The Chocolate Buttercream Frosting You Didn’t Know You Needed

I’m spilling all my secrets and finally sharing the best chocolate buttercream frosting you’ll ever taste. No seriously, it’s that good. There are so many amazing recipes out there, but trust me, you need to try this one! It’s a straightforward recipe that turns into a smooth and creamy, delicious buttercream with the perfect amount of chocolatey goodness.

What makes this recipe such a stand out? Believe it or not, it’s the butter to powdered sugar ratio! It’s just pure magic, and makes this easy chocolate buttercream so unbelievably good. The end result is stable enough for tiered cakes, pipes beautifully, smoothes easily, and comes together in under 15 minutes!

My Easy Chocolate Buttercream Must-Haves:

• Easily Smooths
• Minimal Air Bubbles
• Pipeable
• Stable
• Smooth & Creamy
• Delicious, of course!
• Provide a Solid Foundation for Tiered Cakes
• Egg-Free (My son, Brady, is highly allergic, and it’s important to our family for him to be able to enjoy cakes we make in our home.)

[Related Post: The Only American Buttercream Recipe You’ll Ever Need]

Chocolate Buttercream Ingredients: 

• Electric Hand Mixer (or)
• Stand Mixer with the Paddle Attachment
• Unsalted Butter
• Powdered Sugar
• Vanilla Extract (I use Magnolia Baking Company)
• Heavy Cream or Milk
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• Sifter or Mesh Strainer
• Silicone Spatula
• Measuring Spoons
• Salt
• Food Scale (Optional, but highly recommended!)

Tips for Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

BUTTER:

Your butter needs be unsalted and room temperature. Unsalted butter allows control over the amount of salt added to the recipe. I’ve found the sweet spot to be about 1/2 teaspoon of salt, this will be much lower if using salted butter. If your butter is too cold, there can be small lumps of butter in your finished buttercream. If butter is too soft or melted, the consistency will be too soft and won’t be the best texture to work with! You should be able to press your finger into the butter and leave an indentation, without the butter falling apart. 

POWDERED SUGAR:

Believe it or not, I have found it completely unnecessary to sift the powdered sugar. I have never really noticed a difference in the finished product with sifted powdered sugar as opposed to unsifted. So that being said, I choose to skip this step to save time. Of course, do whatever you prefer when it comes to sifting!

sifting cocoa powder:

We may not be sifting the powdered sugar, but I highly recommend sifting the cocoa powder! This really helps break up those annoying clumps and insures a smooth and creamy buttercream finish. As you are sifting, if you end up having clumps that won’t break up, you can press them through the sifter with a fork or spoon.

HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM/MILK:

Be careful when adding the milk or heavy cream, you can easily add too much! If too thick, add a tablespoon of heavy cream/milk at a time, until you are happy with the consistency. If you find you’ve added too much cream, you can try adding a bit of powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time, to help thicken it back up!

[Related Post: The Best Triple Chocolate Layer Cake]

Well, there you have it – the best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe ever! You have to give this a try, especially if you are a chocolate lover like me. It’s a total game-changer, especially paired with my Triple Chocolate Layer Cake recipe. Whether you’re frosting a batch of cupcakes, or just spooning it straight from the bowl, your friends and family will be dying for the recipe.

Continue below for the easy-to-follow recipe, dig in, and enjoy every bite!

Print Recipe

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

This chocolate buttercream is a straightforward recipe that turns into a smooth and creamy, delicious buttercream with the perfect amount of chocolatey goodness.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 2 sticks Unsalted Butter 226 grams
• 2 lbs Powdered Sugar 907 grams
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 4 grams
• ½ teaspoon Salt 3 grams
• 8 tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream 120 grams
• 1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 25 grams

Instructions

• Start by adding the room temperature butter to a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Whip the butter on a medium speed for about 1-2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl at least once during this time.
• Add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk to the butter, along with the vanilla extract and salt.
• Turn mixer on medium speed until these ingredients are incorporated. This should only take about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl.
• Lower mixer speed to the lowest setting, now start adding the powdered sugar in increments. Adding a tablespoon of heavy cream or milk between each.
• Slightly increase the mixer speed to help blend these ingredients, but do not turn on too high or you will whip too much air into the buttercream.
• Remember to scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl to make sure all of the ingredients are incorporated!
• When finished adding all powered sugar and heavy cream, finish by adding the unsweetened cocoa powder.
• Mix on low-medium until all ingredients are incorporated, this could take a few minutes. At this point you should have perfectly smooth, chocolate buttercream!

Notes

*You can adjust the heavy cream amount in this recipe* *For a stiffer buttercream, add less than recommended amount* *For ultra-creamy buttercream, add a max of 10 tbsp of heavy cream*

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