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 basic; it’s incredibly CREAMY, silky, smooth, and rich. Like a decadent brownie in frosting form. Melts in your mouth and tastes 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
- Chocolate Raspberry Cake
- If you scale it up, you can use it to frost a layered cake, like I do with my chocolate cake, and yellow cake
Dive into this chocolate decadence!
Help! My Chocolate Buttercream is Really Light in Color
After beating so much air into the mixture, chocolate buttercream can lighten up in color. Of course this doesn’t change the flavor at all, but if you want it a little darker, I have a tried-and-true trick.
Take 1 cup of the prepared buttercream (you can just eyeball it, a little less than half). Place it in a heatproof bowl. Microwave it for 10 seconds. This loosens the mixture up and helps the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder combo absorb more of the liquid. Place that back into the big bowl of frosting and stir it in by hand. The frosting should be smoother, and darker in color.
More Favorite Frostings
- Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Cream Cheese Frosting & Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Favorite Chocolate Buttercream
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2.5 cups
- Category: Frosting
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
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 (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 and 1/2 cups (420g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup (41g) unsweetened natural or dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream or milk, at room temperature
- 1/8 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. Taste. Beat in another pinch of salt if desired.
- Use immediately or 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 on medium speed for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. After thawing or refrigerating, beating in a splash of heavy cream or milk will help thin the frosting out again, if needed.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand)
- Quantity: This recipe makes enough to frost 12–16 cupcakes or a thin layer on a 9×13-inch quarter sheet cake. Follow these ratios for a 2-layer cake and these ratios for a 3- or 4-layer cake.
Keywords: favorite chocolate buttercream
And here is my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe!
Hello, I was wondering what cupcakes you would recommend to go with this icing
★★★★
Hi Grace, there are so many options! See the post for a list of suggestions. I especially love this frosting on yellow cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, and cookies and cream cupcakes.
Great recipe, but I didn’t use all the powdered sugar. I added a cup at a time to get the sweetness how I wanted. Used about half of what the recipe calls for. It tasted great and could really taste the cocoa
Thank you so much for your chocolate butter cream frosting recipe . It is fantastic! I haven’t had a really good recipe for it in a long time.
★★★★★
How many cupcakes will this recipe frost I will be making about 30 cupcakes and hope to swirl the frosting as well as you!!
Hi Renee, this recipe makes enough to frost 12–16 cupcakes, so you should double it. Hope the cupcakes turned out great!
So simple and delicious! The egg whites really make the cake feel so light.
★★★★★
So simple and delicious!
★★★★★
Would it be possible to make this a chocolate coffee buttercream by subbing out the heavy cream for coffee? Thanks.
Hi Molly, you can certainly give that a try. We would only swap out some of the heavy cream, as it gives the frosting a nice creamy texture. You could also try adding some espresso powder to add a coffee flavor. Or, you might also enjoy the coffee buttercream on this espresso chocolate chip cake. Let us know what you try!
I ended up using 2 tbsp of coffee, 2 tbsp of heavy cream and a 1.5 tsp of espresso powder. the coffee flavor is pretty subtle and i think the chocolate flavor was more enhanced, but overall very tasty.
I made this to go with yellow cake cupcakes. Super easy and very good. I did the addition of the microwave trick – I think that also subtly enhances the flavor too.
★★★★★
I loved this recipe! I made this diary free by using full fat Oatly milk and dairy free butter, Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks. It was amazing! My husband tried it and said it tastes just like regular buttercream. Thank you for all your amazing recipes!
Can I triple the recipe to cover a three-tiered cake? I saw the link you posted to use for 3-4 tiered cake, but that frosting calls for corn syrup and I’d rather not use that. Thank you for your help!
Hi Sara, yes, you can certainly scale this recipe up for a larger cake. Enjoy!
Tasted nice but far too soft, even when the sugar contents was doubled. Top slid straight off my cake.
★★
Question – my frosting was a much lighter color than your pictures (and what it usually is) – did I do something wrong? It was soo good – so would love it to be darker next time
Hi Kelly! The color of the frosting will depend on the cocoa powder you use – we usually use Hershey’s unsweetened natural cocoa powder. Sometimes we add a little Hershey’s Special Dark in there too!
