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 was delicious. I was a little skeptical about the amount of butter but it all worked out in the end. The only modification I made was to cook the flour and cocoa mixture until it was VERY thick. I cooked it for a lot longer because I could still taste the flour. I was whisking the whole time so I wouldn’t have to strain it after and I didn’t. It was amazing on an orange sponge cake!
this is real beautiful recipe, many thanks.
This chocolate frosting is amazing. AMAZING. I used it on my daughter’s 13th birthday cake. Thanks!
Dear Sara,
Silly question from Hong Kong. Once the cupcakes are frosted with your chocolate frosting, how long can they last in a fridge? Will the texture gets funny if the frosted cupcakes stay in the fridge 3 or maximum 5 days? Sorry for asking so many questions and thanks for your time:)
I don’t usually make cupcakes more than 1-2 days ahead of time. They won’t go “bad” but they certainly won’t be as good.
I found the first time that when I let it come to a boil it gets too thick and there’s no hope of straining it so better to take it off the heat as soon as it gets to a thin pudding stage. I also found like a previous poster that if you make sure your dry ingredients are mixed well and you add your milk slowly while whisking it, you won’t end up with any clumps to strain out. The mixture needs to become cool before you can blend it with the butter. Mine was warm and didn’t set up right but after putting it all back in the fridge for 20 minutes it whipped right up. So delicious!
I’ve tried the white version twice and just tried the chocolate this weekend. My frosting never gets stiff, I’m thinking I need to cook it to a thicker pudding. When I pipe it on cupcakes it kinda spreads like it hasn’t set up. Any ideas?
Haven’t tried the chocolate version yet, but the vanilla one was very nice. I didn’t have to worry about lumps because I put the whisk attachment on my mixer and blended the flour and milk in a small bowl until smooth before heating it. I also don’t particularly like things made with white sauce so I was very hesitant to try it. I didn’t want to risk tasting raw flour in my frosting, so I cooked it until it was quite thick. Thicker than pudding as the recipe suggests. I let it cool (get cold) in the refrigerator while I mixed butter and sugar. When I combined the flour mixture with the sugar mixture, it never even went through the “ugly” stage. It didn’t even take 5 minutes. Made it twice, once was a double batch and it turned out great both times. Oh, I made too many cupcakes so I put them in a covered container in the frig for a couple of days. The frosting was hard while it was cold, but once it reached room temp, it was exactly as before. No seperating at all. I even prefered the cold texture. VERY firm and smooth, but I’m weird that way. I’ll be trying the chocolate version tomorrow!
I want to make this for my son’s birthday cake. I am wondering what brand of chocolate chips you use? I find some brands really harden up more than others and am scared it will affect the outcome
Honestly, I’m not too picky about chocolate chips! I usually buy Nestle, Tollhouse, or Guittard.
Thanks so much for the fast response, and for all your amazing recipes! I’m excited to try this, the flour frosting rocked my world (in the best of ways) when I discovered it, and I’m sure this will do the same.
My frosting was delicious but wasn’t stable. Does the butter need to be colder? My frosting was never fluffly but more like a mousse. I want to remake but of course want to make sure i’m not missing something. When I refidgerated my cake the frosting did harded up but as soon as it came to room temp it was moussie (i jus made that word up) (my butter was room temp and I did feel like my stove mixture was closer to a pudding consisentcy than thin pudding). Help!
Hmm, I’m honestly not sure! The pudding mixture is probably better if it’s a little thicker, so I don’t think it’s that. You might just have to keep experimenting!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I just made a teddy bear ballerina cake for my daughter’s birthday and used this frosting for the brown bear. I was so nervous about messing anything up because I’m a relative beginner at cake decorating but my goodness, this frosting was absolutely PERFECT for piping! And of course, it tastes delicious! You girls are the best; you are my go-to site and cookbook for pretty much everything. 🙂