This American style Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is whipped until light and fluffy. It is easy to make in a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer and a mixing bowl, and it requires just six simple ingredients.
Wary of chocolate frosting that is too sweet, it overpowers the chocolate flavor? If so, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, I will walk you through how to make the simplest fluffy chocolate frosting that is full of chocolate flavor and won’t hurt your teeth.
The advantage of making homemade frosting is the ability to control the quality of the ingredients going into your recipe. Beyond that, I will share a few tips and tricks that can help you make the perfect chocolate buttercream frosting to accompany your favorite cakes and cupcakes to elevate all of your celebrations.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
- This easy chocolate buttercream recipe is an American buttercream frosting that has been modified to significantly reduce the amount of sugar, making it much less sweet.
- It requires just 6 simple ingredients that you can find at any grocery store.
- This recipe is very easy to make with the help of a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer and a mixing bowl.
- Not only is this frosting easy to make, it is also finger lickin’ good and super versatile. Pipe it on chocolate cupcakes, or sandwich it between two brownie cookies, or simply spread it over a batch of chewy brownies.
Ingredients and substitution
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:
- Unsalted Butter – this is the main ingredient for buttercream frosting. If you can splurge, get the best quality butter for the best tasting buttercream. Don’t substitute salted butter or you’ll end up with really salty frosting.
- Cream – I used heavy cream to lighten the frosting and make it fluffier. Light whipping cream should work but I don’t recommend substituting milk in this recipe.
- Salt – just a pinch to cut through the sweetness and give this simple chocolate buttercream frosting more dimension.
- Vanilla – I used pure vanilla extract to enhance the chocolate flavor.
- Cocoa powder – natural or Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder should both work, though I tend to prefer Dutch-processed for all of my recipes for a richer chocolate flavor.
- Powdered sugar – or icing sugar is used here. Don’t substitute granulated sugar or you’ll risk getting grainy frosting.
Tools you’ll need
You should use a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer for this recipe. You could potentially make buttercream frosting by hand but it would require a lot of elbow grease and would take longer too.
How to make chocolate buttercream frosting
The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Add room temperature butter, cream, vanilla extract and salt to your stand mixer bowl. Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into the bowl.
Tip: sifting the powdered sugar and the cocoa powder is not absolutely necessary but it helps with clumping and makes distributing the dry ingredients more evenly.
Turn the mixer to “stir” to incorporate all of the ingredients. Then increase the mixer speed gradually to “high” and beat until light and fluffy.
Baker’s Tips
- Softened but not melted butter – let the butter come to room temperature before making buttercream. But don’t let it become too soft and runny. About 30 minutes to an hour will soften it enough.
- Cutting up the butter into smaller cubes will help it soften quicker and more evenly. This will also help it incorporate faster when beating.
- No need to cream the butter first – simply cream all of the ingredients together and beat until it’s light and fluffy, this could take 5 to 15 minutes.
- Don’t skip the salt – the recipe doesn’t call for much but it’s an important ingredient. It helps cut through the sweetness and the taste of cornstarch in the powdered sugar as well as give the buttercream another flavor dimension.
- Don’t skip the vanilla – while the main flavor for this frosting is chocolate, vanilla will enhance the flavor and add complexity.
Storage
This light chocolate frosting can be stored in the refrigerator if made ahead for up to a week. Allow it to come to room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour and re-whip until fluffy before using it.
If you have leftovers, don’t throw it out, freeze it in an airtight container for up to 3 months. You can thaw it at room temperature and re-whip until fluffy before using it.
FAQs
Did you start out with softened and not melted butter? During very hot months, butter could go from softening to melting quickly, this could make your frosting a bit runnier than it should. Just pop it in the fridge to set for 15-30 minutes before piping.
This recipe will make about 3 ¾ cups of whipped chocolate frosting.
About 3 cups of chocolate buttercream frosting will be enough to generously frost a batch of a dozen vanilla cupcakes, or a 6” two-layer vanilla cake. It is also enough to lightly cover an 8” two-layer cake with a thin layer of frosting on the side (naked cake style).
If you want to frost a full-size cake completely, from 8” up to 10”, you’ll need about 4 – 5 cups of buttercream. This recipe can be easily scaled up to make more. I give the modifications in the note section of the recipe card.
You can keep this frosting at room temperature for a day if you’re making and serving it on the same day. Otherwise, I recommend storing it in the refrigerator.
More frostings to try
- Peanut butter frosting
- Chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream
- Cream cheese frosting
- Strawberry cream cheese frosting
- Coconut whipped cream
Hungry for more?
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Equipment
- Electric Hand Mixer
Ingredients
- 12 oz unsalted butter, 3 sticks, 340 g, room temperature
- 1 ½ cup powdered sugar, 150 g, sifted
- ¾ cup cocoa powder, 135 g, sifted
- 6 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- 1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- A big pinch of salt
Instructions
- Add butter, cream, vanilla extract and salt to the stand mixer bowl.
- Sift powdered sugar and cocoa powder into the bowl.
- Stir to incorporate all of the ingredients, then increase the mixer speed gradually to high and beat until the frosting is white and fluffy, about 5 – 15 minutes.
Notes
- Let the butter come to room temperature before making buttercream. About 30 minutes to an hour will soften it enough without being too soft.
- Buttercream can be stored in the refrigerator. Thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour and re-whip until fluffy before using.
- This recipe makes about 3 ¾ cups of buttercream, enough to generously frost 12 – 18 cupcakes or a 2-layer 6” cake, and also lightly cover a 2-layer 8” cake with a thin layer of frosting on the side.
- To fully frost a regular size (8” and up) 2-layer cake, you’ll want about 5 cups of frosting. You’ll want to modify the recipe to:
- 16 oz unsalted butter (452 g)
- 2 cup powdered sugar (200 g)
- 1 cup cocoa powder (180 g)
- 8 tablespoon heavy whipping cream (½ cup)
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- A big pinch of salt
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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