You’ll love this wonderful chocolate frosting! How can you go wrong with cocoa powder, butter, and powdered sugar? Whipped into fluffy delightfulness, homemade buttercream frosting will turn any cake into a confectioners’ delight. I love to top this homemade banana cake with chocolate buttercream. How long it takes: 10 minutes Equipment you’ll need: Large bowl, rubber spatula, and electric mixer Servings: 10 My grandma made a 9 x 13 cake every Saturday with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting. After church, my family, all my aunts, uncles, and cousins, stopped by for a cup of coffee, a piece of cake, and loud conversation. It was amazing, no matter how many people stopped in, my grandma always seemed to have enough room and enough cake for everyone. Such a great memory! Make a cake (no one will know if you used a cake mix!) and top it with easy chocolatey homemade frosting. Brew a pot of coffee, and invite a few people over. Expect lots of admiration, maybe even a hug or two. For sure, you’ll get smiles :) Make some memories!
About this frosting
Once again, homemade wins out! You only need one bowl and five ingredients to create this magic.
Ingredients You’ll need
Cocoa Powder: A full cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (baking cocoa) adds so much dark chocolate flavor to this buttercream frosting. You won’t have to mess around with melted chocolate. Use natural or Dutch process cocoa powder, such as Hershey’s Cocoa or Ghirardelli’s. Butter: Butter is the only option for buttercream frosting. Don’t substitute margarine or shortening. Choose unsalted butter if you have it but salted butter will do in a pinch. The butter needs to be at room temperature so take it out of the refrigerator at least an hour ahead. Confectioners’ Sugar (Powdered Sugar): Essential to most uncooked frostings, powdered sugar is the backbone of this buttercream. Granulated sugar would make your frosting very gritty. Flavoring: A teaspoon of pure vanilla extract rounds out the chocolate flavor. Whether you’re a mocha fan or not, adding a teaspoon of espresso powder will add depth to the flavor. Milk: Substitute cream or half-and-half if you like a richer frosting.
How to make it
You’ll need a large bowl and an electric mixer. You can stir this frosting up by hand but be prepared to use a lot of muscle power. Whisk or sift the cocoa powder to remove any hard lumps. Blend together the cocoa powder and butter until smooth. Add sugar, flavoring, and milk. Beat on low speed until combined, then beat on high speed for about two minutes or until the frosting is light and fluffy. Desired consistency of the frosting depends on how you’re going to use it. Keep it on the stiff side if you want to pipe it, using a decorator’s tip. If you’re spreading it on a cake, a little softer consistency is preferable. Spread or pipe the frosting on a cake or cupcakes. Decorate with sprinkles if you like but do it right away or they’ll roll right off! Yup, I know that from experience.
How To Make This Frosting Your Own
Try other flavoring extracts: maple, rum, bourbon, or brandy. Mexican hot chocolate flavor: Stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon (if you love that flavor combination, check out our Mexican chocolate shortbread cookies or flourless Mexican chocolate cake. Add a pinch of cayenne if you like. Milk chocolate frosting: Use less cocoa powder, to taste. Richer frosting: Use two sticks of butter instead of one. You may need more powdered sugar.
Make Ahead & Storage Tips
Frosting can be made ahead and stored one week in the fridge or three months in the freezer. Put it into an airtight container. To use, thaw overnight in the refrigerator if it’s frozen. If frosting has deflated a bit, use your mixer to whip it again briefly until it has resumed its fluffy lovable state of being.
Leftover Love
Make too much frosting? Don’t want to make another cake? While you can always spread frosting on graham crackers for a quick snack (yum!), leftover buttercream frosting can be made into cookies. Try this easy recipe, Leftover Buttercream Cookies, by Manu’s Menu. The frosting is mixed with flour, an egg, and baking soda to make easy cookies. I can’t wait to try them!
More cake toppers
Dress your cake up with one of these luscious toppers. Try:
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Whipped Cream Recipe – How to Make Whipped Cream Apple Spice Cake with Bourbon Glaze Hot Fudge Sauce Recipe 3 Ingredient Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
