Here we go! This is my favorite chocolate buttercream recipe. I’m tempted to call it a “basic” chocolate buttercream, but it’s anything but– it’s incredibly CREAMY, silky, smooth, and rich. Like a decadent brownie in frosting form. Melts in your mouth and is unbelievable on chocolate cupcakes.
Even though it’s a wonderfully creamy chocolate buttercream, it holds its shape beautifully– just as Swiss meringue buttercream does. This is simply perfect for piping even the most intricate and fancy designs.
What Tastes Best with Chocolate Buttercream?
I’ve made this chocolate buttercream more times than I can count, but I love it with:
- Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
- Yellow Cupcakes
- Coconut Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Banana Cupcakes
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- If you scale it up, you can use it to frost a layered cake, like I do with my chocolate cake
Dive into this chocolate decadence!
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This is my favorite chocolate buttercream recipe. It’s incredibly rich, creamy, silky, smooth, and easy to work with for decorating cakes and cupcakes!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 and 1/2 cups (420g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup (45g) unsweetened natural or dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream or milk
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy – about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, heavy cream, salt, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high speed and beat for 1 full minute. Add 1/4 cup more confectioners’ sugar or cocoa powder if frosting is too thin or another Tablespoon of cream if frosting is too thick.
- Cover tightly and store for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing or refrigerating, thaw in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature then beat the frosting for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. You may need to add a little milk if it’s still too stiff.
Notes
- Quantity: This recipe is enough to frost 12-16 cupcakes or one 9×13 quarter sheet cake. Follow these ratios for a 2 layer cake and these ratios for a 3 or 4 layer cake.
And here is my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe!
The best chocolate butter cream I have ever had! So amazing!
★★★★★
I doubled the recipe and added extra cream to make it more easily spreadable for a cake with 2 8” rounds. It was absolutely divine in flavor.
★★★★★
Thanks it’s an excellent recipe
★★★★★
I saw your dark chocolate frosting, but I like the “shape”/consistency of this frosting, could I do a direct substitute using the Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder for this recipe?
Yes, you can use your favorite type of cocoa powder here, including Hershey’s Special Dark.
The taste is perfect might be better than cake With The Reese peanut butter cups inside! Thanks for the yummy topping the kids usually eat just the frosting anyways!
★★★★★
Made this frosting to go along with your simple vanilla cupcakes. Absolutely delicious combination!
★★★★★
Very smooth and creamy I love this! I substituted a couple tablespoons of strong coffee and it has a delicious mocha flavor now Ohmygoodness!!
★★★★★
That sounds delicious, Nadine!
Absolutely the best frosting I have ever made. Silky does not describe it. Made it to frost cupcakes for the grandkids, but next time I’ll sub Baileys for the cream and call it Grannies Cake!
★★★★★
I just realized my butter is NOT unsalted, is there something I can to make it less salty?
You can use salted butter here. No changes to the recipe needed. Before adding any salt, taste it, then salt as desired.
This frosting tastes incredible and definitely worked well for decorating! Wish I could post a cute picture of the cake I made!
★★★★★
Such a delicious frosting recipe. How long can I keep it in the fridge for before I can reuse it?