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!
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.
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.
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
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter softened
- 8 oz (226 g) cream cheese softened brick-style, not spreadable
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 ½ cups (440 g) powdered sugar*
- ½ cup (50 g) natural cocoa powder
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.½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter softened, 8 oz (226 g) cream cheese softened
- Add vanilla extract and salt and stir well to combine.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt
- With mixer on low, gradually add powdered sugar until completely combined.3 ½ cups (440 g) powdered sugar*
- 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.½ cup (50 g) natural cocoa powder
- Frost completely cooled cake or cupcakes.
Notes
Nutrition
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.
Tracie
Absolutely most delicious chocolate cream cheese icing! Will be on rotation!! Thank you for recipe!!
Heather
Made 1/2 the recipe to frost 12 cupcakes. The flavor is rich and delicious, but not too sweet, was the perfect consistency to pipe, and made the right amount for what I needed with little to waste.
Emma
Is the weight for cocoa powder incorrect? I came across a recipe for same frosting, used 2/3 C cocoa powder and was listed as only 54g. And when I weighed 1/2 C myself, I only got 40g
Sam
Hi Emma! The weights are what I personally used so yes I would recommend using the weight listed. Enjoy!
Adrian Corzine
Simple and delicious. I like this much better than teeth achingly sweet buttercream. This recipe is a keeper!
Fran
I haven’t made this as yet, hence no rating. However, I want to and was wondering if you can also add a little espresso powder? If so, how much would you suggest? (I just made the vanilla frosting and it us delicious!)
Sam
Hi Fran! A little espresso powder will work fine. I would probably start with just a pinch and add more as desired. 🙂
Ruth
Great recipe! Did not taste artificial or too sweet;it was perfect! Thank you for sharing.
Tracy Gahagan
This frosting was so delicious. I had leftovers and I ended up using it as a hot fudge topping for my ice cream. I simply heated it up just enough to pour onto the ice cream. This will now be my go to hot fudge topping instead of buying the store bought high fructose coen syrup topping in a jar.
Cathy
I made a sugar free version of this using powdered monk fruit and it was delicious! only need to use 1 cup for this recipe! super easy! Thank you!
Sam
Thank you so much for the feedback! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Cheryl
Happy with the results! I cut the powdered sugar to 1-1/2 cups. Good flavor. Refrigerated the frosted cake to get the icing to set/harden up. Will use this recipe again.
Dada
Hi Cheryl, may I know if the frosting was still stable using less than half the sugar of the original recipe? Would appreciate your input. Thanks.
Vixen
I made this using vegan cream cheese. Came out absolutely great thanks
Susan Mene
Thanks for the sifting tip!!!
Goldie
It’s delicious and pipes so good
Thank you
Charlene
I would add 1/2 cup less powdered sugar next time.
I also had to add 2.5 TB of almond milk to the frosting because it was way too thick!! Once I added the milk though, it was still a nice thickness but more like a frosting.
Lisa C
This is a touch sweet, even with 5% less sugar, but couldn’t be easier to make. Made it for a 3 layer gluten free chocolate cake, and it was the perfect match to an ultra light chocolate cake.
Debbie
I made this chocolate cream cheese frosting for my chocolate cake tonight and it was absolutely delicious! I have a couple of picky eaters that usually scrape off the frosting but they are every bite of this one. so good!