Skip the store-bought frosting in favor of this easy recipe for the best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting that takes just 5 minutes to make.
I have a confession to make. Chocolate buttercream frosting has always been an item on my grocery list rather than a recipe in my baking repertoire.
Who has the time to make buttercream frosting when it takes all of 2 seconds to toss it into your shopping cart and call it a day? But after a reader emailed me asking for a fool-proof chocolate buttercream frosting recipe (to follow up on the vanilla variety), I knew it was time to wave goodbye to the store-bought stuff and finally go the DIY route.
Little did I know, 5 minutes into my recipe creation process I’d be licking a spatula slathered in the richest, creamiest, most chocolatey buttercream frosting to ever cross my lips. I repeat, 5 minutes.
No fancy preservatives. No seven-syllable ingredients. Simply butter, cocoa powder, sugar, milk, vanilla, and my secret ingredient, a pinch of salt. The salt helps balance out the sweetness and round out the flavors. Toss all of the ingredients into a stand mixer, and you too will be a confectionery convert.
A few tips for whipping up homemade chocolate buttercream frosting:
- Use good quality cocoa powder. The better the quality, the better the taste of your frosting.
- This recipe can be easily doubled for all my fellow chocoholics out there.
- Use the beater blade with your stand mixer (rather than the whisk). It’ll result in creamy frosting that lightens in color the longer it’s mixed.
- This stuff pipes like a breeze. So get your fancy pants on and check out my simple trick for piping two-tone swirled frosting.
One more trick of the food styling trade? Grab a small spoon and use the back of it to make luscious, deep swirls and create the perfect peaks and valleys for a shower of sprinkles in every color.
Ready to see this buttercream in action? Tune in to the video below then get ready to buttercream all of your favorite baked goods!
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Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 2 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until it is smooth, about 1 minute.
- Add the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder to the bowl and beat until combined. With the stand mixer running on low speed, slowly stream in the milk and vanilla extract then add the salt and continue beating until well combined, scraping down the sides as needed, about 2 minutes.
- Increase the speed to high and beat the frosting for an additional 2 minutes. Use the frosting immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge. (If you refrigerate the frosting, you may want to re-blend it for a few seconds in the stand mixer before using it.)
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Recipe by Kelly Senyei of Just a Taste. Please do not reprint this recipe without my permission. If you'd like to feature this recipe on your site, please rewrite the method of preparation and link to this post as the original source.
This beautifully presented & written recipe looks perfect, just what I was looking for. But then I saw it was measured in inaccurate spoons and cups! There are official quantities for these : it’s annoying to have to work out how much is meant. Most of us in the UK don’t fill our cupboards with extraneous measuring cups & spoons when only one item is needed:a scale!
Thanks for great recipe
Hi Alice – Our recipes are written in the Imperial format, so feel free to use an online conversion program for metric. :)
I needed a quick buttercream frosting recipe for a 9×13 pan of brownies and this one was great! I didn’t have to melt any chocolate, I grated the butter to get it to room temperature fast, and it came together in hardly no time at all. It’s intensely “chocolaty”…I even did the spoon tip to make the swirls on top!! Pretty…….Thanks.
You are so welcome, Nancy! I’m thrilled you enjoyed the recipe!
Perfect. Quick and incredibly delicious. I used milk 1%, that’s all I had, and it still turned out really good. This frosting doesn’t taste like pure sugar or like a hunk of butter, like other homemades I’ve made.
YESSSS! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Carrie!
Today ,baked home made vanilla cup cakes for my daughters Birthday. Looked up chocolate icing recipes using yours. The icing is delicious and ready in minutes.
Friends and neighbors enjoyed them.
Thank you for posting.
You are so welcome, Debbie! I’m thrilled you enjoyed the recipe!
Second time making this recipe. It my new favorite and so easy and it doesn’t taste like 5lbs of butter like other recipes I have tried! Thank you!
You are so welcome, Mary! I’m thrilled you’ve been enjoying the recipe!
Can I use sour cream if I don’t have enough milk?
It’ll be super thick so you may need to thin it!
Best easiest ever great tasting recipe I have found for chocolate buttercream frosting. My family raves about it. Very fluffy and easy to spread. 5 ⭐️star for sure. Not too expensive and simple ingredients you normally have in your pantry.
I’m so thrilled to read this, Elaine!
This was so delicious, so creamy. Used it for a chocolate cake I baked for my wife’s birthday. I was hesitant to make the chocolate cake because the frosting recipe was so involved, requiring constant temperature monitoring. A little bit of googling later I landed here…your recipe was such a lifesaver! Incredibly simple but compromises nothing in taste and texture. Bookmarked and saved. Thank you and great work Kelly!
Woohoo! Love reading this, Ameeya! I’m thrilled you enjoyed the recipe :)
Hello, How many cupcakes will this frost?
Hi there! This recipe yields 2 cups of frosting or about enough to frost 1 1/2 – 2 dozen cupcakes.
Loved it! I agree with them all. it is simple, great tasting, and extremely versatile with a little imagination. I made a vanilla bean cake with chocolate frosting. I had made a double batch just to make sure I had enough. It went on extremely smooth. I decided to decorate with a shell border and it held its shape just fine. The problem is, I can’t stay out of the leftover icing in the refrigerator. It goes great with a spoon too! Thanks again
You are so welcome, Jamie! I’m thrilled you enjoyed the recipe! And I totally agree with you, it tastes great with just a spoon :)
This was so yummy that I’m going to look up the vanilla variety.
Yay! I’m thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Corinne! And here’s the link to my Easy Buttercream Frosting: https://www.justataste.com/video-easy-buttercream-frosting-recipe/
I couldn’t figure out why it was so runny, but it was really yummy!
Hi Izzy! I’m not sure what could have happened with your frosting. You can add additional powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until the frosting reaches your desired consistency. :)
Yummy, add a touch of crushed (crush to a fine powder) flavored coffee or espresso!
YUM! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Lynne!
E-A-S-Y!!! AND… Y-U-M-M-Y!!!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Judy!
This is such an amazing recipe! I did add more cocoa powder to have more of a dark chocolate feel & now is going to be my top go to recipe! So in love with the taste and texture. Crazy delicious!
Woohoo! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe!
Extremely easy and quick, also delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Wes!