Oh goodness do we love cupcakes in this house! Our favorite (ok my favorite- the girls love any kind of cupcake) is yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting.
I prefer to make my own frosting because the flavor is just so much better than what you normally get at the store. Buttercream frosting can be a little tricky though because it can sometimes taste a little too buttery which is not ideal.
I really hope you give this one a shot because it is so delicious- rich and chocolaty and just fantastic. Here is a quick video to show you how easy this is to make.
This is really fast to whip up- here is the recipe:
- 2¾ cups Confectioner's Sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 5 tablespoons milk or cream
- 6 tablespoons butter- softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa together in a bowl and set aside.
- Add butter to a mixing bowl and cream until nice and smooth.
- Slowly add the powdered sugar, alternating with the milk.
- Add in vanilla.
You might need to adjust this slightly by adding a bit more milk or a bit more sugar to get a perfect consistency.
This recipe is enough for 12 generous cupcakes or one large cake. If you intend to make a cake with multiple layers I would double the recipe.
If you decide to make this recipe please come back and let me know what you think! I absolutely love this frosting and use it as often as I can.
Here are a few things that will come in handy for this recipe:
KitchenAid Mixer // Mesh Strainer // Cupcake Liners
And if you enjoy this recipe, you might also like:
Delicious Buttercream frosting
Salted Caramel Starbucks Cupcakes- so fun and so easy!
Chai Spice cookies- these have just a hint of chai spices and are hands down my favorite sugar cookie recipe.
What a great post!!! Congrats on being featured last week on The Wednesday Roundup Link Party!!! I’ve also pinned this one to our Features board on Pinterest {http://www.pinterest.com/anglemoine/the-wednesday-roundup-features/}. The Wednesday Roundup goes live every Wednesday at 7am est, we’d love for you to come by and link up again!
Angela ~ LeMoine Family Kitchen
How long can the frosted cupcakes stay at room temperature?
Hi Mandy… hmmmm.. In an airtight container you should get a few days out of it. These are usually gone pretty fast in our house so I can’t say I have had one that was out longer than 3 days or so.
Thank you. I have to make 60+cupcakes for a pitch-in and don’t have the fridge space to store them.
Looks so lovely so I used yours recipe today but my frosting has not the same texture, it doens’t look so smooth although I used all ingredients on room temperature. Maybe I should have added more sugar but I tasted already to much sugar.
I have beated with a regular mixer for 10 minutes.. what did I do wrong ?
Kathy- not sure why it wouldn’t be smooth. Your powdered sugar was fresh right and not clumped when you added it? You used a Kitchenaid for 10 minutes which is ample time. Maybe it was over mixed? Mine has always been creamy so I can’t think of what the issue would be….
Here is an article I found that might help:
http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/fix-lumpy-buttercream-frosting-39731.html
Very yummy! Just did a 9 inch double layer cake with this recipe! Very smooth and chocolaty! The only tweak I had to do was add an extra 2 tbsp of cream. Other than that it was perfect! Thank you for the recipe!
So glad Laura! Thanks for the feedback!
Last night I made a chocolate cake. I was looking for a good chocolate buttercream frosting recipe, when I ran across this recipe. This is the best frosting I ever had! It is definitely one for my recipe book!
So glad to hear it Lisa! I am glad your cake turned out well. I love this frosting too 🙂
I used this recipe for a two-tiered cake for my husband’s office. Now all the. Now, they all insist I make ALL their cakes! Thanks for this amazing recipe. All my future cakes calling for chocolate frosting will be iced with this AMAZING frosting.
Oh so glad to hear it Amber!
I wanted to pipe frosting roses to put on top of my cake and I was wondering if this frosting is thick enough to pipe but not to thick.What do you think?
Hi Shealee- I am not an expert cake decorator but this frosting is pretty thick. You can just add in a bit of milk to thin it out though. It comes out nice and smooth for me with different tips but I haven’t tried to pipe roses. I would think it would be fine.
