Fluffy Chocolate Frosting
This Fluffy Chocolate Frosting recipe is a great choice for filling or frosting your cakes and cupcakes! It has a light and fluffy consistency, a delicious chocolate flavor, and pipes beautifully! This is the chocolate version of our Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream which we often refer to our on site.
Table of Contents
A More Heat Resistant Frosting?
Because of the shortening in the recipe, this fluffy chocolate frosting is a bit more heat resistant than butter-based frostings. This is always going to be the case with frostings that contain shortening. This is especially helpful for summertime gatherings!
Some frostings contain no butter at all, and rely entirely on shortening. People have mixed feelings about this. Those who live in very hot or humid climates find it to be a necessity, although losing the butter means that you have to rely more on extracts for making up for the flavor lost from omitting the butter.
For me, I usually use an all-butter frosting or a recipe like this one that contains at least some butter.
There is no such thing as Buttercream that will not melt
Please don't mistake heat resistant for heat-proof! ;0) Sadly, there is no such thing as a frosting that will not melt.
If you leave a frosted cake out in the heat or directly in the sun for an extended time, bad things are going to happen. If you have an outdoor event on a hot day, keep the cake cool until close to the time of serving.
However, it's nice to have an option that can withstand warmer temperatures a bit better. Plus, it is SO simple to make.
Enjoy the recipe!
Fluffy Chocolate Frosting
A delicious, fluffy chocolate frosting, perfect for piping. The shortening in the recipe makes it a bit more heat resistant than an all-butter recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups ( 285 grams) vegetable shortening
- 7 cups (793 g) powdered sugar
- 1 ¼ c. (86 grams) cocoa powder, loosely fill your measuring cup
- ½ c. (114g) water or milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
- Cream butter and shortening until creamy.
- Blend in the vanilla. Add powdered sugar, cocoa and most of the water. Mix throughly on medium speed for approximately 6 - 8 minutes until creamy and smooth.
- Add your remaining milk (or water) as necessary. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally during the mixing process.
- Recipe can be doubled
- This is a crusting buttercream, it pipes great, and works well with the viva paper towel method of smoothing (if you're going for that super smooth finish).
Our "all butter (no shortening)" version of Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
As long as we're on the subject chocolate frostings, I have to give a shout to our fantastic Classic Chocolate Buttercream recipe! (This recipe does not contain shortening, tastes wonderful, and also pipes perfectly)
I've made this recipe countless times over the years, and it's the chocolate frosting that I use most often, assuming I don't need our fluffy heat-resistant option.
It's good to have options, make sure to save them both! ;0)
I made this frosting and frosted a Too Much Chocolate Cake. Also used your method for dripping ganache down the side. It is really good!! The frosting works well with the viva method. I give it an A+!
Great! Glad to hear your feedback :0)
Forgot to ask - have you ever used this frosting under fondant?
Hi, yes we have.
I have had a few problems with the fluffy and chocolate fluffy recipes. When I try to color to fluffy recipes it always leaves white dots in my icing & when I made the chocolate fluffy recipe yeasterday it still left white spots... Do anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
Do you store your shortening in the fridge?? If so you will have this outcome, also you may need to sift your icing sugar, this could also cause white spots.
Can I used melted choclate instead of powder? Have cake on due sat. and would like to try this recipe :)
I have never tried it with melted chocolate so I just can't say for sure. Let us know if you experiment with it.
Hey Bebe, I made this frosting with a bag of melted chocolate and a little bit of caocao powder..and it worked out awesome and was so yummy! Thanks for recpice!
Great! Thanks for letting me know.
Britney,
I would say it is probably your powdered sugar. Mine was doing the same thing and I got so aggravated with it. I was trying to fish little hard pieces out of it everytime I was making a cake. I went to Micheals and bought a sifter and I haven't had the problem since, now they are the only recipes I use as far as icing goes :)
Hi, I live in Australia so not sure what a stick of butter means, can you please advise grams of butter? Also, i noticed that you mentioned about storing shortening in the fridge could result in white spots in coloured icing, our shortening (copha) is all stored in fridge, is there any other type of shortening to use?
Thank you