This is my all-time favorite chocolate frosting recipe, and I think that once you try it it’ll be yours, too! Just 6 ingredients needed and it will easily frost a 2 layer 8″ or 9″ cake or generously ice a dozen cupcakes!
The Best Chocolate Frosting
Maybe you’ve seen this chocolate frosting recipe around here before. It’s made quite a few appearances, on my chocolate cake, vanilla cupcakes (pictured above), and my vanilla cake (just to name a few), and finally it’s getting its own place on the blog.
Use it to top off your favorite cake or cupcake recipe, or just enjoy by the spoonful (you’ll get no judgement from me!).
What makes this the best chocolate frosting:
Well, you’re going to love it because it:
- Is richly chocolatey, without being too rich. The chocolate flavor complements whatever you put it on without being overwhelming!
- Is soft, smooth, and creamy.
- Uses less sugar than classic buttercream frosting or chocolate buttercream, perfect if you think most frosting recipes are too sugary or sweet!
- Absolutely melts in your mouth.
- Pipes beautifully, or frosts a cake smoothly.
What You Need
Here’s what you need:
- Chocolate. Real melted chocolate gives my chocolate frosting its incredible flavor and firm but fudgy consistency once it’s cooled. Chocolate bars (my preference) or chocolate chips will work fine.
- Powdered Sugar. This thickens and sweetens the frosting. One thing I love about this frosting is that it uses less sugar than your average frosting recipe.
- Butter. I use unsalted then add a pinch of salt for best flavor. Your butter should be at room temperature. If it’s too cold, small bits of the chocolate may harden as your ingredients are being combined and you will have chocolate bits in the mix rather than a smooth chocolate frosting.
- Vanilla Extract. Added for flavor! Any good chocolate is enhanced with a splash of vanilla to add depth of flavor.
- Heavy Cream. The small amount of heavy cream is the other part of what gives this chocolate frosting its smooth texture and rich flavor.
SAM’S TIP: You can use dark chocolate, semisweet, or milk chocolate for this frosting. If you want to use white chocolate, see my white chocolate buttercream recipe instead
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe and all details, please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Chocolate Frosting
- Chop chocolate into small pieces (only if you’re using a bar, no need to chop if you’re using chips) and melt in 15-30 second increments, stirring in-between, until completely melted. semi-sweet chocolate into same-sized pieces and place in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat the chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Let the chocolate cool until it’s no longer warm to the touch (but not re-solidifying) before continuing.
- Beat butter until creamy, then drizzle in melted (cooled) chocolate. Make sure the chocolate’s cooled, or the butter will melt and you’ll have a greasy chocolate frosting!
- Add the sugar in small amounts, stirring after each addition. Thoroughly stir in salt and vanilla.
- Drizzle in heavy cream and gradually turn up your mixer speed to high. Beat for 30 seconds for a light, silky smooth frosting!
Frequently Asked Questions
Make sure that your chocolate hasn’t begun to re-solidify before you add it to the butter. If this happens, small pieces may harden and you’ll have flecks of chocolate throughout the frosting. This will make piping the icing especially difficult.
If you heat the chocolate too quickly in the microwave, it could seize, giving it a grainy, rather than smooth, appearance. If this happens, toss out the chocolate and start over or your frosting will be pebbly.
While heat can make a frosting soft, melt-y, and even runny, with this recipe the culprit is usually that your chocolate was too hot. Stir it occasionally as it cools and make sure if you touch the melted chocolate or the bottom of the bowl it doesn’t feel warm to the touch.
Unfortunately I don’t recommend using cocoa powder for this recipe. If you’d like to use cocoa powder, see my chocolate buttercream instead.
More Recipes You Might Like
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Make sure to check out the how-to VIDEO in the recipe card!
