This easy chocolate buttercream frosting is silky chocolate perfection! Made with cocoa powder, this not-too-sweet frosting is perfect for any cake or cupcake!
This chocolate buttercream frosting is simple but tasty. The most common chocolate buttercream frostings are a mixture of butter, powdered sugar, and either cocoa powder or melted chocolate.
This easy version uses cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate. It takes just 5 basic ingredients and about 5 minutes to make the frosting.
And, most importantly, it tastes great! The frosting is rich and creamy without being too sweet. It pipes well, and the frosting pairs beautifully with yellow, chocolate, or white cake.
If you haven’t tried making homemade frosting, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at just how easy it is.
Ingredient tips and substitutions
Butter: I prefer the flavor of salted butter to unsalted butter + salt in this recipe. However, you can use unsalted butter along with a couple pinches of salt.
Be sure to have your butter at the right temperature. Room temperature means the butter should be about 72 F. The butter should give a little when pressed but should hold its shape overall. The butter shouldn’t be soft and melty.
Dry ingredients: if your powdered sugar and/or cocoa powder are lumpy, sift them before adding them into the butter. It will help them incorporate more easily into the butter.
Cocoa powder: I’ve used unsweetened cocoa powder and Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Both have worked well.
Heavy cream: Using heavy cream will give you a slightly lighter, fluffier frosting. However, milk or half-and-half will also work. However, the more fat your dairy has, the richer your frosting will be.
How to make chocolate buttercream frosting
Step 1: Begin by beating the butter in a large mixing bowl on medium until the butter is pale, about 3-4 minutes. This helps the butter to be nice and soft without getting melty.
Step 2: Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and milk or cream. Beat on low until the cocoa powder and sugar are incorporated. If you start mixing on medium or high, the dry ingredients can fly out of your mixing bowl.
Step 3: Adjust the consistency of your frosting by adding additional powdered sugar to make the frosting thicker or more milk/cream to make the frosting thinner (picture on right).
Top tips
Temperature matters! Be sure to have your butter at the right temperature. Room temperature means the butter should be about 72 F. The butter should give a little when pressed but should hold its shape overall. The butter shouldn’t be soft and melty.
Beat the butter! Beating the butter before adding in the powdered sugar helps the dry ingredients to better incorporate into the butter.
Sift! If your powdered sugar and/or cocoa powder are lumpy, sift them before adding them into the butter. It will help them incorporate more easily into the butter.
Cream = fluffier frosting! Using heavy cream will give you a fluffier frosting that is slightly lighter both in color and texture (like the photo directly below). However, milk or half-and-half will also work.
How much frosting does this recipe make?
Cupcakes: This recipe yields enough frosting to lightly frost 24 cupcakes or to generously frost 12 cupcakes.
Cake: This recipe will yield enough frosting to lightly frost a 9” 2-layer cake. To have enough frosting to pipe, increase the recipe and make 1.5 times the recipe. To generously frost the cake and pipe, double the recipe.
Do I need to refrigerate this frosting?
I recommend storing any unused frosting in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I also recommend storing items frosted with this buttercream in the refrigerator.
How long does buttercream keep?
This frosting will keep for up to 4 days. I recommend storing the frosting, covered, in the fridge.
More frosting recipes!
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Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Equipment
- Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter at room temperature
- 3 ½-4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons whole milk, half-and-half, or cream
Instructions
- With an electric mixer (either hand or stand), beat butter until pale, about 3-4 minutes on medium.
- Scrape down the bowl.
- Add 3½ cups powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of milk.
- Mix on low until powdered sugar and cocoa powder are incorporated.
- If the frosting is too dry, add another tablespoon of milk. If the frosting is too wet, add powdered sugar 2 tablespoons at a time until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
Video
Notes
- Butter: You can use unsalted butter along with a couple pinches of salt.
Also, be sure to have your butter at the right temperature. Room temperature means the butter should be about 72 F. The butter should give a little when pressed but should hold its shape overall. The butter shouldn’t be soft and melty. - Dry ingredients: if your powdered sugar and/or cocoa powder are lumpy, sift them before adding them into the butter. It will help them incorporate more easily into the butter.
- Cocoa powder: I’ve used unsweetened cocoa powder and Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Both have worked well.
- Heavy cream: Using heavy cream will give you a slightly lighter, fluffier frosting. However, milk or half-and-half will also work.
- Nutrition facts have been estimated.
Nutrition
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Recipe originally published 9/23/13. Updated with additional photos and tips 5/8/21.
Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Sara Barber says
I made this the other day for my chocolate cake and it was PERFECT!! My 2 boys asked for half of the cake to be unfrosted and guess what gotten eaten (and DEVOURED!!) first? Of course, the frosted side! And it was delicious, and I made it exactly as the recipe was and this is my new favorite chocolate frosting. I didn’t even need my hand mixer to make it!
Kate says
Yay!! I’m so glad that the frosting was a hit! =) Thanks for coming back to comment!
