Chocolate Whipped Buttercream Frosting that tastes like light chocolate whipped cream frosting. This whipped chocolate frosting is the best!
I'm not much of a frosting person. So many times frostings are heavy and overly sweet. Not this Chocolate Whipped Buttercream Frosting, though.
It's super light and fluffy - like an ultralight chocolate mousse in frosting form. And since this frosting falls in the semisweet to bittersweet chocolate range, it isn't too sweet either.
Tips to make chocolate whipped buttercream frosting
A couple notes about this frosting - first, the cooked milk/flour mixture needs to be completely cool before continuing on. If it's still warm, it will melt the butter, and the frosting will be too loose.
Second, don't cut the whipping steps short. The frosting needs to be whipped on high for several minutes in order to have its ultralight texture.
Also, a reader (thanks again!) left a comment saying that chilling the frosting helped it come together for her. So, please check out the comments below the recipe.
*Note - I had several comments saying that the frosting was separating. I worked on the recipe and changed it to make it whip up easier.
More chocolate frosting recipes!
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Chocolate Malted Milk Frosting
More whipped buttercream frosting recipes!
- Whipped Buttercream Frosting
- Whipped Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting
- Vanilla Bean Whipped Buttercream Frosting
If you’ve tried this chocolate whipped buttercream frosting recipe, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below. I love to hear from people who've made my recipes!
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Chocolate Whipped Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups salted butter (at cool room temperature)
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Dutch-processed)
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, whisk flour and milk together until well-combined.
- Heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens.
- Remove from heat, and let it cool to room temperature.*
- Stir in vanilla.
- While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt together until light and fluffy on medium high, about 5 minutes.
- Add the completely cooled milk mixture.
- Beat it for about 5 minutes on high until it looks like whipped cream. It may look separated at first, so keep beating it until it comes together and looks like a whipped cream.
- If it looks separated after about 7 minutes of whipping, cover, and chill for about 30 minutes. Then, continue whipping for about 5 minutes, or until it looks like whipped cream.
Notes
**Nutrition facts are estimates.
Nutrition Information
Published 8/23/13. Updated with new photos and tips 6/18/18.
Kate
Can I make this with gluten-free flour?
Kate
Hi! I haven't tried using gf flour in this recipe. I've heard from several people who have used gf flour in my vanilla version, and they've said that it worked well for them.
J
How long does the frosting stay good for? I’m thinking of using this recipe to make cupcakes in mason jars
Kate
It should keep for about 3-4 days in the fridge.
Shaun
Is the 1 1/2 CUP of milk a misprint? When I posted my “nailed it” soup. Everyone said that many cups of milk and butter is why it was soupy.
Kate
No, the amount of milk is correct. For an American buttercream, that would be a lot of milk. However, this is a flour (ermine) frosting, which is a different type of frosting.
There are two reasons why your frosting was soupy. Either 1) you didn't cook the milk/flour portion until it was thick enough, or 2) the milk/flour mixture wasn't sufficiently cool, and it melted the butter. There are photos of the frosting in process above the recipe. Did your milk/flour mixture look like that? If you're looking for a traditional American chocolate buttercream, this is the recipe you want.
Shaun
I would LOVE to pot a picture of mine because I think a lot of people would get a very good laugh. 😝
Carol
Can I use country crock margarine instead of real butter
Kate
Hi! I wouldn't recommend that. Margarine tends to work differently in frostings like this one because it has different moisture content than butter.
Linda
This Grandma has made a lot of great cakes in her day, but never, ever a good frosting. This recipe has totally changed my record! This is the best frosting, ever, and all grandchildren agree. And what a bonus that it's simple to make with your clear and easy-to-follow directions. Thanks so much!
Kate
/Thank you so much! I'm so glad that you liked it!
Sandy
First time ever making a frosting with granulated sugar. To be honest I was little leery. It was so easy to make and came out so fluffy and buttery. I love it. I will definitely use the recipe again. Your directions were perfect.
Kate
Thank you so much! I'm so glad that you liked it!
