,
Your page is my go-to food page 🙂
Been looking for a long time for buttercream but without butter. Do you have one, please?
Or can I replace butter with oil, please?
Thanks
Hi Estelle! I do not know of a buttercream without butter. It is a key ingredient in buttercream. You may try researching a different type of frosting.
How much would I need to do a 9×13 cake? (Including sides, not just topping)
Hi Jenna, please see the section titled: “How much frosting does this make?” .I would do 1 1/2 times the recipe.
Hi, could I make a cake in advance, ice it with this frosting, and freeze it for a few days? Thanks
Hi Donna, what cake recipe will you be using? But you make this frosting ahead, please go through the Make-Ahead tips in the middle of the recipe.
Does this frosting need to be refrigerated? Can I store it at room temperature?
Hi Amberley, this recipe is best stored in the fridge unless you will be using it right away.
Lovely frosting, perfectly chocolatey with dutch process cocoa and not overly sweet. I doubled the recipe for a 3 layer 9-inch cake and would not have had enough to pipe a border; I was making a mirror glazed cake so didn’t need to decorate at all with this frosting. (I do find it easier to make buttercream using the paddle attachment though- I use my silicone-edged one.)
Thank you for sharing that with us, Mary!
My grandmother used to use orange juice in her chocolate frosting. Any suggestion on how much to use (I suppose I would cut back on the cream) and whether it would work in this recipe?
Thank you.
Hi Lisa! Without testing that myself, I cannot provide specific instructions. You’d have to experiment with it. It may work well to use orange extract and orange zest instead of juice. Let us know how it turns out.
This is hands down the best chocolate frosting ever! thank you for sharing it with us!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Julie! It’s our go-to!
Omg!!! Hands down the best chocolate frosting I have ever had. Everyone loved it, even the one friend of mine who does not like chocolate cake asked for this recipe. I will never make another frosting other than this one.
That’s wonderful! So glad to hear that.
This has to be the funniest most delicious chocolate butter cream frosting out there. How delicate yet full flavored it is. I used the recipe with milk, no other substitutes. I frosted my chocolate bundt cake and had plenty. Thank you so much for this recipe.
My tablet subbed funniest for finest. Don’t ask me why. It has a mind of its own some days.
You’re so welcome! I’m glad you loved it.
Lovely flavor and consistency. Not to swet and perfectly delicious!
I’m so glad you loved it, Mare! I too don’t like overly sweet treats, I feel we found the perfect balance with this recipe!
I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa, and only 2 cups of powdered sugar. I substituted 3 2% milk for the heavy cream, and the frosting turned out perfect, sweet, but not cloying with excellent spreadability. I already added the recipe to my personal cookbook.
Thanks for sharing, Mary! I’m glad you found a keeper recipe.
Spreadability and pipeability are two very different things. I am making this for a banquest and need it to be pretty (piped) not spread for my family.
This recipe is amazing! I made chocolate-coffee cupcakes with this buttercream icing. Normally my buttercream icing separates, but using this recipe made the icing come out so delicious and fluffy. I’m using this recipe again!!
So great to hear that you liked this recipe, Kylee!
Delicious buttercream frosting – big hit with my family for my husband’s birthday…a definite keeper! I froze half of my cupcakes unfrosted and plan to freeze the frosting in small, quicker thawing segments to use later for my cupcake loving grandkids- any reason that won’t work?
Hi Nancy! Thank you, I’m glad you loved this frosting. It freezes well. Store in an airtight container or Ziploc bag, then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight then bring to room temperature before re-whipping to a fluffy consistency.
What should i replace for heavy whipping cream? Thank you so much. Let me know if this is possible.
Hi Maggie, I haven’t tested a substitution for heavy whipping cream, I don’t know that there is anything nearly as creamy causing the frosting not to set up correctly.
Very good and very easy to make. I accidentally used my paddle instead of my wisk and it turned out fine.
This is the best buttercream frosting I’ve ever had, normally I only eat whipped icing. Kids approved too!!
Wonderful to hear! Thanks for sharing that with us, Samantha.
Perfect. I am a cream cheese icing kinda gal who avoided butter cream because I thought it was too sweet. I’ve made this twice now and my guests rave about it, and it is just right . Basically bowl licking good! It is now my go-to chocolate icing.
That’s wonderful! I’m so glad to hear that, Marilyn. Thank you for sharing.
Can i leave the cake out at room temperature if I use this frosting? I’m considering using evaporated milk instead of heavy whipping cream. Is that a good idea? I like to eat cake at room temperature and keep it out of the fridge.
Hi Rachelle, this recipe is best stored in the fridge.
Holy cow! This is the best chocolate icing I have ever made!! Normally my icing tears up the top layer of my cake, but this one goes on smooth. Love everything about it
So glad to hear that! 🙂
Oh my goodness! This chocolate buttercream icing is so amazing! I used it with the Easy Chocolate Cupcake Recipe and they are the BEST cupcakes! I’ll definitely be making them again!
