I’m pretty sure something biological happened to me about the same time I became a mother. At least that’s when I remember it happening. That was the point when I realized I couldn’t live without chocolate. I found myself thinking about chocolate, craving chocolate, scouring my pantry for spare chocolate chips that may have fallen out of a bag at some point and landed in some random corner. And I wouldn’t by any means call myself a chocolate snob (because I’m pretty sure anyone who makes that proclamation wouldn’t be on their hands and knees in the pantry looking for old chocolate chips) but I do have an appreciation for quality chocolate. And I don’t like it overloaded with sugar- the darker the better in my book. I even love bittersweet chocolate. But when it comes down to it, if it’s got chocolate in it- I’m down. So needless to say, a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting pretty much rocks my world.
Everyone in my opinion needs a great, basic, go-to chocolate cake recipe. And while there’s a time and a place for boxed cake mixes, everyone needs a good homemade, from scratch recipe. I’ve used this Hershey’s recipe quite a bit over the years, and I still love it. But several years ago I bought the “Best Recipes” issue of Cook’s Illustrated, partially because this cake was on the cover. I finally had a great excuse to make it last month and I wish I would have done it years ago. It’s definitely one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever tasted.
I started going through the pictures for this cake and realized the post would quickly turn into a novel, so I’m splitting it into two installments. Frosting today, cake on Wednesday! Don’t be turned off by the number of steps here. I almost was and I’m so glad I stuck with the recipe and made this frosting. It’s more labor intensive than beating some butter, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder together but it’s sooo worth it.
Start by melting some chocolate. The glass bowl you see in the pictures is sitting on top of a pan of simmering water.
After the chocolate is melted, set the bowl aside and dump out the water that was in the pan. Now you’ve already got a warm pan for the next step (butter melting). Remember that when you read the recipe and it tells you to use 2 pans. I’m all about one less dish to have sitting in my sink for days wash.
To the melted butter, you’ll add a little corn syrup, vanilla, and granulated sugar.
As soon as it’s all melted together and the sugar is dissolved, add it to a large bowl along with…
the chocolate. The beautiful, glorious, melted chocolate. And no I did not stick my finger in that as it was pouring down like a chocolate waterfall just begging for someone to stick their finger in it…
And also some heavy cream. You know, for good measure.
You’ll stir this all together and have sort of a chocolate sauce consistency. Place your bowl in a bowl of ice to bring the temperature down, and just keep stirring until the mixture starts hardening against the side of the bowl. Then you can pop the paddle attachment on your mixer and start whipping. Magically it turns thick and fluffy.
I was actually super impatient when I made this and didn’t wait for it to cool enough that the mixture was sticking to the sides of the bowl. So my whipped frosting was reeealy soft. I just popped it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes and it was perfect.
The flavor is so perfect. It’s sweet, but not too sweet, so the great chocolate flavor really shines through.
and when combined with the chocolate cake, it’s perfection.
I should also note that the texture is so light and soft, and whippy, that this frosting would probably be best for slathering- like smeared all over a cake, or just plopped on top of cupcakes, as opposed to piping. If you’re looking for a good chocolate icing for piping- try this one!
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting
Cooks Illustrated Best Recipes Issue, 12/09
16 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I measured 16oz chocolate chips on a kitchen scale, it’s a teeny bit more than 2 1/2 cups.)
8 Tbs (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp table salt
1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream
Melt Chocolate in heatproof bowl set over a saucepan containing 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside. Meanwhile, heat butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat until melted. Increase heat to medium; add sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt and stir with heatproof rubber spatula until sugar is dissolved, 4-5 minutes. Add melted chocolate, butter mixture, and cream to clean bowl of stand mixer and stir to thoroughly combine.
Place mixer bowl over ice bath and stir mixture constantly with rubber spatula until frosting is thick and just beginning to harden against sides of bowl, 1-2 minutes (frosting should be 70 degrees). Place bowl on stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Stir with rubber spatula until completely smooth. *If you find after beating, your frosting is still too soft for your liking, try chilling in the fridge until it sets up a little more.