Hands down the best frosting I have ever had!!! This will be a staple in my baking from now on! I am usually a boxed cake person for cupcakes (with canned icing) and decided to make your yellow cupcakes and this frosting for a coworker – out of this world!!! Another home run!
★★★★★
Can I color this red for Christmas?
Hi Terri! You can certainly add red gel food coloring to this chocolate buttercream, but the brown color from the cocoa powder will show through and muddle the color.
this looks a great recipe….is I put it in a sandwich cake, would it have to be kept in the fridge..I thought that would make the cake hard or dry? if we eat it over 3 days could I wrap it in foil and keep in the larder? wha
★★★★★
Hi Pauline, we prefer to keep this in the refrigerator, but you can do whatever you’re comfortable with!
This is a wonderful chocolate frosting recipe! very light and it has a great texture… my family loved it!
★★★★★
would this make a good chocolate filling for macarons?
Hi Jan, This chocolate buttercream, as written, would be wonderful as a filling for macarons. Enjoy!
Hi, I love this recipe for chocolate buttercream! Is it possible to make it sugar free by using Monk Fruit Sugar?
Is there any modification that you would suggest to make this dairy-free?
Hi Anne, while we haven’t tested it ourselves, you could try making it with a plant-based butter and dairy-free milk (oat milk would be our recommendation). The frosting may not be quite as thick and creamy. Let us know if you do give it a try!
Not a great frosting
★★
This is a great chocolate frosting recipe!
Not too sweet! It was JUST enough for a 2 layer cake. I would add another 1/2 recipe so I could decorate a little bit more.
★★★★★
I don’t typically like buttercream frosting, usually I find it too sweet and heavy. But this frosting was AMAZING. So good, light, smooth, great taste. My husband said it reminded him of chocolate mousse. I did do half shortening and half butter, which may have changed consistency a little bit. Definitely will use this recipe again.
★★★★★
I want to use this on a 3 layer 9″ white cake with your raspberry filling.
Do you think this recipe is enough frosting?
Hi Susie! We recommend following these ratios for a 3 layer cake.
I use this recipe every time I’m making a chocolate birthday cake or chocolate cupcakes and it’s foolproof! Always a hit. This isn’t in the recipe, but sometimes I add a teeny tiny bit of espresso powder to the buttercream, which Sally recommends using in her chocolate cake recipe. I stumbled on Sally’s website a couple of years ago, and she has since been my go-to, especially for desserts! Thank you Sally!
★★★★★
Can you substitute margarine for the butter and still be able to pipe nice swirls?
Hi Tracy! We really recommend sticking with butter here, the flavor will be lacking without it. But you can try half butter and half shortening (so 1/2 cup of each) for a crusting buttercream if desired – it will pipe well. Enjoy!
Another thought…I once read that you sometimes substitute melted butter for oil and being the biggest fan of butter, I do that routinely now. Could that be the reason my cupcakes are sinking in the center? I prefer butter for taste and health but not if it doesn’t work, right?
Hi Elaine! We find oil to be far better for chocolate cupcakes and cakes than butter for texture and flavor.
Hi Sally,
This is my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe!!
That being said, can you advise me? My cupcakes always sink in the middle (not just this recipe). What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for your thoughts!
Hi Elaine! Are you referring to our Super Moist Chocolate Cupcakes recipe? Sinking is often due to cupcakes being under-baked. Keep a careful eye on how high you fill the liners (only halfway for those cupcakes!) and how long you bake time– even an extra minute or 2 would help.
My husband says it’s better than his mothers. Which might be one of the handful of times he said that to me. It felt like such a win to serve him this frosting on delicious brownies! I did add a little bit of instant espresso, which elevated the chocolate flavor just a little bit.
★★★★★
A stunning frosting! Silky, very delicious! I used a piping bag for the first time. This is a huge win for me! I’m definitely making this again!!
I don’t even like icing at all normally I take icing off of things but this icing is just delicious! It’s so chocolatey and has the perfect amount of sweetness in it!!!