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    You are here: Home / Frosting / Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

    Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

    July 23, 2018 By Sam 358 Comments

    This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure policy.
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    Chocolate cream cheese frosting

    How to make chocolate cream cheese frosting! This recipe is made with cocoa powder and is simple, fool-proof, and richly chocolaty.

    It’s creamy and smooth but is still sturdy enough for piping and would be the perfect complement to your favorite cake or cupcake recipe!

    Chocolate cream cheese frosting on a cupcake

    Due to popular demand (and a persistent sweet tooth), I’ve been trying to amp up my frosting section on the blog recently.

    So far I’ve covered some of my favorite frostings, including a decadent, silky smooth (but not too-sweet) chocolate frosting and a classic (and perfect, it’s literally my favorite) cream cheese frosting, and today I’m marrying these two favorites together into this chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe.

    Despite my afore-mentioned sweet tooth, buttercream frostings were always too sweet for me growing up, so as soon as I discovered cream cheese frosting my mom switched over to icing and decorating my birthday cakes exclusively with classic and chocolate cream cheese frosting. While many cream cheese frostings don’t stand up well to piping or decorating (too many are too soft and runny), this recipe is stiff enough for decorating and, as you can see in the above picture, works perfectly for piping on top a cupcake.

    Ingredients for chocolate cream cheese frosting

    Chocolate cream cheese frosting only requires 6 ingredients and for my recipe I always use cocoa powder (rather than melted chocolate) to give my frosting a rich chocolaty flavor.

    Take a good look at your cocoa powder before adding it in to your mixer, and if it looks particularly clumpy I recommend running it through a sifter with your powdered sugar so that you don’t have any lumps when you go to pipe the frosting — there’s nothing more annoying than ruining that perfect chocolate swirl because your piping tip has a lump of cocoa powder or powdered sugar jamming up the flow.

    Another tip for silky smooth frosting: Make sure that your cream cheese and butter are softened before beating them together. Cream cheese that’s still cold can also cause lumps in your frosting. I always recommend beating the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer first until both are well-combined and lump-free, and then adding your other ingredients.

    creamy chocolate cream cheese frosting in a bowl

    Alright, I think that’s all I have to say about today’s super simple frosting recipe. I’m also just back from vacation and recovering from a crazy/wonderful week of sunny days and late 2AM nights with 29 of my favorite family members, so hopefully everything I just typed came out as coherently as possible 😉

    Enjoy!

    And if you’re wondering about the cupcakes in this picture, I just made my favorite vanilla cake recipe, added a handful of sprinkles, and baked into cupcakes. My funfetti cake or chocolate cupcakes would also work nicely!

    How to Make Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

    Chocolate cream cheese frosting on cupcake

    Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

    This chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe will cover either one 2-layer 8" or 9" cake, 24 cupcakes, or generously frost (as much frosting as in the photos) 12 cupcakes.
    4.98 from 149 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Frosting
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Total Time: 10 minutes
    Servings: 24 cupcakes or 1 8" or 9" 2-layer cake
    Calories: 139kcal
    Author: Sam Merritt

    Ingredients

    • ½ cup unsalted butter softened (113g)
    • 8 oz cream cheese softened brick-style, not spreadable (226g)
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • 3 ½ cups powdered sugar* (440g)
    • ½ cup natural cocoa powder (65g)
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Combine the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and, using an electric mixer or a stand mixer to beat until creamy, well-combined, and lump-free.
    • Add vanilla extract and salt and stir well to combine.
    • With mixer on low, gradually add powdered sugar until completely combined.
    • Add cocoa powder and beat until well-incorporated into the frosting -- be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so that all ingredients are well-combined.
    • Frost completely cooled cake or cupcakes.

    Notes

    *If you plan to pipe the frosting with a small tip, I recommend sifting the powdered sugar and cocoa powder (after measuring) to remove any lumps. The cupcakes in these photos were frosted using an Ateco 848 tip.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1/24 batch | Calories: 139kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 56mg | Potassium: 42mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 245IU | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg

    Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.

    Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!

    Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing on a cupcake

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Jay Ferguson

      January 31, 2023 at 1:06 pm

      Hi! I love this recipe but after adding all the ingredients it was too dry and impossible to spread. Hopefully it was a typo but it need at least a 1/2 cup of milk!

      Reply
      • Sam

        January 31, 2023 at 2:03 pm

        Hi Jay! I’m so glad you enjoyed overall! It is not a typo, if that much milk needed to be added it may be that the powdered sugar or cocoa powder were accidentally over-measured, especially if a scale was not used. It’s easy to accidentally over-measure these ingredients and I recommend using a scale or following my method on my post on how to measure flour. I hope that helps!

        Reply
    2. Tammy Myers

      January 24, 2023 at 9:27 pm

      5 stars
      This chocolate cream cheese frosting is smooth, rich tasting, and very satisfying to the tummy! With these simple ingredients, I will give this recipe to my loved ones for generations to come. Thank you sooo much. Yummy, yummy!!

      Reply
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    The author (Sam) in blue shirt holding donut Hi, I'm Sam! I'm dedicated to bringing you sweet, simple, and from-scratch dessert recipes. My life may or may not be controlled by my sweet tooth. Send help (or chocolate). Read more about me.

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