Chocolate Buttercream Frosting can just call my name, enticing me to eat waaaaaay more of it than anyone should! And this recipe, adapted from the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe written by Kat, creator of theloopywhisk.com, is no exception. Kat’s site is not only filled with beautifully photographed goodies, but wonderful recipes for those with dietary restrictions. Like me, she has a strong desire to demonstrate that life with dietary issues doesn’t relegate people to a life of deprivation and subpar food. Rather, with some experimentation, determination and ingenuity delicious food abounds and that includes dessert!
This simple buttercream frosting takes only 6 ingredients and comes together in 10 minutes or less! The key to buttercream frosting, in my opinion, is starting with butter that is room temperature, or soft enough that a spatula can easily cut through it. The reason for this is that the creaming process is whipping air into the butter and the butter needs to be the correct temperature to hold those pockets of air. If the butter is too cold, it can’t expand to hold air. And if it is too warm (like when I try to soften it in the microwave, but accidentally melt some if it!) the butter structure is too weak to hold pockets of air. So room temperature butter is the Goldilocks of sorts and will help you create that highly prized, hard to keep from snitching, rich fluffy frosting.
You should have enough frosting here to generously cover an 8 inch double layer cake or 2 dozen cupcakes. My personal favorite is to pair it with my Dark Chocolate Gluten Free Cake (AKA Penny Wolfe Cake). A slice of cake and an ice cold glass of milk…..Yum!!
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 3 sticks butter, unsalted and room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 5 oz dark chocolate, melted and cooled
Instructions
- Place butter in bowl of a mixer and beat on medium for 1-2 minutes. Butter will be pale in color and should have a nice light texture.
- Carefully add in powdered sugar and beat for 4-5 more minutes until it looks nice and fluffy.
- Add in cocoa powder and salt, mixing until fully incorporated into the buttercream.
- Add vanilla and the melted/cooled chocolate. Beat until the buttercream is a lovely even brown color and the texture looks rich and fluffy, about a minute.
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