Questions & Reviews
hi, what can you use if you don’t have corn syrup. Ivy@Malaysia
Hi Ivy- some other readers have suggested aAgave nectar, Lyle’s Golden Syrup, or honey. Although honey would change the flavor just a little.
I made this cake and frosting tonight and it was the bomb! The frosting is almost like a mousse. A bit more labor intensive than the “normal” chocolate frosting but soooo much easier to spread and super tasty. I wouldn’t make it w/ milk chocolate chips(as asked about in above comment) as it would sickening sweet. And I’m a milk chocolate kind of girl. I love how perfectly this cake cuts and presents itself. Too bad I ate way too much frosting before it was actually on the cake and then I couldn’t finish my piece.
What do you think about using white chocolate chips in this? If you can believe it my daughter does not like dark or milk chocolate. She does however love white chocolate. Her birthday is coming up so I may just give it a try. Of course I’ll have to make it before hand to test it.
I don’t know Erin…you would then have to leave out the cocoa powder as well and that would change things. You’d have to experiment with that one.
Do you think this frosting would spread well over your sugar cookie recipe? How much frosting does it make, more or less than the sugar cookie recipe gives you?
ohh, that would be so good. The frosting probably makes more than the cookies.
Hmmm…okay. I know this frosting probably doesn’t store well…I guess I’ll have to make the cake as well as the cookies! 🙂 Just kidding. Thanks anyway!
I just made this frosting and it turned out like sugar cookie dough. Not light and fluffy. URGH! I didn’t have a food scale so I just eyeballed the chocolate chips, do you think I just maybe put too many in? So frustrating since this recipe takes so many steps. However, it does taste delicious! There is no way this would ever spread over a cake though. Too doughy.
do you know of a way to save the frosting?
I’m such a dork. I forgot to ADD THE CREAM! I added it after the fact and it still turned out. I’m an idiot!
I’m glad I’m over here having a conversation with myself…
Lol! I was sitting here trying to figure out how you could possibly get a “doughy” consistency from that! Glad you figured it out 🙂
I just made this for some cupcakes. To answer another person’s question, yes, you can pipe this on cupcakes. Just let it sit in the fridge for at least 15 – 30 minutes (or longer) beforehand and it firms up nicely.
I did have a question though: has anyone tried this with milk chocolate and perhaps a bit less sugar? I like milk chocolate a lot better than semi-sweet and really tasted the semi-sweet chocolate in this recipe. Would it be too sweet with milk chocolate?
If you like milk, go ahead and try it. I bet it would taste great if you like it a little sweeter. I probably wouldn’t adjust the sugar *too* much though.
I just tried making this recipe with milk chocolate…and for those of you milk chocolate lovers….YUM! Just buy yourself a bunch of Hershey bars (or your favorite brand of milk chocolate). I used a scant 1/3 cup of sugar and it turned out great.
I have a question for you. How do you stay so THIN when you are constantly cooking yummy things like this?!?!?!
Answer: I don’t! lol Honestly though, it’s all about moderation. Good, healthy eating habits and regular exercise, and then you can enjoy the indulgences too!
At last!!! A delicious frosting recipe that doesn’t taste and feel like straight butter! You have no idea how long I’ve waited for a recipe like this. I could just kiss you through my computer (but I won’t, because that would be weird).
Thank you Sara!!.. I will definitely make this cake!!! Thank you . Bea
This post is perfect timing. How will this frosting freeze? I’m baking an ice-cream filled cake for a birthday party this weekend. I plan to frost the cake the morning of the party and stick it back in the freezer for a few hours until showtime. Will this frosting hold up? Would your other chocolate frosting recipe work better? Thanks!
No idea Kim, I’ve never frozen it. Let us know if you give it a shot!
I did it! I used the other frosting recipe because use said it was better for piping. https://fit-over50.news/2010/05/chocolate-frosting/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I baked the cake on Thursday, filled it with ice cream and froze it. I frosted the cake at noon on Saturday and put it back in the freezer uncovered. I took it out at 4pm and let it sit on the counter uncovered until I could stick a wooden skewer through the ice cream–about 40 minutes. It looked and tasted great. The frosting froze and thawed perfectly.
Next time I’ll let it sit out longer because the cake was still pretty frozen. But still yummy!