Sue-Ellen Haas
This turned out very well. I substituted Splenda for the sugar and it worked just fine. It has a lovely texture and isn't overly sweet. I will have to try the vanilla one I have heard about in the comments ;-)
Kate
I'm so glad that it worked out well with the Splenda! Hope you like the vanilla frosting, too!
Linda
Hi your recipe is great I would love to know how big of quantity its like how many cupcakes or cakes can be frosted with recipe.
Kate
Thank you! You should be able to frost 24 cupcakes with this recipe.
Preethi S
This is such a great recipe! Easy to follow and we loved the end result!!
Kate
Thank you so much!!
Ashiyah
I’ve been looking for this kind of recipe for a long time. Thank you and thanks for the tips on making it really fluffy.
Kate
Thank you! I'm glad that helps and that you found the recipe!
Kathleen
So glad I found your recipe. My Mother always made this for our birthday cakes. We called it birthday frosting. So good. Thank you, as I had misplaced Mom’s recipe.
Kate
Yay!! I'm glad that you found it, too!
Gwen
This is by far the BEST butter cream recipe I've ever made! I stumbled across this recipe after I'd baked a chocolate cake and realized that I didn't have any powdered sugar for the traditional butter cream frosting that I usually make. Good ole Google sent me here and I'm not looking back! Thank you so much Kate, we now have a new family favorite butter cream!
Kate
Thank you! I'm so glad that you liked it!
Jean Yates
Whipped chocolate buttercream frosting
Jean Yates
This frosting texture is great however it needed much more cocoa powder about a cup more. And maybe 1/2 c less sugar as it is a little too sweet
Suzanne Bachelor
Great! Yum. On a hurry, I put the milk/flour mixture in the frig and that worked well. I didn’t mix it 5 minutes and 5 minutes, per directions but I was using my great powerful kitchen aid.
Kate
Thanks!
Ricky Tanner
I made this frosting,love it,I like how light it is,I do recommend chill your icing!
Kate
Thank you!
Avarey
Hi! I’ve tried your vanilla frosting and it worked so well, so I’m super eager to try the chocolate version! I’m going to make a 3-4 layer 6in cake, will need enough for in between the layers, the outside of the cake and maybe some for piping. Should I double the recipe and make a bigger batch?
Kate
Hi! Thank you! Yes, I would make a larger batch. Depending on how much piping and how thick you want the frosting to be, I would either make a 1.5x batch or a double batch.
Skylar Huyck
It’s sooo yummy and smells good
Kate
Thank you!!
Ericka
Delicious! A little fragile but the tip to put in the fridge really helps. I was super skeptical when the flour and milk looked like wallpaper paste but it totally comes together to be fantastic in the end. Made this twice in one week. Rave reviews from family. Try this recipe! You wont be disappointed!!!!
Kate
I totally get the skepticism, but I'm so glad that you liked it! =)
Joanne
The best! This frosting was creamy & smooth . I spread it over brownies & nobody asked for ice cream.
Kate
Thank you so much! =)
Emma
Hands down the best icing. EVER.
I am new to the club of not using icing sugar as there is none in the shops at the moment but boy am I glad!
I’ll never go back to using icing sugar for frosting now.
I’ve used the chocolate recipe twice and used the vanilla frosting for lemon icing. All 3 times the icing has turned out perfectly!
I was a little panicked by the milk/flour stage but the pictures and the video on the vanilla frosting page really helped show what it should look like.
I was also sceptical about using granulated sugar and initially wondered if I should have used caster sugar but you cannot tell, the granules disappear after whisking.
The amount of frosting the recipe makes covers a 2 layer 20cm sponge plus I had extra for about 6 - 8 cupcakes each time
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
P.s. it would be great if the metric calculator was on the chocolate frosting page and not just the vanilla frosting - google has a lot of different answers for turning measurements from US to UK
Kate
Thank you! I'm so glad to hear that!
Yes! I will be sure to add that. I've been going back through my older recipes to add all of the metric measurements, and I'll get this one on that list. =)
Karen
This icing is delicious! Lovely texture and not too sweet.I did find that it makes a lot more than I needed for one cake .I wonder if you could freeze the remaining frosting?
Kate
I have frozen cupcakes frosted with this frosting, and it froze/came to temperature without any issues.