Chocolate Buttercream Recipe
This classic Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe is the only chocolate buttercream recipe that you will ever need. It tastes amazing, pipes beautifully, and has been our go-to chocolate buttercream for years!
You are going to LOVE how easy this chocolate frosting is to make. Throw that canned chocolate frosting in the trash, it won't taste good to you anymore!
Table of Contents
How to Make Chocolate Buttercream
This chocolate buttercream recipe comes together in no time! You can find the full, printable frosting recipe below. This is an American Buttercream, meaning that it consists primarily of butter, powdered sugar, flavorings, milk, and in this case, cocoa powder as well.
It makes a great chocolate filling, frosting, and pipes great too!
- Add softened butter to the mixing bowl and mix on low to medium speed until smooth. Add vanilla extract and blend into the softened butter. Add confectioners sugar, salt, and unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Add most of the milk. Begin mixing at low speed so you won't have a cloud of powdered sugar in your kitchen.
- Continue to mix adding remaining milk until desired consistency is reached.
- It may take 5 to 6 minutes to reach the smoothness and consistency you like. It will take longer if using a hand mixer. As you mix, the frosting will become very smooth. You can add additional milk (1 Tablespoon at a time) if the frosting is too thick or additional powdered sugar if too soft.
What Cakes Taste Great with Chocolate Frosting?
This Classic Chocolate Buttercream is silky smooth, has a fantastic chocolate flavor, and it is the perfect complement to SO many flavors of cakes and cupcakes!
We love it as a filling or frosting for so many of our cake recipes! Some of our favorites are Marble Cake, Yellow Cake, and scratch Chocolate Cake, but there are so many more great options!
Pipeable Chocolate Buttercream
This Chocolate Frosting recipe should give you a nice medium consistency. This makes it perfect for piping.
Whether you're making buttercream ruffles, buttercream roses, or piping pretty scrolls or borders, this frosting couldn't be simpler to work with.
You'll have a bit of wiggle room when it comes to the amount of sugar and liquid. For a thicker frosting, mix in more confectioners sugar.
For a softer frosting, add a bit more milk. I also prefer to use whole milk rather than skim or 1% as it gives a richer flavor and a lighter crust when it sets.
If you'd like to learn more about simple buttercream piping techniques, check out some of our free tutorials: Piping Basics: Petal and Ruffle Tips, Piping Basics: Round Tips, Piping Basics: Star Tips.
Other Chocolate Frostings to Try...
We have a couple of other delicious chocolate frostings in our recipes section!
Our Fluffy Chocolate Buttercream recipe is similar to this classic chocolate buttercream, as it is a crusting recipe which is great for piping. The difference is that it contains shortening, which makes it more heat resistant.
It's always nice to have a heat friendly option for those hot summer days. Just remember that no frosting is 100 percent heat-proof. Shortening based frostings will hang in there for a bit longer though! You can find the recipe here: Fluffy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
Next, if you are looking for something even more rich, you will also love our Chocolate Ganache Frosting in the Recipes section! If you've never tried ganache, it is a decadent mixture of chocolate and cream. Hop on over for the details!
More Recipes for the Chocolate Lovers!
If you love chocolate cakes and frostings, don't miss our full roundup of favorite chocolate cake and frosting recipes!!
These are SO delicious and we have a great variety in this roundup of chocolate fillings and frostings, scratch chocolate cakes, doctored chocolate cake mix recipes, and favorite chocolate cake and frosting pairings!
Best Chocolate Cakes and Frostings
Enjoy the Recipe
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
The most delicious and simple Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe! This chocolate frosting pipes great also.
Ingredients
- 3 sticks (339g) unsalted butter, softened (do not soften butter in the microwave)
- 7 cups (805g) confectioners sugar (Adjust slightly up or down to your liking) *See Notes
- 1 cup (82g) unsweeteded cocoa. Measure, then sift.
