This easy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is creamy and is packed with deep chocolate flavor without being overly sweet. You only need 5 ingredients to make this creamy chocolate buttercream frosting (and a spoon to eat it!). Plus it’s hassle-free to make because I use cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate.
Chocolate buttercream that is so creamy, fluffy, and soft!
Here are more recipes for Easy Creamy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, Classic Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting, and Easy Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting (Cheat’s Recipe).

This Creamy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is SO GOOD that it should legitimately come with a warning. Buttery, fluffy, creamy chocolate buttercream frosting with all the chocolate flavor that you’ll need. It pipes beautifully onto cakes and cupcakes, and is good enough to even eat on its own. 🙂

Chocolate frosting is easily my favorite type of frosting. Out of all the types of chocolate frosting out there, like chocolate Italian or Swiss meringue buttercream, chocolate French buttercream, fudgy chocolate buttercream frosting, chocolate whipped cream frosting, chocolate ganache frosting etc., this creamy chocolate buttercream frosting is my personal #1. And the fact that it’s the easiest out of all those to make, just makes it even better!
What makes this Creamy Chocolate Buttercream even better is that you can adjust it to your liking.
I change the amount of cocoa powder I add, to make this chocolate frosting two ways.
- A Dark Chocolate Buttercream frosting – with extra cocoa powder, this buttercream is just as creamy and delicious with a little bitterness from the extra cocoa powder. It tastes like semi sweet chocolate buttercream.
- A Classic Chocolate Buttercream frosting (or a sweeter chocolate buttercream) – made with less cocoa powder, this has the classic flavor of a sweet and chocolatey buttercream. Tastes almost like it’s made with milk chocolate.

Why is this creamy chocolate buttercream the best ever?
- This chocolate buttercream frosting is seriously super easy to make. This buttercream is made with cocoa powder, instead of melted chocolate. So there’s no hassle of melting and cooling chocolate. But do use a good cocoa powder, because that’s where all the chocolate flavor comes from.
- Speaking of, this chocolate frosting is really packed with some deep chocolate flavor. Since I’m using a whopping 3/4 of a cup of cocoa powder for the dark chocolate frosting, and 6 – 7 tbsp of cocoa powder for the sweeter chocolate frosting, there’s enough chocolatey goodness to go around.
- Using dutch cocoa means, that this buttercream frosting has a deeper chocolate flavor too. But if you only have natural cocoa at home, you can use that instead.
- Just like my Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe, this chocolate buttercream recipe is made with cool butter (not completely softened butter). This makes it wonderfully pipeable, BUT with a little extra milk or cream, it’s soft enough for old fashioned cakes too.
- This easy chocolate frosting needs ONLY 5 ingredients – Butter, Confectioner’s sugar, Cream, Cocoa powder, and Vanilla. You can add extra flavor if you want though, which brings me to my next point.
- This creamy chocolate buttercream frosting is very adaptable.
- Want an even softer and creamier frosting? Add more milk/cream.
- Want mocha buttercream frosting? Use 2 tsp of instant coffee that’s dissolved in 1 tbsp of cream or water, and add it to the mix.
- How about jaffa buttercream frosting? Add 2 – 3 tsp of orange extract (plus extra orange zest if you like too).
- And one of my favorites – brandy chocolate buttercream frosting! Add 2 – 3 tbsp of brandy to the frosting for a good dose of booze. You can sub the brandy with bourbon, or even rum or Irish whiskey too.

The butter for this buttercream frosting should be cool to start with. This is an important step. Usually buttercream recipes call for softened room temperature butter, but I find that if the butter is too soft, you have to add HEAPS of confectioner’s sugar to get the butter stiff enough for piping and creating creamy swirls. BUT, starting with butter that’s cool (not cold) and a little firm, gives you the best chocolate buttercream frosting that’s perfectly sweet, pipeable and swirl-able!

You can also change the consistency of this creamy chocolate buttercream frosting by changing the amount of liquid you add. 1/4 cup of cream is the minimum amount that I add. This obviously adds a creaminess to the buttercream as well. After this initial amount of cream, I add another dose of cream (after I’ve added the flavoring) to get the desired consistency.
If I’m making the sweeter chocolate buttercream, I don’t need to add as much of the extra cream as I would with the dark chocolate buttercream. This also depends on the season and ambient temperature. In the summer, I may not need any more cream because the butter will be softer and I won’t need more liquid to get a softer consistency. But in the winter, I may add the extra cream.

I used Callebaut cocoa powder to make this chocolate buttercream frosting. Callebaut cocoa powder is a dutch process cocoa powder. If you’re using a supermarket cocoa powder, PLEASE do measure the cocoa powder to get the best results. And if you prefer using cup measurements, be conservative with how much cocoa powder you add. 1 cup of gourmet cocoa powders like Callebaut or Valhrona weighs less than 1 cup of supermarket brand cocoa powders like Nestle or Hersheys.

This really is the BEST chocolate frosting! You may need to grab a spoon because it’s inevitable that you’ll be licking chocolate frosting off the back of it! 🙂 And it’s even better on cakes.
Like this Classic Chocolate Cake…
Like this classic vanilla cake…
…Or this one bowl fudgy chocolate cake.
Looking for more recipes?Sign up for my free recipe newsletter to get new recipes in your inbox each week! Find me sharing more inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram.

