This Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is so easy to make. Use it for piping on brownies, cupcakes and cakes. It is so chocolatey, smooth and creamy and tastes so better than any bakery!

 

Make homemade chocolate frosting so quickly and easily with this recipe. It calls for simple pantry ingredients so even a beginner can make it. It’s perfect for layer cakes, sheet cakes, brownies or cupcakes.
This frosting recipe is great for topping a Vanilla Cake or Chocolate Cake.

Baked goods from scratch are always so much better than bakery bought. They are made fresh and save you a small fortune. I make this buttercream for my Peanut Butter Cake Recipe as well as other baked goods. The creamy frosting takes everything to another level.

The key to making the softest and flavorful chocolate buttercream is whipping your room temperature butter till creamy. You can use a hand or stand mixer. Cream the butter for about 5 minutes. The color will start to become white in color.

Another important step is to sift your powdered sugar to remove any lumps. This step is not necessarily as important but it does make for the smoothest frosting. Note that organic powdered sugars are more lumpy than non organic. So, it is a bit more important if using organic.
Hershey’s Chocolate Cocoa Powder is perfect for a rich chocolate butter cream.
High fat content milk like a heavy whipping cream is BEST but whole milk or half and half will have great results too.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

Homemade Buttercream Frosting only needs a few simple ingredients- and you probably already have most of them on hand! We use a lot of fridge staple and pantry staple ingredients for this sweet chocolate frosting recipe. You’re going to need the following ingredients for Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

• Butter – If you can, use unsalted butter for best results. Using salted butter in buttercream frosting won’t ruin the recipe but it’s better to add salt to taste separately.
• Powdered Sugar – Or confectioners’ sugar. Any sort of powdered, dusting sugar- avoid crystal or granulated sugar.
• Cocoa Powder – We are using unsweetened cocoa powder here- 100% cacao. Don’t mix this up with any sort of sweetened hot cocoa or hot chocolate powder or mix!
• Vanilla Extract
• Salt – If your buttercream frosting is too sweet, a pinch of salt can help balance things out a bit. Any salt is fine here- iodized table salt, kosher salt, sea salt, et cetera.
• Heavy Cream – Obviously, buttercream frosting calls for some heavy cream. If all you have is half-and-half or milk, it should work too!

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Making Chocolate Buttercream Frosting from scratch is way too easy. It all comes together real quick too- especially if you have any sort of electric mixer on hand to speed things up. Here’s how to make Buttercream Frosting from scratch:

• Let your butter soften at room temperature before you start making buttercream frosting. Transfer softened butter to a large mixing bowl. Use a hand or stand mixer to beat butter on medium speed until fluffy and creamy.

• Add powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat on low speed to incorporate sugar and cocoa powder before turning speed up to medium-high for 3 minutes. This’ll help you from making a mess!

• From here, it’s about dialing in the consistency. Start adding your heavy cream a splash at a time.

• Beat heavy cream in at medium-to-high speed until incorporated. Keep adding cream until desired consistency is reached.

• Taste test and add an extra pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. Use right away or keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Storage / Freezing

Storage: Transfer any leftover buttercream frosting to an airtight bag or container before putting in the fridge. Chocolate Buttercream frosting should last at least 1 week in the fridge. Don’t be shocked if it lasts longer- 2 or 3 weeks, maybe even up to a whole month!

Freezing: Frozen Buttercream Frosting is a better call for long term food storage. Make sure you’re using a freezer bag or freezer-safe container for storage and keep in the fridge. Expect your frozen Chocolate frosting to last up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing buttercream frosting, let thaw in the fridge before beating for a few minutes to whip it back up before putting it to use.