Fluffy and smooth with a lovely chocolatey flavour, this is how to make Chocolate Buttercream Frosting! Follow along with the quick recipe video (below recipe). Use this buttercream to frost cakes and cupcakes – it can be piped, spread and used to sandwich cake layers!
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Fluffy and chocolatey, buttercream frosting is a classic favourite for smothering over cakes and cupcakes. This Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is:
✅ Perfect for piping – it holds its shape with swirls, roses etc
✅ Can be used for sandwiching between cake layers – it won’t ooze out everywhere like cream when you cut into the cake
✅ Fluffy, creamy, luscious and buttery. Totally indulgent and will rival any high end bakery!
How to make Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Buttercream frosting is not hard to make but it does take time – and an electric mixer or stand mixer. The key is beating, beating, beating – for at least 6 minutes, usually 7 to 8 minutes.
The longer you beat, the fluffier it is and the smoother it is.
Beat, beat, beat!
Other than beating, the only other tip I have for a beautiful classic buttercream frosting is to use the right butter to icing sugar (powdered sugar) ratio. Too much sugar to butter = gritty frosting. Too little, and it just tastes like butter.
Go forth and enjoy! – Nagi x
Use this Chocolate Buttercream Frosting for:
-
Chocolate Cupcakes – no stand mixer required for these incredible cupcakes!
-
Chocolate Cake – the BEST everyday chocolate cake, ever!
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Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 200g / 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 1/2 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar , sifted (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder , unsweetened, preferably Dutch Processed, sifted(Note 3)
- 1/4 cup milk (any)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attached. Beat for 3 minutes on speed 7 until it becomes pale.
- Add half the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Beat for 3 minutes - start slow, increase to speed 7.
- Add remaining icing sugar and cocoa powder. Beat again for 3 minutes.
- Add milk and vanilla if using. Beat again for 1 minute on speed 7.
- Spread onto cakes / cupcakes, or spoon into frosting bag and pipe.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe video!
LIFE OF DOZER
BY POPULAR DEMAND…. Dozer photo added!! I didn’t have one in this recipe because it was an extra recipe for the Chocolate Cupcakes. Gasp shock horror! Better fix it! 🙂
I made this yesterday, and even my “I don’t eat cake” husband liked it. It’s really yummy.
There are so many brands of “Dutch processed” cocoa out there, what brand would you recommend?
Just made this delicious buttercream this morning to frost 3 large 32 x 21cm family-sized chocolate cakes. Made 3 separate quantities, icing each cake as soon as I had completed a batch. The quantity gives a very generous amount for a family size cake and it was absolutely delicious. Keep the cakes as cool as possible if you aren’t refrigerating them. I wasn’t too sure about making my icing the night before. Has anyone done this ahead?
Hey!
I really want to try this for Christmas. I’m scaling this recipe up by 50% for your chocolate cake recipe like it mentioned, but i find it so hard to measure the ingredients, such as “0.38” cup milk. Do you have solutions?
Thank you!
Click on metric then weigh the ingredients, this is what I do when I am scaling up/down 🙂
Love your recipes! So easy to follow and fail safe too! Choc buttercream worked a treat and tasted great too. Congratulations on the book too! I’ve added to my Christmas list!
I’ve just tried this recipe and it seems to have separated and it looks like it’s oozing. Where did I go wrong?
Im making 2 cakes instead of one,what is best to sandwich together, I will put choc butter cream.I on top.
Nagi I love you!! I just went to make this recipe and realised I was out of cocoa powder. I checked your notes and of course you have an option for chocolate instead. Thank you! This recipe is delicious, as is everything I have every made of yours.
Can I store them at room temp rather than in the fridge? Thanks again.
This is a P.S. to my earlier question. If I can make the frostings a day ahead can I store them at room temp rather than in the fridge? Thanks again.
Can I make both the chocolate and vanilla buttercream a day ahead and fridge them?
This frosting seems to have caused a heart attack on my first use of Kitchenaid mixer! Finished it in the Thermomix. Worked far better!
Hello I love this recipe it was absolutely a winner when I made it for my family. I was wondering what the recipe was for normal vanilla buttercream do I just substitute the cocoa powder with icing sugar?
My vanilla buttercream can be found here: https://www.recipetineats.com/my-very-best-vanilla-cake/ N x
Hi Nagi. Thanks for your great recipes; especially the detail instructions. Your site is always my go to.
