Everyone needs a “go-to” chocolate frosting and this is now mine! One of the most popular recipes on Our Best Bites is this vanilla Perfect Cupcake Frosting and Filling. Its velvety smooth texture combined with the not-so-sugary bite is perhaps the perfect thing on top of almost any cake or cupcake. One of the most commonly asked questions on that post is, “Where’s the chocolate version??!!” I experimented a lot with adding chocolate to that recipe without much luck. I came up with a lot of things that tasted amazing, but there were always slight problems with the consistency. I knew I had seen similar recipes in chocolate before but I couldn’t seem to find one until one of you dear readers pointed me to a recipe on Sugar Plum. Sure enough, it was just what I was in search of! I adapted the recipe slightly by using plain ol’ salted butter and omitting added salt. And then I added extra chocolate to get a richer color and flavor. Once you try this chocolate frosting you’ll be hooked!
Ingredient Notes
- Sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Milk
- Butter
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to Make Chocolate Frosting
- The recipe starts by cooking flour, milk, sugar, and cocoa powder in a sauce pan until it thickens, much like the first step in the beloved white frosting. You’ll strain the mixture so you don’t end up with icky flour lumps in your frosting, because who wants icky flour lumps in their frosting??
- While that mixture is cooling off, melt some chocolate chips in the microwave. I found this to be the key to having the frosting remain stable- the melted chocolate seems to bind it. Then we whip real butter with our chilled chocolate mixture until it’s light and fluffy.
- At this point it’s much like the results of just adding cocoa powder to the white frosting. But the secret is adding in the melted chocolate. Isn’t chocolate always the secret?? Whip that up and then give it a taste. If you want a richer chocolate flavor just add more cocoa powder. I added about 4 Tablespoons extra to get my frosting looking and tasting like this (I also found the color of the frosting darkened as it sat). It pipes beautifully, and tastes amazing!
Storing and Other Tips
- Store unused frosting in fridge and bring to room temperature before using again. If needed, beat with an electric beater before using.
- Note that the longer this frosting sits, the darker it appears. For darker, more intense flavor, use a chocolate chip with a higher cocoa content.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! There is enough here to generously frost 24 cupcakes or to frost and fill an 8 or 9 inch 2-layer cake.
Check out this post on How to Frost Cupcakes to help you achieve the perfect cupcake!
Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup real butter softened
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips melted
- Optional: Additional cocoa powder as needed
Instructions
- Melt your chocolate chips if you haven’t already and set aside to cool. You obviously don’t want it so cool that it hardens, but you can get it close to room temperature and still have it be soft and stir-able.
- In a small saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, and milk; bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Boil 1-3 minutes or until thickened like a thinned pudding. Remove pan from heat and strain mixture into a small bowl. Cool completely in the refrigerator or freezer.
- When chocolate flour mixture is cooled, beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the cooled chocolate mixture until well combined fluffy, about 1 minute. Finally add in melted chocolate and beat again until well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes. If desired, add additional cocoa powder to taste, up to 4 tablespoons more. Spread or pipe frosting on to cupcakes or cake.
- Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes or to frost and fill an 8 or 9 inch round 2-layer cake.
Questions & Reviews
This recipe is perfection. I followed instructions and had the best frosting- a French friend who prides herself on baking actually asked for the recipe. Incidentally, I tried it with strawberries and it works just fine. Not as pipable, but still very tasty.
This frosting was amazing! My family loved it, not too sweet, very chocolatey, and super fluffy!! Yum, thanks for posting 🙂
I really like to try this, but as always with american recipes I’m struggling with the “cups”. Being from Belgium, I’m used to the metric system. 🙁
But we’ll see, making this frosting tomorrow! wish me luck!
I realize it’s been a week, but I figured I’d post the metric equivalents really quick – 512 g sugar, 15g cocoa, 236ml milk, 227g butter, and about 200g chocolate. (I don’t know if these are exact, but they’re the best I could find.) I hope it turned out well! 🙂
If I use unsalted butter, how much salt should I add to it?
Not sure Stephanie, I’d just do it to taste.
Sooooo good! Can’t wait to try it. I’ve been looking for the perfect frosting without Crisco! Sara, will this recipe be enough to frost 2 9×2 cakes? how about the white frosting recipe? Thank you so much.
This frosting is amazing. My fiance really doesn’t like powdered sugar-based frostings so I’ve been looking for alternatives. While a swiss meringue buttercream is delicious, it’s quite involved; this is so much easier! And it’s so chocolatey. This is going to be my go-to frosting recipe from now on. Thank you so much!
Just made this for my daughter’s birthday cake. It is the best frosting I’ve ever made and I’ve made a lot. Thanks for this version! Next time I think I’m going to try adding Nuttella instead of the melted chocolate. Didn’t want to mess around with this for such an important day. It was perfect and easy to frost her large cat cut-out cake.
I made this the other day and it was soooo good!! I topped it on black bean cupcakes and it was the perfect compliment! Lisa B, I was wondering how Nutella would work in this recipe, too! I worried that it may not firm up as well, because it originally isn’t solid. Maybe you can let us know how it turned out!
What tip do you use for the frosting on your cupcakes? I really like the look and would love to duplicate it!!!
It’s a Wilton 1M
OH Yeah almost forgot I added another cup of melted chocolate.
Ok, so I made this recipe exactly how it said BUT I didnt have real butter so made it with sticks of margarine and of course it did not get thick even after beating for about 10 minutes so I added confectioners sugar about a cup ( I just added a little at a time until I had a desired consistency) and added a couple of more Tbls of unsweetened cocoa and it turned out great, very silky, piped wonderfully and tasted amazing (of course just a little sweeter than the original recipe)if you want me to send a pic email at [email protected]