That’s wonderful, Beth! So glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for the review. 🙂
This icing is delicious!! It is now my go-to recipe – thanks for sharing! 😀 One question: what piping tip do you use to get the large, puffy-looking icing on the cupcakes?
Hi Emily, I believe this is my 1M wilton, open star tip.
I made this to put on a chocolate zucchini cake and it was absolutely heavenly!!! Everyone loved it. Definitely a keeper for the recipe box!!
That sounds delicious! So glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Instead of using 1 cup of butter, could you use 1/2 cup of butter and half cup of shortening?
Hi Morgan! I have not tested this but I have seen many recipes that replace 1/2 the butter with shortening for stability in wedding cakes.
I really hate shortening. Could you use cream of tartar for stability along with the butter?
Hi Zelma, I do not use shortening in my frostings but have seen many online like this. I also have never tested cream of tartar in buttercream. This recipe buttercream does not have cream cheese and it is already pretty stable as long as it’s not in direct heat. It will hold at room temperature for several hours.
I have a family favorite butter cream frosting without cocoa which calls for eggs. Could you add an egg to this recipe?
Hi Peter, no, I would not add eggs to this. You may want to search for a chocolate swiss meringue buttercream as it uses egg whites.
The frosting was amazing. I absolutely loved it. It was so smooth and not too thin. I used 2 1/2 tbsp of milk instead of heavy cream and it came out delicious. Thank you for a great recipe. I will definitely make it again.
So glad to hear that, Sandy. Thank you for sharing.
I had baked a chocolate cake for my husband but realized I didn’t have any canned icing. So, I did what any good wife would do, I did a Google search for highest rated chocolate icing recipe. I stumbled on this one and I’m so glad I did.
I will never use canned icing again! This will be my go to icing recipe from now on. My husband absolutely loved the creamy and light texture. Thank you for such a great recipe. 🙂
I love that! Thank you for sharing that with us, so happy that you found and loved our recipe!
Would salted butter make a big difference? That’s all I have unfortunately.
Hi Terri, that will work, but please note that if you use salt, you need to eliminate or use less salt in the recipe. I hope you love this recipe.
Natasha,
This buttercream frosting is AHHHMAZING! So glad that I came across it. Thank you for sharing. The best chocolate buttercream that I have come across. I made this for a chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache & it was beyond bakery worthy!
So glad to hear that, Jackie. Thank you for sharing. I’m happy you found this recipe.
I halved the recipe, used milk instead of heavy cream, & added in like half a cup of shredded coconut after mixing the frosting. Yum yum! It’s so good
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Sarah!
Hi Sarah, thank you for sharing that with us. Good to know that some of the changes that you made worked so well in this recipe!
This was easy and absolutely delicious!! I will definitely be using this recipe a lot.
So glad you enjoyed it, Kathy! Thank you for the review.
The frosting is super thick! I even added more heavy cream to thin it out and then it became to wet looking. It’s not the typical fluffy buttercream one would expect
Hi Kim, if your butter is too cold, it would make this frosting hard to mix and thick. Butter should be soft enough to leave an indent but not overly soft. Click on this link for how to measure your ingredients, if you use too much powder sugar, it can become thick. Lastly, be sure to let it “beat well” as this is what makes the buttercream super fluffy and soft. I hope these tips help.
How long can this sit at room temperature once on cupcakes? Any testers with heat? I need a pipable chocolate frosting my my nieces outdoor grad party where the temp could vary from 50°-90°. NY lol
Hi Melanie. Buttercream will keep well for a day at room temperature but should be refrigerated if longer than that. I usually refrigerate the cake/cupcakes and take them out 1-2hrs prior to serving. They should be kept out of direct sunlight. If you are wanting a more stable buttercream, I would look for a recipe that uses shortening. In most cases, it’s fine to replace 1/2 the butter that a recipe calls for with shortening but I have never tested that myself to advise if it works well with this buttercream. I hope that helps.
I have never found a buttercream recipe I have truly loved. Made this for the first time for a yellow cake, I used nestle toll house cocoa powder and hazelnut coffee creamer since I didn’t have heavy whipping cream….wow!! This is the recipe to use!!!
Yum! I’m so glad this recipe was a hit! It sounds like you have a new keeper! That’s so great, Josie!
I made this for my sons first birthday- first time he had chocolate and boy can I say he LOVED IT!!! So did the rest of the family. So creamy and fluffy and the perfect taste of chocolate!!! I used my stand mixer for the second time to make this, your instructions were so easy to follow and this was seriously so delicious I had to hold myself back from eating spoonfuls lol! Thank you Natasha for sharing this!
Hello Sammi, that makes my heart happy. Thanks so much for sharing, glad the recipe was a huge hit!
Is this enough to frost a 2 layered cake or would I need to double the recipe? (:
Hi Justine, see the recipe notes above for “how much frosting does this make?” 🙂
You have more than enough for a layer cake—I just make half this recipe for my bundt cake and it was plenty