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
My favorite secret ingredient in chocolate frosting is to add in Kahlua. So I made this replacing the vanilla essence and some of the cream with Kahlua. Yum Yum Yum!
This is such a delicious and easy recipe! Thanks so much!
Love how rich the chocolate taste and creamy this is, goes absolutely well on your chocolate cupcake! One question though, this buttercream has this gritty texture (I used icing sugar but unsure which kind of sugar it is made from), is it supposed to happen? And how do I make it smoother?
Hi Dorothy! So glad you enjoy this. Try sifting the confectioners’ sugar (icing sugar) before using next time– that will help smooth out the texture.
So thick and creamy it was perfect for my sisters birthday cake thank you and I recommend this!
I followed this recipe exactly as printed nd it was fabulous! My husband requested German Chocolate Cake for his birthday, and it was a huge hit! I will definitely save this one.
Very good chocolate frosting! I did decrease confectioners sugar to 2 1/2 cups with slight decrease in heavy cream to get right consistency. We prefer it a little less sweet. Delicious buttercream frosting. Whole family enjoyed. Thank you.
I really love this frosting. It’s the best chocolate frosting I ever ate. I used 2% milk instead of heavy cream, no salt and 3/4 dutched hershey’s cocoa.
Just made this recipe and oh WOW it’s so yummy I’m going to have to make 2 batches as dont think the first will make it onto the cake it’s so yummy
The BEST chocolate frosting recipe! I only use this – it’s smooth and delicious.
My go to for chocolate buttercrem! Amazing to pipe or cover a cake. Forever receiving compliments. This recipe is so delicious, easy to make and perfect.
Easy and delicious recipe! Wonderful for piping.
I also added a little bit of cooled melted chocolate for an extra chocolate flavor and it’s delicious!!! But, I’m curious how you get such a rich dark color. Mine seems quite a few shades lighter.
Can I use this recipe without hand or stand mixer?
Buttercream frosting would be very difficult to cream together by hand. If you try, be prepared to use a lot of arm muscle!
Great recipe!
Made this with black cocoa to go on a cake made with black cocoa. It’s fabulous!
I love the taste of the buttercream but was hoping for a darker color. It came out light brown vs the darker brown shown in pictures. Is there a way for me to fix this? I thought about adding more cocoa powder but since it tasted fine I just went on without any adjustments. Thanks!
Hi Kelly! Over-whipping adds more air to the buttercream which lightens up the color as well. Feel free to add more cocoa powder to darken (and milk/heavy cream to offset that dry ingredient). Or try one of my favorite tricks– place the frosting in a microwave safe bowl and heat for a quick 10 seconds. Stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. This helps pop any air bubbles and the warmer butter creates a darker looking frosting.
Easy chocolate frosting to make. I was happy that I had all the ingredients in my kitchen. I used it for my vanilla cupcakes. Great reviews from my stay at home crew! Thank you! Stay safe
This was so good! I used it in your chocolate mousse cake, because I only had two chocolate bars, and it came out amazing! So creamy and tasted perfect with that dark chocolate cake!
This made the driest buttercream I’ve ever made. I had to add about twice the amount of heavy cream and double it because it didn’t cover my cake.
This frosting was perfect balance – not too sweet at all and very fresh! Way better than the store bought kind and will try the vanilla recipe next week. It did dry really fast and I couldnt get my sprinkles to stick ♀️
I just made this icing to go along with the chocolate cupcake recipe. By far the best homemade chocolate icing I have ever tasted…and so easy to make. I highly recommend this cupcake/icing combination!
Does this recipe make enough frosting to frost a 3 layer 6-inch cake?
Yes, it does.
I really loved this frosting. I am still in the process of making the cake. But this is seriously good frosting. I was looking for a chocolate cake recipe with not to much butter and this was perfect. Sally is a frosting queen.
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!
Made this frosting to go along with your simple vanilla cupcakes. Absolutely delicious combination!
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.
The best chocolate butter cream I have ever had! So amazing!
I tried this chocolate buttercream recipe with your brownie recipe….amazing!!!
I also refrigerated the leftover buttercream and then rolled them into little balls of icing. They were a hit! We called them chocolate bombs 🙂
Cup cake and frosting were so good!
I made it and kids and my husband loved it!
This recipe makes a lot of frosting for our taste, so I will try to cut it in half.
I made the chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing for my daughter’s 8th birthday today. I found the icing sweet as per comments and after all it is buttercream icing so it is going to be sweet. I added some blood orange zest and a touch of it’s juice and it turned out fabulously just the bit of ‘zest’ I thought it needed!! Thank you