- ¾ cup (180g) milk -Add slowly, stop when desired consistency is reached. (Add a bit more if needed).
- 2 teaspoons (12) vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (6g) salt
Instructions
- Add butter and mix on low to medium speed until smooth. Add vanilla and blend into the butter. Add powdered sugar, salt, and cocoa powder.
- Add most of the milk. Begin mixing at low speed so you won't have a cloud of powdered sugar in your kitchen.
- Continue to mix adding remaining milk as needed. It may take 5 to 6 minutes to reach the smoothness and consistency you like. It will take longer if using a hand mixer. As you mix the frosting will become very smooth. You can add additional milk (1 Tablespoon at a time) if the frosting is too thick or additional powdered sugar if too soft.
This is our favorite chocolate frosting! Recipe can easily be doubled or halved.
This recipe makes approximately 6-6.5 cups frosting.
Notes
Our favorite brands of confectioners sugar are Dominos and US Sugar (Costco). I'm sure that there are other good ones as well- but we never have issues with grainy buttercream when using these brands.
Hi Yvonne, I am happy you like the recipe. You can add additional milk until the frosting is the consistency you like. Add the extra milk just a small amount at a time. If it should happen to become too soft, add more powdered sugar.
I’m trying to make this frosting a little more stiff around the edges- does that make sense? What do I do for that? Or What may I be doing wrong?
Hi Christy- If you want a thicker consistency of frosting, you can add a little more powdered sugar until you have the consistency that you like. If you've frosted the cake but are wanting sharper edges, you can chill the cake in the freezer for about 15 minutes or just until the frosting firms up, and then go over the cake with a hot spatula to smooth out your frosting or create sharper edges around the top, etc. Not sure if this is what you're asking but I hope it helps!
I’m looking for a dark chocolate buttercream recipe to use under fondant. Between the classic chocolate and the fluffy chocolate buttercream recipes, which one would hold up best? And is there a way that I can make the buttercream a little more chocolate/fudge tasting?
Thanks! Kathy
Hi Kathy, The Classic Chocolate is made with all butter so it will form a firmer shell when it is refrigerated before you lay on the fondant. You could add a bit more unsweetened cocoa powder (you will need additional milk also) but I don't think that will give you the fudge taste you are looking for. It sounds like you would prefer a recipe using melted chocolate and we have not posted one yet. We hope to do so soon.
Hi I made this recipe twice, both times, the frosting looked dry not glossy. What can I do to make it moist
Hi Regina, If your buttercream is too stiff, add additional milk 1 teaspoon at a time until it reaches the smoothness you like. Also, when making you could reduce the powdered sugar from 6 cups to 5 for a softer buttercream. If it becomes too soft, add more powdered sugar.
Hello! I’ve been trying to make buttercream that looks and tastes as smooth as yours and I keep failing... although it tastes ok, you can feel the powdered sugar between your teeth... if that makes sense...
What am I doing wrong? Could it be the mixer tool I’m using? I always use the whisk... should I be using the k tool or something...
Hey Mihaelia! I always sift my powdered sugar before mixing, this helps my icing with the lumps and grit. Hope this works for you!
Hi Mihaelia, I'm sorry I missed your question when you posted in April. If your powdered sugar is feeling gritty, the problem is with the brand you are using. It should be 100% pure cane sugar. If your package just says powdered sugar, then it is powdered sugar made from beets. If you are near a Costco, their brand is pure cane sugar. We also have success with Dominoes brand. We were once able to use Dixie Crystals and their label did state pure cane sugar but something has now changed in their formulation. We think they increased the anti-caking agent in the product and this resulted in giving it a gritty taste. I do not know what brands are available to you, but experiment with another brand and I hope it will give you a good result. Let us know.
Hi
What brand of cocoa did you use in this recipe.
Hi Jackie, We used Ghirardelli 100% unsweetened cocoa, but your favorite unsweetened cocoa will be fine also.