Name: Perfect Chocolate Frosting
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 100 g dark chocolate (bittersweet); 400 g icing sugar (powdered sugar); 250 g slightly salted butter (softened); 40 g cocoa powder (dutch processed)

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When you make chocolate buttercream, you'll usually have two options for the buttercream: cocoa or melted chocolate. For my favourite, most intense chocolate buttercream icing recipe, I use both!

If you love making cupcakes, you'll know that the beauty of them is that the batter takes minutes to whip up and once they're cooked and cooled, you have 12 little blank canvases to go crazy with.

Over years of recipe testing, writing and demonstrating, I've probably made a metric ton of buttercream icing, and I love to tweak it to perfectly match the flavours of the cupcakes.

When I want a really intensely chocolatey hit to pipe onto my cakes, I go with the ultimate killer combo: slightly salted butter, icing sugar, vanilla, cocoa AND melted dark chocolate. It works SO well and really gives the buttercream a deep flavour.

In the recipe below, complete with step-by-step photos, I'll also show you how to get the buttercream really light and creamy. It starts by melting the dark chocolate and setting aside. This is because you need it to be cool when it goes into the frosting.

You'll then whip the butter by itself! I know, it seems excessive, but it really works and gets it light and creamy before you sift in the icing sugar and cocoa, followed by a dash of vanilla and a splash of hot water.

The next crucial step is to whisk the chocolate buttercream icing for a full 5 minutes to get it really pale and increased in volume. You can then add the cooled melted chocolate and give everything a final whisk.

I really think you're going to adore this chocolate buttercream icing recipe. It not only tastes intensely chocolatey, it also pipes beautifully smoothly from a large star nozzle and sets just firm enough to hold its shape when bitten without being sloppy or drying out.

Here's the full recipe.

Ingredients

100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate (bittersweet)
400 g (3 cups + 3 tbsp) icing sugar (powdered sugar)
250 g (2 sticks + 1 tbsp) slightly salted butter softened
40 g (⅓ cup) cocoa powder (dutch processed)

Equipment

Instructions

Melt the dark chocolate and set aside to cool.

Put the butter in a large mixing bowl.

Beat with an electric whisk until really pale and aerated.

Sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder, then add 1 tbsp of hot water and 1 tbsp vanilla.

Mix on a low speed with your electric whisk until everything is combined.

You can then turn your beaters up to full speed and beat until light and smooth. It will take at least 4-5 minutes.

Add the cooled melted dark chocolate. It's important that it's well cooled or it will melt the frosting.

Whisk until well combined and smooth.

Transfer your buttercream into the piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and twist.

You'll have enough to pipe the frosting on top of the 12 cupcakes in very generous rising swirls, or enough for 24 cupcakes with more modest frosting.

Bonus cake decorating tips!

You can frost a perfect rose on top of a cake. Just start from the middle and ice outwards, keeping it as flat as possible.
To stop sugar paste from sticking to your work surface, dust with cornflour, not icing sugar. Icing sugar leaves unsightly white streaks and dries the sugar paste out, causing cracks, whereas cornflour dissolves invisibly back into the icing.
Water with a tiny bit of icing sugar in it makes perfectly good glue. This might be the last time you pay for a bottle of sugarcraft glue!
A bit of screwed up foil can make the centre of a sugar paste flower look far more realistic. Once you’ve cut out your little flower and put a little ball of contrasting icing in the centre, just squish some screwed up foil against the middle a few times and you’ll get a lovely, dimpled effect.
Use salted butter in butter icing, rather than unsalted, because it tastes better and lasts longer. I try to keep our salt intake low, but slightly salted butter brings out the sweetness in buttercream.

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5 from 1 vote

Perfect Chocolate Frosting

When you make chocolate buttercream, you'll usually have two options for the buttercream: cocoa or melted chocolate. For my favourite, most intense chocolate buttercream icing recipe, I use both!

Prep Time10 mins

Total Time10 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegetarian

Servings: 12 servings

Author: Emily Leary

Ingredients

100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate (bittersweet)
400 g (3 cups + 3 tbsp) icing sugar (powdered sugar)
250 g (2 sticks + 1 tbsp) slightly salted butter softened
40 g (⅓ cup) cocoa powder (dutch processed)

Equipment

Instructions

Melt the dark chocolate and set aside to cool.
Put the butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk until really pale and aerated.
Sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder, then add 1 tbsp of hot water and 1 tbsp vanilla.
Mix on a low speed with your electric whisk until everything is combined. You can then turn your beaters up to full speed and beat until light and smooth. It will take at least 4-5 minutes.
Add the cooled melted dark chocolate. It's important that it's well cooled or it will melt the frosting. Whisk until well combined and smooth.
Transfer your buttercream into the piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and twist.
You'll have enough to pipe the frosting on top of the 12 cupcakes in very generous rising swirls, or enough for 24 cupcakes with more modest frosting.

Video

Notes

Bonus cake decorating tips!

You can frost a perfect rose on top of a cake. Just start from the middle and ice outwards, keeping it as flat as possible.
To stop sugar paste from sticking to your work surface, dust with cornflour, not icing sugar. Icing sugar leaves unsightly white streaks and dries the sugar paste out, causing cracks, whereas cornflour dissolves invisibly back into the icing.
Water with a tiny bit of icing sugar in it makes perfectly good glue. This might be the last time you pay for a bottle of sugarcraft glue!
A bit of screwed up foil can make the centre of a sugar paste flower look far more realistic. Once you’ve cut out your little flower and put a little ball of contrasting icing in the centre, just squish some screwed up foil against the middle a few times and you’ll get a lovely, dimpled effect.
Use salted butter in butter icing, rather than unsalted, because it tastes better and lasts longer. I try to keep our salt intake low, but slightly salted butter brings out the sweetness in buttercream.

Nutrition

* Note: nutritional information is estimated, based on publicly available data. Nutrient values may vary from those published. Information on this website should not be taken as medical advice. Cuisines identify the primary region of inspiration for a dish.

Tried this recipe?Snap a pic and tag @amummytoo on Instagram or tag @EmilyLearyCooks on Twitter. I can't wait to see your posts!

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