This American Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is silky, whipped, decadent, and chocolatey with just the right amount of sweetness. It has 6 simple ingredients and takes just 6 minutes to make.
This Chocolate Buttercream spreads and pipes beautifully over chocolate cakes and cupcakes so it’s perfect for all of your baking projects.
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We love homemade frosting recipes from Vanilla Buttercream to Cream Cheese Frosting and of course, this easy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. In fact, we loved it so much that I even used it on my daughter’s Chocolate Birthday Cake in Natasha’s Kitchen Cookbook. Homemade frostings use higher-quality ingredients and taste way better than store-bought.
Chocolate Frosting Video Tutorial
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Chocolate Buttercream Recipe
This chocolate buttercream frosting is thick and fluffy. It holds its shape well, just like Swiss Meringue Buttercream so it’s great for decorating and piping. It also has a rich chocolate flavor.
How much frosting does this make?
Frosting Cupcakes? This recipe yields about 2 1/4 cups frosting and generously frosts 12 cupcakes or lightly frosts 24 cupcakes.
Frosting a Cakes? To frost a 9” 2-layer cake, increase the recipe by 50% (i.e. 1 1/2 cups butter, 4 1/2 cups sugar, etc).
The Key to Great Chocolate Buttercream
Soften Butter Correctly – For the best-textured buttercream, make sure the butter is at the correct temperature. Properly softened butter should be left at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours, or watch our video on how to soften butter in 5 minutes.
Your butter should feel cool to the touch and you should be able to indent it with your fingertip. Never melt or over-soften butter for the frosting or it will become too thin and greasy.
Scrape down the bowl several times while mixing to ensure your chocolate and sugar are incorporated with the butter. If you don’t scrape down the bowl, your frosting will have streaks of cocoa and won’t be uniform in color. It will be especially obvious if you pipe the frosting.
Ingredients for Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Unsalted butter – should be softened at room temperature. Use unsalted so you can control the salt in the recipe.
- Confectioners sugar – also known as powdered sugar. This is measured before sifting (sifting is not necessary).
- Cocoa powder – natural unsweetened cocoa powder or Dutch process.
- Heavy whipping cream – lightens up and thins the frosting.
- Vanilla extract – we use real vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Salt – balances the sweetness of the buttercream. It’s the secret ingredient in buttercream that makes it taste not too sweet. We use fine sea salt.
How to Make Chocolate Buttercream
The best Chocolate Buttercream is easier and takes less time than you think!
- Beat butter in a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment on high speed for 3 minutes until creamy and lightened in color.
- Add remaining ingredients – powdered sugar, cocoa powder, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Beat together on low speed until powdered sugar is incorporated then on medium/high speed for another 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl several times. Add more cream at the end if needed to thin the frosting.
Pro Tip:
Use a silicone spatula to scrape down the bowl several times while mixing to ensure the frosting is evenly blended and even in color and texture.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use unsweetened natural cocoa powder such as Hershey’s brand, or use Dutch process cocoa powder to make chocolate buttercream.
You can thin the frosting with milk instead of heavy cream, but you may need slightly less. Add it until you reach your desired texture.
You can easily double the recipe, increasing your mixing times slightly.
Funny story, I spent years sifting the dry ingredients for this recipe until I decided to skip the step one day and found it did not make a difference. The ingredients will be incorporated easily without sifting.
How to Serve Chocolate Buttercream
This frosting is delicious over cakes, cupcakes, sweet bread, cookies you name it! Here are some of our favorite ways to use Chocolate Buttercream frosting:
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Sugar Cookies
- Vanilla Cupcakes
- Honey Cupcakes
- Greek Yogurt Cupcakes
- Chocolate Cake or Vanilla Cake – scale it up by 50% for a 2-layer cake.
Enjoy this easy 6-minute Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. It’s one I’ve been making for years and I will never stop loving this recipe.
Make-Ahead
- To Refrigerate: Store in an airtight container or ziploc bag for up to a week (do not store near fish or meat as it may absorb those fridge odors). Bring to room temperature and re-whip to make the frosting fluffy.
