This chocolate buttercream frosting is the quintessential chocolate frosting. It is smooth, creamy, thick and decadent. I use it on cupcakes, layer cakes, loaf cakes, as a doughnut filling, in sandwich cookies… if it requires chocolate frosting, it is most likely going to be this frosting.
Combining only five simple ingredients, this chocolate buttercream is so simple to whip up and totally blows away anything you would buy at the grocery store. The chocolate flavor is bold and satisfying and it has the perfect amount of sweetness.
Let’s get it started…
Begin by bringing 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter to room temperature. You can use salted or unsalted butter for this frosting, but I almost always use salted butter… for everything actually!
You want the butter to be just room temperature, not softened or melted in any way. Part of the magic of making buttercream frosting is the texture and setting the butter out for about 2 hours at room temperature will give you exactly what you need.
Add 1/3 cup of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream in with the room temperature butter.
Use an electric hand mixer to cream everything together. Starting frosting is definitely the hardest part. The instant that the ultra light cocoa powder gets spun into the butter and heavy cream… things can get exciting, so I usually hold a paper towel or kitchen towel over the open side of the bowl until things settle down a bit.
Use an electric hand mixer to scrape the sides of the bowl and then add about a cup of confectioners sugar…
Mix on low speed until it is fully incorporated and then add another cup of confectioners sugar.
Once you have about 2 cups of confectioners sugar fully incorporated into the frosting, you have some options.
The beautiful things about this chocolate buttercream, aside from the amazing texture and flavor, is that you have complete control over how thick and how sweet it ends up being. With only 2 cups of confectioners sugar added, your buttercream will be quite soft and not overly sweet, so continue to add 1/2 cup at a time, tasting as you go.
Once your chocolate buttercream is as thick and sweet as you want it, use it to frost a cake, pipe some over cupcakes or just enjoy some on a spoon.
It’s just so silky smooth and luscious. The texture of this frosting is just as fabulous as the flavor. It is definitely creamy, but will hold its shape beautifully when piped over cupcakes or used to decorate a cake.
This is a frosting recipe that you should always have on hand. It is perfect for frosting everything from a birthday cake to a batch of celebration cupcakes and once you make it for yourself, you may just start thinking up some new things to bake, so you will have an excuse to whip up another batch… this is definitely spoken from experience…
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup of butter, salted or unsalted, room temperature
- 1/3 cup of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar
- 2-4 tablespoons of heavy cream
- a pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
Instructions
- Place 1 cup of room temperature butter in a large bowl and add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream.
- Use an electric hand mixer on low speed to cream the ingredients together until smooth and fully incorporated
- Add the confectioners sugar, a little at a time, until your frosting has reached your desired level of thickness and sweetness
- Add a splash of heavy cream to thin the frosting, if necessary
- Use to frost cakes or pipe onto cupcakes or into cookie sandwiches
