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 chocolate frosting recipe is fantastic. Chocolate buttercream just doesn’t do it for me. It’s never as chocolatey as I want it, it’s too sweet, and the texture is just too buttery, leaves a bit of a film in my mouth. But this frosting is super chocolatey, not too sweet, and the texture is smooth and creamy yet also fluffy. Very very good! This will be my go to chocolate frosting recipe.
I have been searching for a cupcake frosting that I have seen and tasted that is SO Creamy! I guess the cooked flour frosting is what I’ve been looking for! I will be making them both soon. My question is – what other ingredients can be added other than liquid flavorings? Fruit, cookie crumbs, champagne, baileys liquor? Thanks for your help!
You’ll have to experiment 🙂
This is the best chocolate frosting I’ve ever made. It took every ounce of my willpower to not eat the entire bowl with a spoon. In fact I left a small amount off the cake just so I could eat it right away. This is a keeper.
I hope I didn’t mess up on the cooking part =/ my flour mixture didn’t boil, it seemed to go from liquid to mousse consistency in the blink of an eye. I’m not done with the frosting yet so we’ll see if it’s still going to work
Hi. I’m new to frosting and the first time I tried butter cream frosting, I failed lol I’m going to bake some cupcakes for my nephew’s birthday next week and I’m thinking this is easy enough for a newbie. Do you think so too? and will this hold in room temperature? I live in Asia and it’s around 32 Celsius here. Thanks
Yep, it will be just fine at room temp. You can do this!
I want to use this on the monkey cake you have posted. But I really stink at making frosting. (I tried and my version was a failure!) You say to “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.” Well, my chocolate chips get soft but never get creamy as yours does. And I can’t cool them because they go from soft to hardened right away. But if I melt them longer they harden (as in burn) even if I’m stirring them. I’ve tried the microwave, the stove (double boiler) and still no success (different chocolates too). Needless to say, this recipe didn’t turn out very well. It did get fluffy but then is rather soft. Does not stand up at all and certainly couldn’t pipe it onto a cake. What am I doing wrong??? I mess up every frosting I try (well, except maybe the butter and powdered sugar one). 🙂 I have tried everything I can think of, like I said, using the microwave or stove various kinds of chocolate, etc. HELP!
RH- the recipe as written should work just fine so I’m not sure what to tell you- I’m sorry I can’t be of more help!
Great recipe! I was out of powdered sugar and didn’t feel like running to the store and this was the perfect solution. I found it a little bitter when I added the extra cocoa so added a jar of marshmallow creme. It turned out great! Next time I’ll try adding just a bit more sugar at the beginning and see how that goes.
Me again 😉 lol before you answer I wanted to ask should butter and roux be at room temperature? Or can I whip up cold butter and mixture? My butter was wood temperature and mixture was straight out the fridge. Wish I could post a pic..
Could it be the chocolate mixture was cooled in the fridge and was still cold? Am I supposed to wait for it to come to room temperature?
I’m making this as we “speak” and it doesn’t look right! After I beat the butter and added the cooled chocolate mixture it looks a mess. It looks like its separating? It’s not mixing beautifully. What am I doing wrong I tried it before and it came out delish, but I can’t seem to get it right again.