I made the chocolate buttercream today along with the ‘best chocolate cake ever’. I didn’t have enough soft icing sugar so made up difference (about 1/3) of pure icing sugar. Could this be the reason the buttercream seems a bit grainy?
Yes Georgia – the pure icing sugar hardens up a bit and doesn’t stay soft like the icing sugar mixture. N x
I made this chocolate buttercream alongside the chocolate cake recipe and it was so delicious everyone could not believe I had made it! I doubled the ingredients as I was making quite a big cake, so I made two thick sponges both measuring 9 inches wide and baked them for roughly an hour on the temperature recommended- as they were bigger sponges than the standard recipe therefore a longer cook time but it still came out perfectly soft, fluffy and not too chocolate yet or sweet at all. The recipes provided by Nagi are truly the best I have come across!! I don’t bake often but when I do reciptineats is my go to, I have made her vanilla sponge recipe which really does stay moist for 4 days! My husband was actually surprised the cake tasted so good as it was for his birthday, and he is a very picky eater so that is saying a lot! I felt compelled to write a review on here because it was my first time making this and this is a foolproof method for the perfect chocolate cake. Thank you Nagi for sharing!!
Hello Nagi, can you use Icing mixture (Icing sugar with starch) in stead of Icing sugar?
I always use Soft Icing Mixture (icing sugar with starch added, called confectioner’s sugar in North America) when making frostings. Pure icing sugar can be clumpy and it hardens up forming a crust. It is better for decorative icings like Royal Icing that need to harden. If you only can get pure icing sugar then you need to be sure it is very fresh and well sifted and just know that you will still get the crust when it sets. N x
That is fabulous, Fab!!! N x
This comment is for all you poor souls that are dairy free. I decided to try the frosting using Earth Balance vegan butter sticks. I let them come to room temp and the followed Nagi’s recipe as written…. Beating them for the same amount of time as the butter. No one could tell it wasn’t real butter cream frosting. I could tell, only because I’ve made this butter cream the “right” way so many times. I think if you are going to use the vegan sticks, you may want to slightly increase the powdered sugar. It didn’t seem as sweet as the actual butter one… but maybe that’s because the vegan butter was salted? I’d say add 50 grams more of powdered sugar to get a sweeter frosting. I used oat milk barista blend for the milk part of the recipe. The icing turned out beautiful and frosted just like the real buttercream.
I also made the chocolate cake that Nagi has subbing Oat Milk Barista blend (not just regular oat milk… the barista blend is thicker and more like a whole milk). I could not tell a difference with the cake and it was perfect.
OF COURSE buttercream frosting should be made with real butter. But for some of us who cannot tolerate due to severe allergies, it’s nice to know if a backup that makes us feel like we get the real thing
Thank you so much for that feedback Maggie – lots of people will find that helpful! I just don’t have the time to test every single variation of a recipe so am always happy to hear how they turn out for others!! N x
I have quite a bit of frosting leftover and I have to make another cake in 2 days, can I store the frosting in the fridge until then? Thanks
You can store it Cint and rebeat it just before using. Sometimes buttercream splits when you do this though so be sure it’s not straight out of the fridge when you beat it. N x
Perfect frosting! It’s my go-to now.
I’d like to use almond extract – will that work in your vanilla cake recipe?
Thanks!
Lorie
Hi Lorie – I haven’t tried it myself but another reader commented that she had used almond extract with success. N x
Hi
Can you make this frosting and store it in the fridge and use it the next day to decorate your muffins ? Thank you
I have made this last night and I too found that adding the milknhas made it curdle / separate slightly. I started with the butter at room temp (not melted) but it was a warm evening and all that beating made it quite runny (rather than fluffy). I doubled the quantity of icing for a mutli-layer cake, but used less than half the amount of milk in the recipe as I was worried about it being too runny. I have chilled it and still hoping I can make it work on the cake once it comes back up to room temp again. Any idea what I did wrong?
Hi Emma – your butter was too soft to start. Ideally it needs to be butter that is at 17°C/63°F, which is cooler than you might expect! It should be soft enough that it is pliable so when you poke it, it leaves an indent. But still cool enough so that you don’t end up with shiny grease your your finger. N x