Name: Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 15
Ingredients: 1 cup butter ((softened)); 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar; 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder; 4 tablespoons heavy cream

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Creamy, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate frosting. This is the recipe for the best chocolate buttercream frosting, perfect for piping cakes and cupcakes.

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Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Everyone needs a classic homemade chocolate buttercream frosting recipe in their recipe box. One that is creamy, smooth, able to be piped on cakes and cupcakes. But most importantly, that chocolate frosting needs to taste amazing.

How to Make Chocolate Frosting

Homemade frosting is easy to make if you follow the directions carefully. We highly recommend a stand mixer, but a hand mixer will do. Mixing only by hand won’t give you a very fluffy frosting.

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Here are a few hints:

Soften the butter, but don’t melt it. If the butter is melted, it will change the texture of the frosting.
Whip the butter until it is almost white in appearance before adding the other ingredients.
Use heavy cream (rather than milk) for the creamiest, richest frosting. The thick heavy cream also helps you to not accidentally make the frosting too runny.
Add the cream 1 tablespoon at a time until you’ve achieved the desired texture.

Tools for Making Homemade Buttercream

Stand Mixer: For creaming that butter to an almost-white consistency and for whipping in the cream to make fluffy frosting.
Cacao Powder: You can use store-bought cocoa powder, but I 100% love this all-natural cacao powder. It makes the frosting have a deep, rich chocolate flavor.

What Cakes are Best with Chocolate Frosting

We love this frosting on:

chocolate frosting made with butter and cream

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Creamy, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate frosting. This is the recipe for the best chocolate buttercream frosting, perfect for piping cakes and cupcakes.

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: birthday, butter, cake, cocoa powder, frosting

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Servings:

Calories: 239kcal

Ingredients

1 cup butter (softened)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

In a stand mixer with the beater blade, beat the butter for 1-2 minutes until it is smooth, creamy and nearly white in appearance.
Add in the salt and vanilla. Mix until incorporated.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
Add the heavy cream, a tablespoon at a time, mixing slowly until it is the consistency that you'd like.
Beat for 1 minute on medium speed until smooth and creamy.

Video

Notes

We like to use the beater blade attachment. If you'd like an airier frosting, you can use the whisk and beat the frosting for an additional 1-2 minutes. This will whip more air into the frosting, which makes it delicious, but it will also not spread on as smoothly.

We used regular cocoa powder, but if you'd like deeper, darker flavor, use special dark cocoa powder.

The calories shown are based on 1/15 of the frosting. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate.