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.
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 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.
- 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.
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.
LOOKING FOR MORE DELICIOUS RECIPES?
Join the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen mailing list to hear about new recipes first.
Chocolate Buttercream
INGREDIENTS
- 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
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
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.
Nikki says
8 May 2019 at 11:57 amI tried this recipe but mine turned out really dark looking not nice and light like in the picture, what could I have done wrong?
Charlotte Oates says
9 May 2019 at 2:54 pmIt could be the type of chocolate or cocoa powder you used as the colour of the buttercream is driven by those two factors. It could also be how much the buttercream has been beaten as I tend to find it lightens a little the more it is beaten. Finally, it could just be it was very sunny on the day I photographed it!
If you look at my chocolate orange cupcakes you’ll see the buttercream looks much darker. It’s the same recipe with added orange extract and so theoretically the colour should be similar but the way it photographed it looks quite a bit darker.
Nikki says
10 May 2019 at 7:34 amThanks for the reply, I’m making it again later so will see how it turns out. I’m sure it will still taste amazing no matter the colour
Annie Smith says
6 May 2019 at 5:16 pmHave not made cake yet but wonder what fondant icing you use. Do you make your own?
Charlotte Oates says
7 May 2019 at 4:37 pmI usually use Tesco own brand fondant icing.