This easy to make, creamy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is fluffy and melt-in-your-mouth soft with a deep, decadent chocolate flavor!EASY - This recipe is very easy and perfect for beginner bakers.US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Common Measurement Conversions. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results. This recipe makes about 3 cups.
¼tspfine sea saltor ½ tsp to add a light salty flavor
30mLheavy cream or double cream2 tbsp, chilled (at least 35% fat)
75g dutch cocoa powder OR¾ cup, spooned and leveled, and sifted (for a dark chocolate flavor)
40gdutch cocoa powder 5 tbsp, sifted (for a sweeter, milk chocolate buttercream; see recipe notes below)
285gconfectioner's sugar 10 oz / 2.5 cups, spooned and leveled, and sifted
10mLvanilla or coffee extract2 tsp
30mLbrandy or bourbon2 tbsp, optional
Instructions
Sift the cocoa powder and confectioner's sugar in separate bowls and set aside until needed.
Place the butter and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk the butter until creamy, light, and fluffy - about 10 minutes on medium high speed. Use the whisk attachment for airy buttercream. Use the paddle attachment for a creamy buttercream. Make sure to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl to ensure there are no butter lumps in the whipped butter.
225 g softened unsalted butter, ¼ tsp fine sea salt
Add the cream and vanilla extract (or coffee extract) and whisk for a further couple of minutes, if you're using cream. (Skip this step if you're using the buttercream in hot weather.)
30 mL heavy cream or double cream, 10 mL vanilla or coffee extract
Lower the speed of the mixer and add the sifted cocoa powder and let it whisk in and get fully incorporated. If you do want a stronger chocolate flavor, you can add more cocoa powder (sifted) at the end as well. Mix the butter mixture for a further 2 - 5 minutes until the cocoa powder is properly and uniformly mixed in (scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as well).
75 g dutch cocoa powder OR, 40 g dutch cocoa powder
Add the confectioner's sugar in 3 - 4 additions and mix in on low speed. Once the confectioner's sugar is almost all mixed in with the butter, increase the speed and mix until you have a light, fluffy buttercream. 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. This should take about 2 - 3 minutes, depending on your mixer.
285 g confectioner's sugar
Taste the buttercream at this stage. Add a little more cocoa powder if you want a stronger chocolate flavor. Add any bourbon or alcohol you wish to flavor the buttercream at this stage as well. Turn the mixer on to medium high speed and whisk the buttercream for a further 3 - 5 minutes, until the buttercream is light, fluffy, and creamy.
30 mL brandy or bourbon
Optional step - If you used the whisk attachment to make the buttercream, you can use the paddle attachment at the end to remove some of the air bubbles in the buttercream. Switch over to the paddle beater and mix the buttercream on medium 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.
Optional - Another method to remove excess air in the buttercream is to take a small portion of the buttercream and heat it in the microwave until it's just melted. Add this back to the rest of the buttercream and mix it in using the paddle attachment. The frosting should deflate just slightly and become a little loose but not too runny.
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.
Notes
Note on butter
If you're using butter that is soft (not cold, but has gotten softer at room temperature), make sure to mix it less to avoid the buttercream from splitting.
Note on cocoa powder
I use Cocoa Barry Extra Brute 22 - 24% which is a dutched cocoa powder. You can use dutch cocoa powder or natural cocoa powder for this recipe. I prefer to use dutch cocoa powder, but these are interchangeable for this recipe. Use weighted amounts of cocoa powder for this recipe. Volumes of cocoa powder will vary greatly between dutch cocoa powder and natural cocoa powder, and different brands.For a lighter, sweeter chocolate buttercream - use 40 g or 1.4 oz of dutch cocoa powder (about 6 tbsp).For a darker chocolate buttercream (less sweet, and more chocolatey) - use 2.6 oz / 75 g of dutch cocoa powder (about 3/4 cup).
Chocolate buttercream flavor variations
Mocha buttercream - use 2 tsp of instant coffee that's dissolved in 1 tbsp of water, and add it to the mix in place of the brandy/bourbon. Jaffa buttercream frosting - add 2 - 3 tsp of orange extract (plus 1 tbsp orange zest if you like too).Other alcohol options - add 2 - 3 tbsp of bourbon or rum instead of brandy. Mexican chocolate buttercream - add 1 tsp ground cinnamon to the frosting. Plus 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper for a spiced version.
Frosting cupcakes
It's hard to say how many cupcakes can be frosted with this buttercream recipe. It entirely depends on how much frosting you will be adding on each cupcake. If you're using only a small amount of buttercream - like 2 tbsp of buttercream per cupcake, then you can frost 24 cupcakes with this recipe. If you want big swirls of frosting, assuming each swirl is about 1/4 cup, then you can frost about 12 cupcakes with this recipe.