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Home Β» Dessert Β» Chocolate Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes and Cakes

January 14, 2021

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting for Cupcakes and Cakes

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This chocolate buttercream frosting is rich and creamy. Cocoa powder and melted semi-sweet chocolate along with a little coffee give plenty of dark chocolate oomph to this frosting. The frosting is the perfect consistency to pipe onto cupcakes or decorate a cake.

Top my gluten and dairy-free cupcakes with this frosting: gluten-free dairy-free vanilla cupcakes, gluten-free coconut cake or my gluten-free strawberry cupcakes.

close up of vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting on white platter, Piping bag with frosting in front.

Ingredients

This is BUTTERcream and I definitely prefer the taste of butter. If you avoid dairy I recommend trying my vegan chocolate frosting instead of using a butter substitute in this recipe. I find that the vegan butter makes the frosting too runny and I don’t like the texture of shortening (even the organic ones).

I like to use both unsweetened cocoa powder and melted semi-sweet chocolate. The cocoa powder is a good punch of pure chocolate and the melted chocolate gives the frosting a nice creamy texture. If you are looking for an allergy-free chocolate, I am a huge fan of Enjoy Life chocolate.

The addition of a tad of instant coffee granules is a great flavor enhancer for chocolate,

I prefer my chocolate buttercream more on the bittersweet side so I use 3 1/4 c powdered sugar. Feel free to add another 1/3 cup if you like it closer to semi-sweet.

chocolate buttercream frosting being piped onto gluten free vanilla  cupcake, Cupcakes in back, white marble background

Frosting Consistency

This frosting holds up very well to piping it onto cupcakes or for decorating cakes. If you want a creamier, more spreadable consistency, add more milk (dairy-free is fine) a couple of teaspoons at a time. It is surprising how just a little liquid goes a long way.

Continue to Content
close up of vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting on white platter, Piping bag with frosting in front.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting For Cupcakes

Yield: 3 cups
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

This perfectly sweet chocolate buttercream is the frosting for your favorite cake or cupcakes. It makes enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes or to lightly frost a 2 layer 8" cake.

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
  • 3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 tsps vanilla powder or vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 -2 Tbsp milk

Instructions

  1. Beat the butter with a stand or hand mixer for 1 minute.
  2. Add half of the sugar and half of the cocoa powder and beat on low until most of it is combined. Add the remaining sugar and cocoa powder and beat on low until most of the sugar is incorporated.
  3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, Add the vanilla, salt and milk and beat on high for 1 minute.

Recommended Products

  • Enjoy Life Chocolate
    Enjoy Life Chocolate
  • Vanilla Powder
    Vanilla Powder
Nutrition Information
Yield 24 Serving Size 2 Tbsps
Amount Per Serving Calories 64Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 3mgSodium 32mgCarbohydrates 14gFiber 0gSugar 14gProtein 0g

This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated using information from the Nutritionix database. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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© Janet Harlow
Cuisine: American / Category: Baked Goods
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Posted In: Dessert · Tagged: chocolate, dessert topping, frosting

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About Me
Hi, Welcome! I'm Chef Janet and I create gluten-free recipes that everyone will love, gluten-free or not.

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