A standby Chocolate Frosting
This straightforward chocolate frosting recipe is the standby! Made with melted chocolate, it’s silky smooth, buttery, and not at all too sugary. It’s reliable for cakes, cupcakes, brownies… anything!
Where do you fall in the frosting camp? Chocolate or vanilla?
We are squarely chocolate, all day, every day. No question.
At least 10 years ago, we saw vanilla frosting made on a local morning TV segment and we've been adapting it ever since. Not long after seeing it, we tried our hand at this from-scratch chocolate frosting version using melted chocolate; we fell head over heels in love with the insanely creamy frosting with a deep chocolate flavor. Prior to that, we had only made chocolate frosting with cocoa powder and this version blew it out of the water. It’s incredibly straightforward to mix and you’ll never look for another frosting recipe again!
How Do You Make From-scratch Chocolate Frosting with Melted Chocolate?
It’s straightforward!
We took our favorite vanilla frosting recipe and adapted it to make the most memorable chocolate frosting recipe you’ll ever taste. These are the simple steps:
- Melt your chocolate and let it cool to room temperature. We like using semisweet chocolate since it’s sort of “all-purpose”, but you can totally use dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or even white chocolate, if you’d like.
- Get your butter to room temperature, then whip it with a whisk attachment for a full 5 minutes. This is crucial! It makes the frosting satiny smooth and you don’t get any of that gritty/stiff sugary texture.
- Then mix in your vanilla and powdered sugar until completely incorporated.
- Finally, pour in that melted chocolate and whip on medium-high speed for a couple of minutes, scraping as necessary, until totally combined. Try to resist eating it all with a spoon ;-)
Other Chocolate Frosting Alternatives
This is, without a doubt, our favorite chocolate frosting recipe, but there are some other variations you may want to try:
- Chocolate frosting with cocoa powder – It’s a stiffer frosting than one with melted chocolate, but our favorite version is Hershey’s evenly chocolate frosting, which can be found alongside the Hershey’s evenly chocolate cake recipe.
- Chocolate frosting with instant coffee – You’re in luck! Our mocha cupcakes are topped with an espresso buttercream frosting, which you can easily adapt to make with this base chocolate frosting recipe if you’re looking for a mocha frosting, as well.
- Chocolate frosting with cream cheese – Our chocolate dump-it cake is topped with an absolutely sublime chocolate cream cheese frosting, which we highly recommend if you like a little tang to cut the sweetness of chocolate frosting!
Whether you need a chocolate frosting for cake, cupcakes, brownies, cake pops, literally ANYTHING, this is the recipe you want to use, it will never disappoint. It frosts a cake evenly and pipes beautifully, as well. It’s absolutely a standby.
If you’re looking for a fabulous brownie recipe to put underneath this frosting, these better-than-box-mix brownies are our go-to and all-time favorite!
And that cake that’s peaking out? That’s our all-time favorite epic chocolate cake recipe, and we'll be sharing it later this week, so stay tuned!
- 7 Minute Frosting
- Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
- Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream Frosting
- Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting
Four years ago: Overnight Chilled Plum-Oatmeal Pudding
Six years ago: Peach Coffee Cake
Ten years ago: Panzanella
Eleven years ago: Samoas Brownie
A standby Chocolate Frosting
Yield: 5 cups This straightforward chocolate frosting recipe is the standby! Made with melted chocolate, it's reliable for cakes, cupcakes, brownies... anything!- 2 cups (454 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 5 cups (600 g) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- Place the chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second increments on 50% power, stirring after each, until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, using the whisk attachment of your stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.
- Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, add the vanilla, mixing until incorporated. Add the melted chocolate and whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed to incorporate all of the chocolate.
- Use immediately or cover with plastic wrap and keep at room temperature for up to 4 hours before using. The frosting can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 4 days. Bring to room temperature and re-whip before using. The frosting can also be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before using.
Notes
Nutritional values are based on one cup of frostingThis recipe was originally published on October 22, 2010.
- Yield: 5 cups
- Prep: 15 minutes
- Total: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 cups ( 454 g ) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 5 cups ( 600 g ) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 8 ounces ( 226.8 g ) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
Method
- Place the chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second increments on 50% power, stirring after each, until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, using the whisk attachment of your stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.
- Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, add the vanilla, mixing until incorporated. Add the melted chocolate and whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed to incorporate all of the chocolate.
- Use immediately or cover with plastic wrap and keep at room temperature for up to 4 hours before using. The frosting can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 4 days. Bring to room temperature and re-whip before using. The frosting can also be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before using.
Notes
This recipe was originally published on October 22, 2010.