I just finished making this frosting and holy cow, it was so good! It is the fluffiest frosting I have ever made/had! I think the sifting of the cocoa and powdered sugar and then adding it gradually really helped make it so smooth! I preferred to manually stir this instead of using my KitchenAid for once. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah so glad to hear it Kymmie. I love it too 🙂
Hello Charlene thanks for sharing this awesome recipe, i haven’t tried it but by the rave reviews i have read i def need to try… one questions thou…
i don’t have a kitchenAid mixer… i only have a hand mixer can i still use that to make this frosting and this come out good?
Thanks
Ok Ana I am going to sound dumb but my Kitchenaid like like 10 years old and I can’t remember ever using a hand mixer :). I can’t see why the frosting wouldn’t be perfectly fine but I haven’t made it that way myself. Wait until you try it— so delicious! 🙂
substitute Frangelica for the vanilla….maxima maxima outstanding
Hands down the best chocolate icing EVER. I’m addicted to it, and I don’t even generally like chocolate icing. Thank you for sharing the deliciousness! 🙂
Yeah! So glad to hear that Kern. I try different recipes and always come back to this one as well 🙂
Kathy: sounds like you over beat. Also, I never ever let butter get to room temp. Break off small bits of butter until it’s all added, while it is still very cold. It will be super creamy!
Fantastic tasting frosting!
I love the frosting. I use it all the time. I really love it with my almond macaroons
So glad to hear it Diane!
I tried this recipe Saturday night for my cousins chocolate cake for her 21st birthday and it was amazing! So fluffy and smooth and tasted like chocolate pudding! It was a hit at the party! This will definitely be my go-to chocolate buttercream frosting 🙂
I know it all makes sense but buttercream frosting never works for me, the butter always melts so I just get runny icing. Doing anything with butter in Australia without climate control is pretty much always a disaster 🙁
LISA-I use the cake boss recipe which calls for shortening instead. Give that a whirl. I have only used his white recipe though.
Had my doubts about this frosting but had to say it was amazing. Very easy and very yummy!
So glad Carol 🙂
I only have a hand mixer…and have found that mixing it by hand it comes out smoother. Going to try this recipe today
I hope you like it Brandi- I can eat the frosting all by itself– so good 🙂
So I rarely comment on anything I find on Pinterest, but thank you for this recipe! I have tried countless icing recipes and have never found one I liked enough to go back to…texture was wrong, too sweet, not sweet enough, etc. This icing is perfection. Perfect texture for either spreading or piping, not too strong on the chocolate or vanilla…it’s excellent! Highly recommended to anyone reading these comments (like I always do when I’m Pinterest-recipe-hopping)!
Yeah! Thanks so much Joy! I have to make a dessert next weekend and you reminded me to just do these cupcakes again 🙂 They are always a hit.
I normally hate buttercream icing because it’s so sweet, but this was just right, and so easy to do!
Yeah so very glad to hear that Doree!
Do you use salted or unsalted butter for this recipe?
This is an AMAZING frosting!!!!!! I got rave reviews and it was one of the recipes where you take a bite and look at the cupcake and say “ohhh this is GOOD!” lol very tasty! thank you!!
Yeah! So thrilled you like it 🙂
Hello! I love this recipe, but I am wondering if I can refrigerate it, and use it for cupcakes a day later? Thanks
Alyssa- yes I think so. You might whisk it up a bit the next day before frosting cupcakes. I have frosted cupcakes the night before and they are good- better fresh but still good 🙂
I have the same question as Lauren, do you use salted or unsalted butter?
I usually use unsalted butter in baking recipes but the difference in taste is so minor with this recipe you probably won’t notice much (if any) difference with salted butter.
OMStars!!!!!! This frosting perfectly covered one nine-inch chocolate cake, rather thickly, but it was so delicious! With every forkful, one needs to let the frosting melt in your mouth! It is THAT delicious!!
Ha ha. So glad you liked it Mary. It is my favorite too 🙂 Melt in your mouth is exactly right.
I would like to try this frosting with my chocolate cake, would it be enough to fill and frost a two layer cake or should I double it?
Probably double the recipe Kendyll. There is enough to frost a cake but if you have layers better to have too much than two little.
Did you use milk or cream? And heavy or light cream if you use cream.
Hi Saundra- as I mentioned in the recipe you can use either and your results will be excellent. I have used lowfat milk, heavy whipping cream, half n half – whatever I have on hand and every time it turns out perfectly. 🙂