Lisa says
I found it to be too stiff and bitter chocolatey even after adding more milk. My other recipe only calls for 1/4cup of cocoa and half butter half crisco, but I’ll certainly try the whipped one next time instead. :(
Kate says
I’m sorry that you didn’t like it! This is my go-to chocolate frosting, but it sounds like we just have different tastes. =)
Annie says
This looks great! I am making a cake for my daughter’s birthday and will be decorating it so I would love the frosting to turn out lighter like it is in some of your pictures. What brands of cocoa powder will generate lighter frosting versus the darker brown? Thank you!
Kate says
Hi! I used Trader Joe’s unsweetened cocoa powder in the lighter photos and Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder in the darker photos. I hope that helps! =)
Annie says
Awesome, thank you so much! Can’t wait to try it out!
Courtney Mitchell says
I used this recipe for frosting my daughter’s birthday cupcakes for school…the cupcakes were America’s Test Kitchen, but I didn’t want to deal w/melting chocolate per their recipe.
This frosting was delicious AND unfussy…the cupcakes were a huge hit at her school and at home! Thank you.
Kate says
I’m so glad that you liked it and that they were a hit! =) Thank you for coming back to comment!
Commene€ says
Excellent!!!
Kate says
Thank you so much! =)
Genesis says
Omg!!!!! This is the best frosting recipe I have tried. I always have issues with it being way to soft but this….this was perfect!!! Thank you so much ❤️
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the frosting. =) And thank you for coming back to comment!
Ashlee says
My frosting was not stiff at all. I had to add more sugar and still it slid on my cupcakes :(
Any advice? I made this recipe because it looked like good, stiff frosting. What can I do????
Kate says
It definitely sounds like something went wrong! =( The frosting is stiff enough that I can easily pipe with it. I’m guessing that it was your butter. How warm was your butter when you started? Room temperature butter should be soft enough to easily dent when pressed but still hold its shape. Once it starts to look shiny or gets so soft that it’s close to melting, you’ll get frosting that’s too soft. I hope that helps, and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
Ashlee says
Oh thank you so so much for responding. I am making 100 cupcakes for an event this weekend
and your frosting was DELICIOUS! I definitely want to use it! I will try room temp butter!
About how long do you leave yours out? Feel free to email me at
az@fitwellmv.com ! Have a very blessed day!
Kate says
Of course! =) Thanks! I’m going to email you and answer here in case anyone else has the same question. I leave the butter out for about 20-30 minutes. It will vary a little depending on how warm your kitchen is. In the summer, it’s more like 20 minutes, and in the winter, it usually takes 30 or so minutes. If you press on it, it should dent pretty easily. If it smooshes when you press on it, it’s too warm. Hope that helps!
Melissa says
Really good frosting! I added espresso instead of milk to make mocha frosting. It’s delicious! Perfect consistency.
Kate says
Thank you! What a fun idea! I’m so glad that you liked the frosting. =)
Donna says
This was so easy and so yummy!!! Pinterest win for me!!! Won’t make it any other way!!!!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked the frosting. =) Thanks for coming back to comment!
Amy B says
Delicious!!!
Kate says
Thank you! =)
Charlotte says
Loved this.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m glad that you liked the frosting! =) Thanks for coming back to comment.
Cindy says
Had no regular milk in the house. Used evaporated milk in both the cake ( found a recipe for a one bowl chocolate cake) and frosting. Both were easy to make compared to some of the cakes I make that require three bowls for prep.
Kate says
That’s great! I’m glad that you liked it and that it came out well using evaporated milk. =) Thanks for coming back to comment!
Kelsey says
Hands down the best chocolate frosting I’ve made! I made this to go with my chocolate cake, and it is just divine!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that you liked it! Thank you for coming back to comment! =)
William says
Just made this with dark chocolate and it is amazing. Best icing receipe I’ve tried.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m glad that you liked the frosting. =) Thank you for commenting.
Cali says
Omg this is the best it was the first buttercream icing I’ve made and I will make it again!!! It is delicious I made it for the moms birthday cake and ate some of it before it went on the cake!! Yummy and so EASY
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you liked it! Happy birthday to your mom, and thank you for coming back to comment! =)
Nani says
Yum. Best icing recipe EVER!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that you liked it. =) Thanks for coming back to comment.
Beth says
I have just completed making this frosting and frosted the cake. The remaining 1/4 cup is going to be eaten, by me, directly from bowl! It is amazingly tasty and fluffy! Although I do admit to running my KitchenAid on high, for a couple of minutes, to increase the fluffiness. It’s my husband’s birthday and he brought me CANNED frosting to put on his cake. Yeah, NO!! Thank you for sharing. This is certainly going to be my go to recipe from now on. And she signs off…. “Let them eat cake!”
Kate says
Enjoy! I’m so glad you like it! =) Happy birthday to your husband, and I hope he enjoys it, too! Thanks for commenting.
Stacy says
Thank you! This is the best chocolate frosting! Other recipes say that they’re the best but this one really is.
Kate says
Thank you so much! That’s so nice of you to say! I’m glad you liked the frosting. =)
Denise says
I made this frosting, it’s just as described. It’s very smooth and isn’t too sweet. This is going to be my chocolate frosting recipe.
Kate says
Thanks! I’m glad you liked it! Thank you for coming back to comment! =)
Amy says
This is by far the best chocolate frosting recipe I’ve tried! I can’t stop eating it!
Kate says
Thank you! It’s a favorite at my house, too. =)