Chocolate Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 oz (170 g) semisweet chocolate² chopped into small pieces of roughly the same size
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 2 cups (250 g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt³
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) heavy cream
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Place your chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well. Return chocolate to microwave and heat for another 15 seconds and stir again. Continue heating chocolate for 15 seconds, stirring after each, until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.6 oz (170 g) semisweet chocolate²
- Allow chocolate to cool for at least 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want chocolate to cool so that it is not hot to the touch, otherwise it will melt your butter and sugar and the frosting will not turn out.
- While the chocolate is cooling, place butter in a separate bowl and use a stand mixer or electric mixer to beat until creamy.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- Add melted, cooled chocolate and stir well.
- Gradually add sugar, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl occasionally so that ingredients are well combined.2 cups (250 g) powdered sugar
- Sprinkle in salt and vanilla extract, stir well.½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt³
- With mixer on low, gradually add heavy cream to frosting. Gradually increase speed to high and beat for 30 seconds.2 Tablespoons (30 ml) heavy cream
- Pipe or spread frosting onto prepared, cooled baked good.
Notes
¹How many cupcakes/how much cake will this frost?
This recipe will modestly cover 24 cupcakes or generously (as seen in the photos above) cover 12 cupcakes. You can also cover an 8″ or 9″ cake or a 9×13″ sheet cake. If you want to use the frosting for decorative borders around the cake, increase the recipe by 50%.²Chocolate
If you don’t have semisweet chocolate bars you can use 1 cup (170g) of semisweet chocolate chips instead.³Butter
I recommend using unsalted butter, but if you only have salted on hand you can use that, just leave out the salt in this recipe.Making in Advance
This frosting may be made in advance. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator with a piece of plastic wrap pressed firmly against the surface. When ready to use, let it come to room temperature then remove the plastic wrap and stir again to regain that smooth consistency before using.Piping Tip
I used an Ateco 848 piping tip to pipe the cupcakes seen in the photos above.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.
This recipe was originally published January 8th, 2018. While the recipe remains unchanged, I’ve updated the text of the post photos and added a how-to video.
Zuleyma
The frosting turned out great.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed it, Zuleyma! Thanks for your review 😊
Daniela
Hi! What type of heavy cream did you use?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Daniela! You can use any kind of heavy cream you can find at your local store; heavy whipping cream will work too. Please let us know if you have any other questions! ❤️
Norah
Could you substitute the heavy cream for whole milk?
Sam
Yes, but since it is thinner you may not need as much.
Jessica
Should I use the whisk attachment for my mixer or the paddle attachment?
Sam
Hi Jessica! I like to use the paddle attachment for this frosting. 🙂
Rebecca
What cacao percentage did you use for the chocolate?
I’m guessing somewhere around 50%?
Wondering if using 70% chocolate for a less sweet, stronger chocolate flavour would be fine.
Do you foresee any problems with that?
Sam
Hi Rebecca! The semi-sweet bars I used are 56%. You could use 70% if you’d like. 🙂
Judy Smith
I just made The Best Vanilla Cake and My Favorite Chocolate Frosting for the first time. Quick, simple, and very tasty. Thank you for the recipes. Also, thank you for including the weight of each ingredient. However, there is a discrepancy in the weight of the powdered sugar in the frosting. Is it two cups (240g) or 320g? I used 240g, and it was sufficiently sweet.
Thanks again.
Sam
Hi Judy! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I apologize for the discrepancy! I’m not really sure what happened there. It should be 250g. 🙂
Christy
Preettyy darn good. To anyone looking, l made half this batch of both frosting and actual batter. Worked so well, this… IVE NEVER MADE CHOCOLATE CAKES of any sort simply because only my sister of all the house likes it. Yet l can finish this by myself easilyyy. To any new bakers, try this. Thanks samm
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Christy! 🙂
Lynn
How long can you leave the frosting in the freezer? I am also making the cupcakes with your white cake recipe. Can I freeze both for a week?I’m having a baby shower and would like to make cupcakes and frosting ahead of time.
