Best Chocolate Frosting Recipe

Hints for the creamiest, best chocolate frosting recipe around. There’s just 6 ingredients in this fudgy frosting that pairs with any cake.

Best Chocolate Frosting Recipe

We’ve featured this mouthwatering buttercream, known as “the best chocolate frosting around”, several times on Tastes of Lizzy T in the past. You’ve seen it on mint cakes, peanut butter cakes and chocolate shortbread.

The time has come, however, to showcase this smooth, creamy, easy chocolate buttercream frosting with an article all of its own. Because it’s that good. And we use this recipe all the time.

Homemade Chocolate Buttercream

There was a day when I didn’t think making my own buttercream frosting was worth the trouble. I’d just buy a tub of ready-to-spread frosting and call it good. Those were the good ‘ol days when Maddie didn’t like frosting. Turns out she didn’t necessarily not like frosting…she just needed to taste the amazingness called “homemade chocolate icing” recipe.

This simple recipe has butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla and heavy cream. The butter makes the fudge frosting literally melt in your mouth.

The salt? It balances the sweetness just perfectly.

And the heavy cream makes this whip up into a beautifully creamy, easy-to-spread chocolate frosting.

How to Make Chocolate Frosting

Homemade buttercream is easiest when you have a stand mixer. You’ll whip the butter for about 1 ½ minutes until it is creamy and whitish in color. Then you’ll add the salt and vanilla. And then comes the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add this in slowly and be sure the mixer is on low speed so the powdered sugar doesn’t go flying all over your kitchen.

As for the heavy cream, simple add a tablespoon at a time until the frosting is the consistency that you’d like it. Some like thicker frosting and some want it fluffier and lighter. A little more heavy cream will give you a fluffier texture.  Be sure not to beat the frosting too much. It will whip more air into your frosting. Unless what you want is an airier frosting, of course. I find that beating my frosting for about 1 minute gets it to the consistency I like.

Just look at this…..

Q: What are your chocolate frosting hints?

Best Chocolate Frosting Recipe

4.88 from 41 votes

Hints for the creamiest, best chocolate frosting recipe around. There's just 6 ingredients in this fudgy frosting that pairs with any cake.

Servings 10 servings

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

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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. 

Nutrition

Serving: 76g | Calories: 359kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 21g

Author Julie Clark

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Calories 359

Keyword chocolate buttercream, chocolate cake, frosting recipes, how to make buttercream

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