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:
- Yellow Cupcakes
- Coconut Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Chocolate Frosted Cookies
- Banana Cupcakes
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Chocolate Raspberry Cake
- Chocolate Chip Cookie 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
- Black Chocolate Buttercream Frosting which tops these Black Velvet Cupcakes
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. For a 2-layer cake, follow the ratios from this chocolate cake. For a 3- or 4-layer cake, follow the ratios from this piñata cake.
And here is my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe!
Reader Comments and Reviews
Do you ever add espresso powder to your chocolate buttercream ?
Hi Cee Cee, we don’t find that it needs it, but you could try it if you’d like. Let us know how it tastes if you try it!
Hi! Can water be used instead of cream/milk?
Thank you.
Hi Andreya, it is best to stick with milk or cream.
Would 3 T of Devon Double Cream work? I forgot to get heavy cream.
Hi Jacki! Do you have milk? That would be preferable. Double cream may be too thick.
I love this page! I’ve been trying to perfect my buttercream frosting skills since it’s my absolute favorite!!! This page has helped so much! And the recipes are amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!
Holy Cow…. I made this for my husband’s birthday cake and I actually impressed myself with it. I am not usually one who likes the frosting I make from scratch. This was so easy and impressive. I used the Hershey brand 100% cocoa powder and it was amazing.
Will the recipe work if I cut the amounts in half? I don’t need too much frosting.
Yes, absolutely!
Iam so excited!! Your chocolate Buttercream Frosting is the Best I’ve ever had. It will be my favorite from now on!! Thank you!
Hi Sally,
This is the Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Ever!!
I’ve been baking for 1/2 century!
Now, I’ll never ever use another recipe for baked items (except for the on graham crackers:-)!!!
and ganache when called for.
Thank you very much
I so like all your recipes. Thank you so much for sharing
Will make this chocolate cupcake for my birthday in few hours.
I made this recipe about 3 or 4 days ago and I love it, I don’t know what I did different though because it came out WAY closer to fudge candy than frosting. If I make this again I will try to make it into fudge again because it was some of the best fudge i’ve ever had.
I frosted a cake with this. Can i leave out overnight or does it have to go in the fridge?
Hi Megan, Some cake recipes may have different storing instructions, but in general, you can store cakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days and in the refrigerator up to 5.
Made this tonight to go on a cookie cake. It was absolutely delicious!!! Will definitely save this one for the future. No alterations made 🙂
hi sally i was wondering if i can triple this recipe and use brown suger maybe or dimeno suger if thats fine sally i love your cooking i just wanted to let you know that im a big fan soooooooooooooo please please answer back fast please
Hi Anna, this buttercream recipe really needs confectioner’s sugar. You can multiply it for larger batches, as long as you have a mixer that can handle the volume, otherwise you can make multiple batches.
This cupcake is one of a kind there so flavourful but again so moist 5 stars and if I cud go higher it would be a 10
Can this chocolate buttercream be used for piping decorations?
Hi Rhonda, yes, this buttercream pipes beautifully.
I used this exact recipe and the buttercream is too soft when piping. What can I do to stiffen it up slightly?
Hi Claudea, If your frosting is too thin, first make sure your butter isn’t too warm, room temperature butter is still slightly cool to the touch and about 65°F. You can always add a bit more confectioners sugar to your frosting to thicken it. Hope this helps!
Absolutely love this butter cream adding it to my repertoire, will definitely be a staple go to. Made it exactly as the recipe intended, no issues at all.
Can this recipe be doubled?
Hi Nancy, yes, absolutely.
I frost my cakes and freeze them. Will this buttercream still be creamy when thawed?
Hi Karen, For the absolute best taste and texture, fresh frosting is best. However you can freeze a decorated cake, and then thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before decorating/serving and it will still be creamy.
wowwww like reachel says this the goat recipe
This was really good! The only flaw I made was coarse salt when I was making things this round. I look forward to using this recipe many times over!
Fantastic recipe. I used a true powdered sugar, butter, buttercream frosting with chocolate Dutch powder. I made this for my birthday because all the bakeries around town process hydrogenated oils. I’m not gluten-free or Paleo or any of that stuff and this cake was mind blowing. You cannot tell that it’s almond flour. You can’t even taste the coconut. Five stars +5 more.
This is the GOAT chocolate buttercream. There is no greater chocolate buttercream in this world than this recipe. People melt after taking a bite of it and repeatedly ask me to make it every year for their birthday.
I love your recipes. Each time I attempt to make butter cream frosting it seems fine until after when I serve the cake. It doesn’t stay on the cake. You can just take it off in one piece. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Christine! Is it too stiff? Are you serving the cake at room temperature? If the buttercream seems too stiff you can add more heavy cream or milk.
I have been using Sally’s recipes for several years. Earlier this week, as I am planning another “practice cake” as I call them, I needed a chocolate buttercream recipe. I was cruising for the latest fancy versions that social media has to offer, and I found a really great website where the creator actually mentioned that she usually uses Sally’s Chocolate Buttercream. When the “competition” admits to using your recipe – it must be really good! I made it today and was thrilled with how it came out. I did change the mixing technique a little – I find that if you add just a little of the powdered sugar, a 1/4-1/3 cup, plus your extract/flavoring when you are first creaming the butter – then mix in the rest of the sugar in two batches as per the recipe – it makes a smoother., more stable emulsion. It was wonderful – my husband loves desserts, but hates things he deems “too sweet”. This frosting is NOT too sweet! I can’t wait for him to have a piece tonight!!
Do you think adding a bit of black coloring would get this a good bit darker?
He techniques I plan to use it for will not work with the microwave softened version. I need it pretty firm. ☺️
Hi Kat, you can use black gel food coloring for a darker color.
I prefer all frostings less sweet so the flavor, not the sweetness shines. So for this one I cut the sugar to 2c and increased the coca to 2/3 c. Also replaced half of the cream to sour cream, just for a little zing. It is SOOOOOO good. Have to stop myself from eating it before I get these cupcakes frosted!!
I am getting reading to make your chocolate buttercream frosting in a few days for my mom’s 69th birthday. Super excited and unfortunately I can’t get heavy cream. Would I still be able create this delicious topping with 2 percent milk? Thanks
Hi Alicia, yes, that will work in a pinch!
An easier way to darken the color of your chocolate frosting is to substitute 1Tablespoon of natural or dutch-process cocoa powder for 1Tablespoon of black cocoa powder, available from King Arthur. If that is not dark enough do another tablespoon. I substituted all one time and it was almost black.
Hi! Is the cocoa powder Dutch processed or non-Dutch? I bought the latter for making your chocolate cupcake recipe and I’m not sure which is better for the buttercream
Hi Rachel, you can use either here since there is no leavening. We usually prefer to use Dutch process for a deeper chocolate flavor, but either works!
Please could you tell me how long cupcakes topped with this buttercream can be left at room temperature. I have not used buttercream icing before. I imagine the butter would be ok, but I am concerned about the cream. I was hoping I could make these ahead of time and keep them at room temperature for 24h before serving them. Thank you.
Hi Elsa, We will typically store cupcakes covered at room temperature for 1 day or in the refrigerator for 3 days.
soooooo yummy!