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Home » Baking & Desserts » Icing » Chocolate Buttercream

12 July 2016

Chocolate Buttercream

2.6K shares

This easy chocolate buttercream gets its extra-chocolatey flavour from using both melted chocolate and cocoa powder. Perfect for birthday cakes, layer cakes and cupcakes.

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Piping chocolate buttercream onto a chocolate cupcake.Over the weekend I shared my chocolate birthday cake recipe and what chocolate cake is complete without a decent dollop of chocolate buttercream all over it? As soon as the chocolate cake recipe was perfected I got straight to work on creating the buttercream to go with it. 

For some strange and unknown reason I decided to leave sorting out the buttercream until I’d got the cake recipe nailed down, which meant baking even more cakes to test each buttercream with (OK I probably could have tasted the buttercreams without the cake and narrowed it down to a few favourites – but where’s the fun in that!).

Spreading chocolate buttercream onto a round chocolate birthday cake using a palette knife. There are two more layers of chocolate cake on a cooling rack in the background.

Spreading my chocolate buttercream over the chocolate sponge – yum!

This chocolate buttercream is delicious in its own right and could go with all sorts of flavours of sponge, but it was designed to perfectly compliment my new chocolate cake. The key feature of this buttercream is that, like the cake, it gets its chocolate-iness from a combination of both cocoa powder and melted chocolate.

Like the cake, this chocolate buttercream is simple to make. However, I have got a few tips to ensure you get buttercream perfection…

  • Melt your chocolate first and make sure you cool it down to room temperature before adding it into the buttercream (if it’s warm it’ll melt the butter and you’ll end up with runny icing). If you stir it you should find it cools down to the right temperature in just a few minutes.
  • Make sure your butter is soft, don’t try using it straight out of the fridge. I’ve tried it – you get lumpy uneven buttercream.
  • Add your icing sugar and cocoa powder a spoon at a time and mix them in on a very low speed – this will (hopefully) stop them flying around your kitchen too much – something icing sugar in particular loves to do in my house!
  • I generally find that my buttercream is the right consistency after adding the melted chocolate, but if yours is a little stiff then add a tiny bit of milk (no more than a tsp at a time) and mix it in until you get the right consistency (you’re aiming for it to be soft enough that you could spread it onto a slice of bread without it tearing but not so soft that it drips off the knife before you have a chance to spread it). If your buttercream is a little soft after adding the chocolate then pop it into the fridge and you should find that it firms up a bit.

Piping chocolate buttercream onto a chocolate cupcake. There are several plain chocolate cupcakes in the background.

What You’ll Need

Before you start, make sure you have all of the equipment needed.

NOTE – These are affiliate links which means that if you purchase from Amazon after clicking on one the product links below I may earn a small commission. All of the products linked are ones I use in my kitchen.

  • Weighing Scales
  • Measuring Spoons
  • Knife – to cut the butter
  • Something to melt the chocolate in – either a bowl in the microwave, small saucepan, or bowl over a small saucepan.
  • Electric Mixer (or a bowl and hand mixer or wooden spoon)
  • Sieve
  • Piping Bags – if you’re planning on piping the cupcakes
  • Piping Nozzle – To pipe the cupcakes as shown in the pictures you’ll need a JEM 1B nozzle.

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Chocolate-Buttercream-1

Chocolate Buttercream

This easy chocolate buttercream gets its extra-chocolatey flavour from using both melted chocolate and cocoa powder. Perfect for birthday cakes, layer cakes and cupcakes.
5 from 22 votes
Print Rate Save Go to Collections
Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
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INGREDIENTS

Metric - US Cups/Ounces
  • 250 g unsalted butter - soft at room temperature
  • 250 g icing sugar
  • 150 g milk chocolate - choose a chocolate from the baking aisle as this won’t go grainy when it’s melted
  • 40 g cocoa powder
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract
  • A little milk

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Break the chocolate (150g) into pieces and melt it (either using short bursts in the microwave – stirring regularly, over the lowest possible heat in a saucepan – stirring constantly, or in a bain marie – stirring constantly).
  • Once melted remove from the heat and pour into another bowl (this will help it to cool as it needs to be back to room temperature before mixing with the buttercream).
  • Beat the butter (250g) until soft then add the vanilla extract (¼ tsp), cocoa powder (40g) and icing sugar (250g) and beat until fully combined (it’s easier to avoid the cocoa powder and sugar flying everywhere if you add it a spoonful at a time).
  • Once the chocolate has cooled to room temperature (DO NOT add the chocolate when it’s still warm as it’ll melt the butter and your buttercream will end up too runny) pour it into the buttercream and beat until fully combined. You should find that the buttercream is soft and spreadable. If it is a little stiff then add milk a tsp at a time until it is the right consistency.
  • Your buttercream is now ready to use.

NOTES

This recipe makes enough icing for 12 cupcakes or to fill and coat a 2-layer 20cm round cake.
The icing here is piped onto my delicious chocolate cupcakes. You can find all of my cupcake and buttercream flavours in my mix-and-match cupcake index, including a dairy-free (and vegan) version of this recipe
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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 301kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 5mg | Potassium: 92mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 520IU | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 0.8mg

Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.


A chocolate cupcake on a round silver dish with a cake fork next to it. There are lots of chocolate cupcakes on a silver platter in the background.

Free From/Suitable For…

  • Suitable for Vegetarians
  • Egg-Free
  • Gluten-Free
  • Nut-Free
  • Soy-Free

The ingredients for this recipe are easily available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.

This easy chocolate buttercream gets its extra-chocolatey flavour from using both melted chocolate and cocoa powder. Perfect for birthday cakes, layer cakes and cupcakes.

2.6K shares

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ginette says

    March 20, 2022 at 2:08 pm

    I’m using a 23cm tin for your chocolate birthday cake based, how much do I need to increase the weights of the ingredients for the chocolate buttercream please.

    Reply
  2. thea hutchings says

    November 13, 2021 at 4:55 pm

    can these be frozen please?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      January 30, 2022 at 6:42 pm

      Buttercream can be frozen. Once it is defrosted, you will need to whip it again for a couple of minutes to bring it back to a smooth consistency.

  3. Ruth Gardner says

    October 04, 2021 at 12:59 pm

    Hi can you tell me if the buttercream can be frozen? I hand a fair amount left over? Thanks

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      January 30, 2022 at 6:39 pm

      Buttercream can be frozen. Once it is defrosted, you will need to whip it again for a couple of minutes to bring it back to a smooth consistency.

  4. Chloe says

    July 21, 2021 at 4:28 pm

    Can this bs made in advance and left in the fridge?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      July 23, 2021 at 5:27 pm

      That should be fine, just make sure you allow it to come up to room temperature before you use it. You may find that it is a little stiffer than it was when you made it (after it comes up to room temperature). If that’s the case, beat in a little extra milk to get it to your desired consistency.

  5. Lucy says

    June 23, 2021 at 12:40 pm

    Thank you so much for your reply

    Reply
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