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. So it’s 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 marble cake recipe
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, thaw in the refrigerator then beat the frosting for a few seconds so it’s creamy again.
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!
This is the best chocolate buttercream!
★★★★★
Perfect and absolutely delicious. I used dark chocolate cocoa powder. Amazing!! Thanks Sally!
★★★★★
Came out so good! Next time I might use a little less confectioners sugar but it’s so yummy, pretty and easy.
★★★★★
This is delicious and beatiful!
★★★★★
Just absolutely fantastic. Quite literally the best chocolate frosting I have ever tasted, and everyone that tastes this agrees. Thank you for such a great recipe!!!
★★★★★
Sally, I absolutely adore this chocolate frosting, and have made it several times. This time, I need to make ahead and will store in the fridge for 2 days before I need frost my cupcakes. How long should it set out of the fridge before recreating it, I assume it needs to come to room temp.
Thanks,
Michelle V
Depending on the temperature where you live about an hour on the counter should bring it back to room temperature. Give it a mix before you use it!
Really rich and decadent, goes amazingly well with the super moist chocolate cupcakes! A keeper!
★★★★★
Delicious frosting! Instead of vanilla extract I added a little oil and chocolate sauce because we ran out of the vanilla extract. So good!
★★★★★
Awesome
Thx
I just got back from the store & I forgot to get the cocoa powder! Can I use melted unsweetened bakers chocolate or dark chocolate syrup? If so, what adjustments would I have to make?
Hi Carol! Use melted and slightly cooled unsweetened Bakers chocolate. Add a little extra confectioners’ sugar to thicken it up.
Can i make this with a whisk?
I don’t have an electric mixer.
Hi Rahma! You can try to beat it all with a whisk, but it will take longer and quite a bit of arm muscle.
Hello, I am going to make this frosting this week and had a quick question. Why does the recipe for the least amount have 2 t of vanilla, but then the recipe for the 2 layer amount has 1 t of vanilla and the same amount of powder sugar as the first? I usually just double the same recipe for frosting if I need more but I’m guessing now that is not that right way to do it!!
Also, do you anywhere on your website that you have brand recommendations for the different supplies? Thanks so much
Hi Kellie! Vanilla flavoring is an addition that you can really use to your liking. Add at least 1 teaspoon, then add more if desired. I began adding more vanilla extract to my chocolate buttercream more recently when I published this recipe for it. I have a few blog posts with my recommended baking products and they can all be found in my Baking Tips section: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/category/baking-tips/
Thanks so much for the reply! We made the chocolate chip cookie cake a few weeks ago and my daughter is requesting it this week as a last day of school treat. SO yummy 🙂
Hello Sally,
This is the second time i’m making your buttercream recipe. However, i still can taste the icing sugar in the cream. Is it because i halved the recipe?
Please, please reply soonest. Thanks.
Hi Esther! What brand of confectioners’ sugar are you using? Perhaps try to replace some of it with more cocoa powder if you decide to try it again.
Hi Sally. I’m a new, but loyal follower of your site Have been trying many of your recipes and my family and kids are so excited about this new found hobby:) I’ve tried a few frostings including this one, but can’t seem to get that silky smooth texture I’m craving! The taste and flavor is wonderful, but it’s gritty and not silky
One question I have is about the confectioner’s Sugar. So i’m currently residing in the Middle East and the powdered sugar is plain ground sugar—no cornstarch added. Does that make a difference? Should I add cornstarch to the sugar?
I also don’t have a stand mixer, just a hand-mixer—could that be part of my problem?
Hi Kariman! Using a hand mixer isn’t a problem at all– in fact, I love using a hand mixer for buttercream! If you’re tasting granules, it’s the sugar. Can you process it in a food processor until it’s powdery? It will eventually turn into fluffy powdered sugar!
Kariman: I find that my American buttercream frostings can be gritty at times, and usually it’s due to the fact that I haven’t beaten the sugar with the butter for long enough. Whipping them for longer yields a lighter and fluffier frosting. Of course, keep in mind that if you whip the completed frosting for a longer time (around 3-5 minutes), it will achieve a lovely consistency, but the colour will lighten quite a bit as well. So if you want to whip it for longer, you could consider swapping out some of the confectioner’s sugar for additional cocoa powder. Also, adding a bit more cream can help yield a silkier frosting, too. Hope this helps you, or any other bakers who are experiencing a similar problem!
I would adore this recipe if I could get that silky texture but mine is granulated and I can taste sugar in spite of processing the sugar. I added half a teaspoon of milk but it didn’t get absorbed into it. Do tell me what to do
Hi Sarah! Are you using icing sugar? It sounds like you are processing the granulated sugar itself. It may not be powdery enough. Can you get your hands on icing sugar/confectioners’ sugar?
Hi Sarah! I just wanted to add to Sally’s reply by saying you can make your own powdered sugar at home, if it isn’t available to you where you live. I found a post on Genius Kitchen that details how to do it; you use 1 tablespoon of cornstarch for every 1 cup of granulated sugar, and pulse the two in a food processor until a powder forms. Hope this helps!
Giving credit where credit is due: this is a definite go to recipe. 5 minutes with handy ingredients and you have a silky, delicious, cooperative and freezable buttercream. Thank you!
★★★★★
Best chocolate buttercream so yummy so easy to make and pipe
Hi sally, I’ve frozen this from a month ago and using it today. How long will it last now? And can I refreeze it? (Made a fresh batch of your amazing chocolate zucchini cake!) Thanks!
Super delicious, and so creamy! Due to dairy intolerance, I substituted 1/2 vegan margarine and 1/2 Crisco shortening, and used coconut milk. Worked perfectly, and I’ll use this recipe as my go-to from now on! Thanks!!!
★★★★★
Hi!
I made this recipe with Hershey’s unsweetened natural cocoa and it tasted great! I am trying to get a buttercream that is darker brown in color. If I substitute the unsweetened natural cocoa with dark cocoa, will that make it darker? And also will it still taste as great?
Just made the buttercream frosting, and my family loved it. Used it to frost a 4 layer marble cake.
Absolutely delicious buttercream! Not too sweet and perfect chocolate flavor, and it’s beautifully thick for piping. I’m putting it on your super moist chocolate cupcakes for a neighbor. She’s going to love them!
★★★★★
I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, Rox! What a lucky neighbor 🙂
Quick question, which specific brand did you use for the cocoa? Also did you use the Dutch processed cocoa or unsweetened natural cocoa
Hi Chelsea! I usually use Hershey’s unsweetened natural cocoa powder. Sometimes I add a little Hershey’s Special Dark in there too!
Hi sally….I just love all your work. Please tell me if I can mix half butter and half margarine to make this buttercream?
Or will it taste different or less flavorful if I use margarine entirely??
I recommend using all butter– skip margarine for this recipe.
If I want to make double frosting, can I just double the recipe? I looked at your “2 layer cake” recipe for frosting and it looks like the measurements aren’t doubled?
Doubling would be a little too much for a 2 layer cake. If you want double this quantity, though, you can simply double the ingredients.