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Lynn! You shouldn’t have any issues freezing this for a week. 🙂
Lynn
Thanks for the quick reply Sam!
I’ve made the white cake before and it was delicious! Made the frosting yesterday as a trial run. It was easy and delicious. I didn’t have heavy cream so I used light cream. It was just a bit thin. Not as fluffy. Will definitely use heavy cream when making them for the baby shower!
Thanks again!
Lynn
Heather
This is a fantastic recipe, thank you:-)
I have made it many times and it always turns out great. The quantity is good, and I find it easy to work with.
This and your vanilla cake recipe are now my go-to recipes.
Sam
I’m so glad you have enjoyed everything so much, Heather! 🙂
Ju
Thank u this went perfectly with your vanilla cake recipe! My hubby wanted a more straight forward vanilla cake with chocolate frosting for his bday and he was verrrry pleased with it =)
Em
Didn’t work for me at all. It tasted waaay too sweet (since I had to add a lot of extra sugar to try to get it at least stiff enough to pipe) and the texture was very grainy and weird. I did the recipe exactly as it was said, but for some reason it didn’t work.
Sam
O no! I’m so sorry this happened. When you heat your chocolate you have to be careful to go slowly and not over-heat it. If you heat it up too much it will cause this grainy texture. You will then need to wait a little bit for the melted chocolate to cool before adding sugar. If you add the sugar to the chocolate when it’s too hot it will melt the sugar and you will end up having to add a lot more sugar to get the proper consistency. It is a sweet frosting but shouldn’t be overbearing. I hope you’ll give it another shot. I do have a video that may be helpful. 🙂
Tamie
I followed the video step by step, with the exception of using a stand mixer…. it was perfect!
My 6 year old grandson asked for a chocolate cake with chocolate icing that’s not ganache! This is perfect!
Im so glad I found your recipe.
And yes, no cake needed!!!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Tamie! 🙂
Marcy
I used this for German Chocolate Cake Cupcakes–it was nice and had a light and airy quality to it and worked nicely on the cupcakes; however, I personally would have preferred for it to have a fudgier/richer chocolate taste. Excellent as an accent or as a filling, but as a frosting on its own, not sure I would use.
Saaisha
Can I substitute the Heavy Milk with Buttermilk?
Sam
The buttermilk should work. The frosting may not be quite as fluffy, but it should still turn out. 🙂
Marla Darcy
Sam,
I did every single thing that you and your videos said to do! I made one major mistake though. The flour I had was whole wheat and I didn’t realize it. The cake came out looking nice, but I am a little bit concerned about how it is actually going to taste tomorrow night. 😬
Sam
O no! I really hope it turns out well, but unfortunately whole wheat flour is really dry and coarse so I’d be a little bit concerned. 🙁
Heather
Can we add peanut butter
Sam
Sure! I would add to taste at the end.
Lumi
looks great
Rimz
Hi, will this frosting be enough to pipe around top of the cake?
Sam
You can cover the cake like you see in the pictures, but after doing that there won’t really be enough to pipe on top. I hope that helps. 🙂
Rimz
Oh ok. Will extra half a batch do for the piping? And does that mean I have to half the amount in the recipe?
Sam
You can just do it all in one shot and do 1.5 times all of the ingredients. An extra half should definitely be enough for piping on top. 🙂
Rimz
Thank you. I can’t wait to make this cake 😊
Rimz
Hey Sam, I forgot to ask I don’t know if it will work but can I use food colouring in this?
Sam
Unfortunately the frosting is probably too dark for the food coloring to do much here. 🙁
Vanessa Campbell
By far the BEST chocolate frosting I’ve ever had. I’m a frosting lover. I doubled the batch it was too much for my cake and put the remainder in the freezer. I used 22 ounces of chocolate and two cups of butter. Thought three plus cups would be excessive and it came out just perfect.
I’ve always used the Hershey’s chocolate frosting recipe on the container. Never again.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Vanessa! 🙂