Easy Creamy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
- 8 oz cool, unsalted butter (2 sticks)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1/4 cup whipping cream chilled
- 2.6 oz dutch cocoa powder (3/4 cup) FOR A DARK CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM sifted, OR
- 1.3 oz dutch cocoa powder (6 tbsp) FOR A SWEETER, MILK CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM sifted (see notes)
- 10 oz confectioner’s sugar sifted
- 1 tbsp vanilla (reduce to 1 tsp, if using brandy)
- 2 tbsp brandy or bourbon optional
- ¼ cup extra whipping cream chilled
Instructions:
- Place the butter and salt in a mixing bowl. With the whisk attachment, whisk the butter until creamy, light and fluffy – about 3 to 5 minutes on medium high speed. Add the cream and whisk for a further couple of minutes. (SEE NOTES)
- Lower the speed of the mixer and add the sifted cocoa powder and let it whisk in and get fully incorporated. Add the confectioner’s sugar in 3 – 4 additions and mix until it’s completely mixed in – this should take only a couple of minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides for any sugar and cocoa that’s stuck on the bottom or the sides of the bowl.
- Add the flavoring – 2 tsp vanilla + brandy or bourbon. Turn on the mixer to medium high speed and whisk the buttercream for a further 3 – 5 minutes, until the buttercream is light, fluffy and creamy. Add more cream as needed while whisking, but be careful not to add too much as it can cause splitting.
- Optional step (but recommended) – since the buttercream will have a lot of air incorporated into it, you can switch over to the paddle beater and mix the butter cream on medium high speed for a couple of minutes to “break” some of the air bubbles in the frosting. This way your frosting will still be creamy, but with less “bubbles”.
- Use the chocolate frosting as needed. You can store it, covered, in the fridge if required, but allow the buttercream to thaw slightly and then whisk/paddle beat the frosting again until creamy and fluffy.
Tips & Tricks
Nutrition Information:
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”

Bridget Weir says
I would love to make this buttercream…looks delicious but would it crust as buttercreams made with confectioners sugar usually do?
Same question for your perfect vanilla buttercream frosting.
I tend to use Swiss meringue or Italian meringue buttercreams because the buttercreams made with confectionery’s sugar (i.e. American buttercream) tend to be cloyingly sweet & crusty.
I love how you provide detailed information for your recipes.
Thank you
Dini says
Hi Bridget
I find that using shortening crusts a buttercream more than the presence of confectioner’s sugar (unless a LOT of confectioner’s sugar is used). I haven’t found this to form a noticeable crust. If I want a crusting buttercream, I substitute half of the butter with shortening.
However, since both the vanilla and chocolate buttercream use less confectioner’s sugar they also tend to be softer than other American buttercreams (especially in summer).
I am not a fan of very sweet buttercream either. That’s why this is my go to when I do need a classic buttercream recipe 🙂
Alternatively, I do have recipes for vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream as well.
I hope that helps!
Carrie L Thompson says
Frosting tastes so good. But its very soft. Scared its going to melt off the cake tomorrow when it hits 29C (84F). Anyway to firm it up?
Dini says
Hi Carrie
The butter and sugar ratio is pretty even which leads the buttercream to be softer.
There are a few options to firm it up
Megha says
Hi, can cream with butterfat content of 25% be used instead of whipping cream? I don’t have whipping cream.
Dini says
Hi Megha
I haven’t tried it myself, but it should be possible!
Paul says
This looks absolutely superb! Can one use a food processor to blend the ingredients instead of a traditional stand mixer? -thx.
Dini says
Hi Paul!
Thank you!
A food processor won’t be able to incorporate as much air into the buttercream as a stand mixer. You can still use it if you like, but it may not be as fluffy.
I hope that helps!
Jay says
Taste like ice cream…per my 5yo. That’s her highest compliment…LOL. I added a little too much whipping cream…so it was a little soft after coffee & Kahula. 🙂 Definitely a keeper! Thanks for this one!
Pamela says
Please put me on your followers list for recipes
KES says
Your recipe calls for salt, but the instructions don’t say when to add it. Can you please advise?
Dini says
Hi KES
I have mentioned that the salt needs to be added right at the beginning, along with the butter (step 1). I hope that helps!
Nellie Tracy says
This stuff is so good I could eat it with a spoon! Brownies with this frosting is my new favorite!
Jennifer Banz says
Great recipe! This frosting came out really well, thank you for sharing!
Liz says
I’ve always been a chocolate frosting person! And chocolate buttercream is the absolute best. Thanks for this recipe!
Shadi Hasanzadenemati says
Love this! I enjoy making my own butter cream and this recipe looks luscious and pretty easy!
Liz says
This chocolate frosting is amazing! My husband and I licked the bowl clean after frosting cupcakes!
Alice Cox says
Hi, i’m hoping to use this and ice a three tier 8 inch cake, is this recipe enough or should i double?
Dini says
Hi Alice!
This recipe is just enough to fill and cover a two tiered 8 inch cake. You will need extra to to fill and cover a 3 tiered cake. I would double it, and use the excess for piped decorations.
Alice says
Thank you!