Rich Chocolate Frosting

Rich Chocolate Frosting is creamy and indulgent, made with ONLY 5 ingredients, and ready in just a few minutes! Incredibly EASY to make!

This chocolate Frosting recipe is the perfect balance of chocolaty flavor, richness, and sweetness. It will take your favorite Chocolate Cake to the next level and be a go-to recipe for desserts. For more classic frosting recipes, try my Classic Buttercream Frosting and Cream Cheese Frosting.

Sabrina’s Rich Chocolate Frosting Recipe

Rich Chocolate Frosting is fudgy, creamy, and insanely easy to make in only a few minutes with 5 ingredients. All you need is butter, cocoa, confectioner’s sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. This frosting recipe is richer than your average buttercream, with a stronger chocolate flavor, making it the perfect addition to chocolate cake or brownies.

Chef’s Note: Frosting vs Buttercream

This is not a traditional buttercream, although there are some similarities. Both frosting recipes contain butter, so it’s easy to get confused. However, a typical buttercream frosting calls for softened butter that’s creamed together with powdered sugar (and sometimes egg whites), then with other ingredients like cocoa or vanilla extract. It turns out light and fluffy, with a strong sweet butter taste.

My Chocolate Frosting recipe calls for cooking the cocoa powder and butter together first, which makes a frosting that turns out more fudgy and richer than a chocolate buttercream would be. Since this is a really rich frosting, so you may not be able to get the same fluffy texture as you would from a regular buttercream or cream cheese frosting so it’s great for piping on cupcakes or frosting sheetcakes versus using for more advanced cake decorating.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups Unsalted Butter: Unsalted butter is the rich flavor in this decadent recipe. It’s important to use unsalted butter to control the salt level in the frosting. If needed, salted butter can be used if you like a bit of saltiness. It won’t ruin the recipe.
• 1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Cocoa powder adds the deep chocolate flavor we’re looking for and gives the brown chocolate color to the frosting.
• 6 cups Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar, also known as confectioners’ sugar, is the base of all good frostings. If your frosting is coming out too sweet for your taste, add a quarter teaspoon of salt to help balance the flavor. See the FAQ section below for a powdered sugar substitution idea!
• 2/3 cup Milk: Milk helps to thin out the frosting for spreading. I’m using whole milk but you can substitute it with other types of milk, like 2%, if needed. You can use half and half which will make it extra rich!
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla: Vanilla extract is the secret ingredient to many desserts. Use pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.

How to Make

Recipe Card

Can This Be Made Ahead?

Yes! This is great to make a couple of days in advance. Just make it normally and store it in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 days. It will last up to a week but will have the freshest flavor if used within a couple of days of making. If you are decorating a cake or cupcakes, you can even make a double batch, because you can never have too much!

Nutritional Facts

Tips for Making Frosting

• You can add more milk to achieve a thinner texture with your frosting but add it very slowly so you don’t overshoot it.
• This is the perfect frosting to use as a crumb layer before adding fondant to a layer cake.
• Don’t substitute this homemade chocolate frosting with anything other than butter, because margarine has a lower fat content and the texture won’t turn out right.
• Unsalted butter is recommended because you can control the flavor, but you can use salted butter if you prefer the salty flavor.
• If you want an even richer chocolate frosting, substitute the milk with heavy cream or whipping cream.

How to Store

• Store: Don’t leave the Rich Chocolate Frosting at room temperature for more than 4 hours. Rich Chocolate Frosting can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.
• Freezer: You could also store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. The day before you’re ready to use it, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then bring it to room temperature before re-whipping again briefly for a fresh texture.

Ways to Use Chocolate Frosting

• This is a great recipe to make with homemade Cupcakes because it’s spreadable, but it can also be piped in swirls. It would taste good with classic cake flavors like chocolate cake, yellow cake, and red velvet cake.
• Spread this indulgent chocolate frosting over Brownies or chocolate cookies and add toppings like crushed peppermint candies, sprinkles or nuts.
• Since this frosting stays pretty soft, it works great as a dessert dip for strawberries, graham crackers, vanilla wafers and pretzels.

Frequent Questions

Variations

• Mexican Hot Chocolate Frosting: Add a teaspoon of cinnamon to this chocolate frosting recipe for Mexican-style chocolate. You can also add a dash of cayenne pepper.
• Holiday Dessert Frostings: Add peppermint extract to this chocolate frosting recipe, then crush peppermint candies on top of cupcakes for a holiday version. Or use orange extract, then after you’ve frosted the cupcakes, top with orange zest for chocolate orange cupcakes!
• Dark Chocolate Frosting: Substitute the regular cocoa powder for dark chocolate cocoa powder, or Dutch processed cocoa powder. Try adding a teaspoon of instant espresso for an extra dark chocolate frosting.
• Chocolate Buttercream: To turn this into a chocolate buttercream frosting, start with room temperature butter. Whip the butter for 3 minutes on high speed until fluffy. Add the cocoa powder, vanilla, and milk and beat on low until well mixed. Then increase the speed for 1-2 minutes until it’s light and fluffy.

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