- Freezing: Package the same way as for refrigerating, then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight then bring to room temperature before re-whipping to a fluffy consistency.
More Homemade Frosting Recipes
If you love to bake, here are the frosting recipes that you should have in your recipe box. They are my go-to’s for cakes and cupcakes:
- Vanilla Cupcake Frosting
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Chocolate Ganache
- Cinnamon Roll Icing
- Blackberry Frosting
- White Chocolate Frosting
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (6-Minute Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 3 to 4 Tbsp heavy whipping cream, plus more to thin the frosting
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- With a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat butter on high speed for about 3 minutes or until creamy and lightened in color, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, 3 Tbsp heavy cream, 2 tsp vanilla extract, and 1/4 tsp salt.
- Beat on low speed until sugar is incorporated then increase to medium/high speed and beat for 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl several times to ensure everything is well blended. Add another Tablespoon of heavy cream if needed to thin the frosting.
Nutrition Per Serving
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
This is the best chocolate buttercream that I have made by far. Love that it’s so easy and piped great on my cupcakes.
Hey Natasha, does the recipe work if I replace powdered sugar with normal sugar.
Hi Maveen. Powdered sugar is best, it will dissolve and absorb better. Using granule sugar will lead to a grainy frosting, and the texture will be off.
Hello Natasha,
can I use melted chocolate instead of the cocoa powder if I don’t have it handy.
Hi Anabelle! I haven’t tested that to advise.
Hi Natasha,
I am a huge fan of your cake recipes and have tried many of them… Loved this simple and quick frosting recipe… I need some advice from you for a two-tier tall cake which I would be making this Friday for a dear friend’s baby shower… Will this frosting be stable enough to hold a tiered cake? And which one of your chocolate cake recipes would be best for a two tier cake? Please reply by Thursday… Many thanks!
Hi Romi. Yes, this buttercream is stable to use for a tiered cake. I have not made any tiered cakes, but some of my viewers have commented on using the Chocolate cake recipe here for a tiered cake.
Thanks Natasha for your reply… I will check the cake recipe.
I made this frosting for a fondant flower pot cake as a filling and pre fondant adhesive.
It was the best buttercream frosting I’ve ever made and will keep this recipe forever. I used all quality ingredients which I believe made the difference between great and superb frosting.
Thank you for this recipe.
I’m so happy to hear that, thank you!
This was excellent and I, as a general rule, hate frosting of any kind. Usually I think it way too disgustingly sweet, but this saws just right. The only change I made was to add 1/2 tsp of dried expresso.
OMGosh so rich and creamy. And easy!!! One of the best frostings I’ve had!
You will love this recipe. The best chocolate frosting recipe I ever made. Very creamy and chocolatey. I did cut the confectionery sugar about 1/3 with cornstarch so it wasn’t quite so sweet. Great recipe.
Hello Natasha,
You had mentioned that the unused frosting is to be refrigerated ..Can the frosted cupcakes cookies or cake be left out on counter or do they need to be put in refrigerator as well after frosted? If so, how long? Thank you so much 🙂
Hi Shannon, I would’t leave it in room temperature for more than 24 hours. If more than that. I recommend that you refrigerate it.
Hi Natsha. Does this recipe make enough to frost your chocolate cake? (2-8″ cakes) Thanks.
Hi Annmarie, I recommend reading through the recipe notes, we note there “scale it up by 50% for a 2-layer cake”. “Frosting a Cakes? To frost a 9” 2-layer cake, increase the recipe by 50% (i.e. 1 1/2 cups butter, 4 1/2 cups sugar, etc).” I hope this is helpful!
Worked perfectly – easy to make, easy to apply and so delicious! My go-to recipe.
That’s wonderful to hear. I’m so glad you love this recipe.
Wowzer this is a great icing recipe. Only made homemade icing a couple time before but my boy wanted to make cupcakes tonight and I didn’t have any tubs of store bought icing on hand so Dr. Google brought me here. Had all the ingredients on hand so gave it a whirl and so glad I did! Turned out perfectly. Easy to pipe and set up very nicely. And it is delicious! Thank you so much!
I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you for sharing!