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.
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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
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
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.
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.
Jo says
I just made this to ice a choc sponge that my husband made and it was very easy to make and we all love it. I creamed the margarine first then just mixed all ingredients together with electric mixer. I melted the chocolate in microwave a few seconds at a time. Yum yum
Kerry says
Hi Charlotte, I baked your Terry’s chocolate orange cake this week for my step daughters 17th…..went down a storm! I am going to try your chocolate birthday cake for my sons 5th birthday in March. I have never used rolled icing before, can I use it over this buttercream?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes. Make sure the buttercream isn’t too think (or it might squidge out underneath the fondant). It’s also a good idea to chill the cake before adding the fondant to make the buttercream a little firmer.
Tina says
Hi Charlotte. I made a birthday cake for my husband using this recipe yesterday. Because of the milk added in the buttercream, is it ok to be stored at room temperature? I had to add more milk as the consistency was too thick to spread so wondered if ideally it should be kept refrigerated. I suddenly panicked in the middle of the night that it might have started going off because of this and out in the fridge but I don’t want it to be too hard to cut when it’s time to eat it because the butter will have set again. Thanks x
Charlotte Oates says
It’ll be fine as long as your room isn’t too warm (keep it well away from the radiator).
The only time I’ve ever had trouble storing buttercream at room temperature was in the height of a summer heatwave when the outside temperature was 28C+
Susan Lord says
Made this twice now, absolutely the best! I love it, thank you for sharing! Just wondering if this buttercream could also be frozen for further use? Thank you
Charlotte Oates says
It can be frozen, but it can sometimes go a little fudgey in texture after defrosting due to the added chocolate. It’s tastes the same but it harder to pipe/spread.
Dannielle says
Hi Charlotte, I love this and the chocolate cake recipe but everytime that I have made the buttercream I end up with lumps of chocolate in it Which makes it difficult to spread.
I use the callebaut chocolate. Any suggestions on what I’m doing wrong?
Charlotte Oates says
It sounds as though the chocolate seized when you added it to the buttercream. I’ve not used that brand in this recipe so I’m not sure if it’s down to the brand or something else.
Some ideas for resolving it are:
* Trickle the melted chocolate in gradually with the mixer on so that you’re not adding too much at once.
* Make sure the butter is nice and soft (so not too cold).
* Make sure the melted chocolate has come up to room temperature. If it’s warm when you add it and the butter is cold that can cause the chocolate to seize.
Hayley says
I was planning to use this in a 3 layer cookie cake at 18.5cm squared. Would this be enough in between the two layers and some dollops on top?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, there should be enough for that.
Gill says
Amazing recipe Made a birthday cake for my sons 21st and used this. Cake went down a real treat, think it was down to the icing
Kim says
Amazing every time! Thank you for sharing
MRS NICOLA C SMITH says
Could I use dark chocolate in the buttercream instead of milk chocolate?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes
Louise A says
Just made this for a chocolate orange sponge cake. Me and little one were licking the bowl out after and it was amazing. Can’t wait to try it with the cake. Best buttercream I’ve ever made
Lynn Collins says
I see you use baking powder in your vanilla sponge
but not in your chocolate sponge. Is there a reason for this ?
Charlotte Oates says
The addition of the chocolate into the chocolate sponge, meant that when I added baking powder the cake rose too much and then had a tendency to sink in the middle. I found that using just self-raising flour was sufficient to get a good rise on the chocolate version. You’ll notice that I use medium eggs in the vanilla cake and large in the chocolate, this helps with the rise and stability of the chocolate cake, replacing some of what the baking powder did.
Samaira says
Will this be enough to crumb coat a 2 layer 8 inch cake as well? I also wanted to do some additional piping. Will this be enough?
Charlotte Oates says
It’s definitely enough to fill and crumb a cake of that size. Whether there’s enough for additional piping really depends on how much piping you want to do and what style. Can you add a bit more information?
Samaira says
Just some small flowers on top, nothing major.
Charlotte Oates says
There should be enough leftover after covering the cake for that.
Emma Matthews says
Love the buttercream recipe, it’s so tasty!
Cathetine says
Easy to make and delicious
Amee says
I’ve just made this! The chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream was simple! I’m so pleased with it! Thank you!!! I wish I could show you the finished cake!
Charlotte Oates says
You can send me a picture to charlotte@charlotteslivelykitchen.com if you want
Margaret petrie says
Omg I’ve just made this for cupcakes. It’s amazing and so easy to make. Mine had the addition of popping candy
Claire says
Best buttercream ever. I used a Dairy Milk Easter egg which worked really well. Yum!
Carolyn says
Hi this sounds a yummy butter icing to use for the cake I’m doing this weekend thank you
Just wondering once the butter icing is set would I be able to put a Ganache slightly over it too with dribbles?? As the friend I’m making this for love ganache too so I want to cover the cake first ttfn
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve not tried it with this buttercream so I’m not sure – sorry.
Ben says
The very best buttercream ever! I used half vitality with half trex to make it vegan, just perfect! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Hannah McDonnell says
Hi Charlotte. I am looking for a new chocolate cake recipe to decorate with fondant for my daughters birthday (a saturday). If I make the cakes and buttercream on a thursday, and fit together, with buttercream inbetween the laters and around the outside/edge, will it be best to keep them it in the fridge (as doing two tiers) ok until friday for decorating with the fondant? Should I then do another layer of buttercream around the cakes, do I need to do another buttercream layer before doing fondant? Thank you so much! x
Charlotte Oates says
Hi Hannah,
I usually bake on a Thursday for a Saturday party to give me time to decorate it. Ideally you should pop it into the fridge, but at this time of year when it’s not too hot, it’ll be fine at room temperate (as long as it’s away from the radiator). Personally, I usually do one layer of buttercream (as I’m always impatient to get on with the next step), but I know many professional cake decorators would suggest two.