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 frosting is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!! Thank you SO much for sharing! I’ve never been a frosting fan due to it being too sweet and overpowering, so I went on the hunt for a “light and fluffy” frosting recipe and found your blog. This came out not only delicious but BEAUTIFUL! I was afraid I cooked the cocoa/flour mixture a bit too long, as it was more a pudding-y texture when I took it off the heat (but no lumps!) but it turned out great. I used it atop the “chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes” recipe on allrecipes.com and it is just what they needed because (as you can imagine) they are sweet enough by themselves. Thanks again!
I made this – it was delicious, although slightly ‘unstable’ 🙁 Could I add meringue powder to stiffen it up at all?
Also, how long can I keep any unused frosting for in the fridge please?
Thanks 🙂
I’m not sure about the meringue powder, I’ve never had a problem with it being unstable- you’d just have to experiment. And you’ll have to play the frige by ear too, at least a few days.
Could you use this recipe under fondant? Does it harden up slightly or stay quite soft? Im making a cake covered in fondant but need that middle layer between the cake and fondant layer, this recipe sounds amazing but not sure if right consistency?! 🙂
Please email response if can 🙂
I don’t use fondant so I can’t tell ya for sure, but it does set up pretty well so I would assume it would work?
Made this for the first time today. Absolutely marvellous. Thank you 🙂
I made a white chocolate version of this, and apparently it was delicious. (I’m not a huge white chocolate fan, so I can’t corroborate the story!)
I modified half the original recipe and it did 9 cupcakes piped high. I made the version below and got enough for close to 15 lol My first batch was quite runny (and not enough anyway), so I refridgerated it while I made the second part, and then whipped the two together and it was perfect! So if it’s a bit runny, just stick it in the fridge for a wee bit!
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4-6T all-purpose flour
4T white chocolate drinking mix (I used italian style)
3/4 cup of milk
3/4 cup soft butter
130g of white chocolate, melted
I made it as per Sara’s recipe. The only thing you might need to play around with is the flour – as cocoa powder absorbs moisture, I found the addition of a little extra flour to be helpful to get the sugar/flour/drinking chocolate/milk mix to the correct “pudding” stage – if it wasn’t thickening up, I simply took it off the heat, whisked in another Tbs of flour very quickly to ensure there were no lumps and then put it back on the heat to cook the flour.
You can also add a bit more white chocolate drinking mix to taste once it’s all combined.
Thank you for sharing this frosting recipe, it is the most delicious cupcake frosting I have ever had, now when I have the hard buttercream from the professional cupcake shop, it just doesn’t measure up to this one. BTW – I was lazy and didn’t bother straining out the lumps and didn’t end up with any in the end, must be the beating of all the ingredients together. How long does this stay good for since can’t be refrigerated? Thanks again.
You’ll definitely want to store the frosting in the fridge, it just needs to be brought to room temp and re-whipped before using.
The first time I made this, I kind of drizzled the melted chocolate in and when it hit the whipping blade, it flung it to the sides of the bowl, making the choclate get hard, thus leaving lots of little bits of un-mixed chocolate in the frosting. I used it to frost cupcakes, and while fine for cupcakes, it would not work for a nice cake.
The second time I made this, I shut off the mixer, lifted the blade, and then carefully added the melted chocolate to the bowl, and then very softly mixed in the melted chocolate. It worked perfectly this time! It went great on cake I made. I did use a total of 1/3 cup of cocoa powder, which I added all to the initial mix to cook. I did not add the extra cocoa at the end. Not very sweet, but the triple chocolate fudge cake with caramel toffee chip filling was sweet enough that the two melded perfectly together.
Thanks for the great recipe!
I have been looking for a great chocolate frosting recipe. The only thing is that am making a wedding cake and covering it in fondant so I won’t be able to refridgerated it. Since this recipe calls fir milk, will it be safe to be kept out overnight? Thanks
yep, should be just fine 🙂
I’ve made the vanilla flour frosting and love it, so I’m excited to try this chocolate version. However, I have a no-milk participant in the consumption party, so I’m wondering about subbing in either rice milk or coconut milk. I’m new to baking/cooking with those milks. thoughts? advice??
Not sure, you’ll have to experiment!
Oh my word! If this is as good as the white flour frosting, I can NOT wait to try it!