Easy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Which buttercream is easiest to make? ›

American buttercream is deliciously creamy, super sweet, and incredibly fluffy, and by far the easiest buttercream to master. It's just a matter of beating softened butter until it's fluffy, adding powdered sugar, cream, and a little vanilla and whipping it all together. No cooking required!

In medium bowl, mix powdered sugar and butter with spoon or electric mixer on low speed. Stir in vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk. Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time.

Mash the butter and icing sugar together with a fork first, then switch to a wooden spoon or electric beaters if you have them. Sift in the cocoa and pour in the melted chocolate, a pinch of salt and the milk, then mix again until smooth. Use to top cupcakes or cover and fill a chocolate sponge cake.

Best frosting for: beginner cake bakers

If you're a cake baker just looking for the basics, American-style buttercream is a good place to start. No need to worry about syrup temperature or whipping meringue: just cream together butter (or shortening) and sugar, and you're basically set.

Italian Meringue Buttercream

This is considered one of the very difficult methods for making buttercream because the sugar syrup must be cooked to a specific temperature and then, while piping hot, poured into the whipped egg whites.

Buttercream is a sweet and fluffy frosting made by creaming butter and sugar. Other common ingredients include milk (to create the perfect texture) and vanilla (for simple, crowd-pleasing flavor).

Classically there are four main types of buttercream: Italian, German, French & Swiss.

American-style buttercream frosting is made of butter and powdered sugar, whipped together with a little cream and some flavoring (such as vanilla extract). Some American buttercream recipes will contain shortening or a combination of butter and shortening, but I use an all-butter mixture.

Try not to overbeat the buttercream after all the ingredients have been added or you might add bubbles, which will ruin the texture of the icing. ... For the best results chill your cake and bring the icing to room temperature. You can also beat the buttercream for a few minutes to create great fluffy texture.

Why is buttercream so hard to make? ›

Not only does cold, hard butter prove much tougher to work with, but it also could be the reason your buttercream frosting doesn't come together — no matter how long you keep mixing. Cold ingredients can also leave buttercream with a curdled or chunky consistency.

In order to get the perfect consistency for your buttercream, a liquid ingredient may need to be added. While you can use water, we suggest using milk, heavy whipping cream or half-and-half to add extra flavor and creaminess to your frosting. Nut-based milks will also work, but may add a light flavor as well.

If you are preparing buttercream frosting in a warmer climate, your butter may start to melt. As we know, melted butter is much thinner (and runnier, of course) than cold, solid butter. One of the easiest ways to thicken buttercream is to simply place the buttercream into the refrigerator.

Some people prefer the extra moistness that buttercream provides and preserves in a cake, others prefer ganache for it is less sweet and, well, who can argue with more chocolate? Whatever you decide to go with, do practice at least once before deciding on whether you will use buttercream or ganache for a big occasion.

Buttercream frosting stored in the refrigerator should last for at least seven days. Just be sure that the container is tightly sealed and that you keep the frosting far from pungent foods like seafood since the smells can transfer.

Some people prefer Italian when making larger batches because it saves you from having to whisk a huge bowl over a water bath to heat the egg whites. I personally don't mind that, and Swiss meringue also cools faster so I'm able to have a finished buttercream faster.

American buttercream is the most popular and traditional buttercream as it's so simple to make and it's a great base for adding flavour and colour. It's great for piping decorations onto cakes as its soft, but also holds a shape and stiffens once left.

Italian buttercream is meringue-based and very light, creamy, and less sweet than American buttercream. American buttercream is sweeter but has the advantage of being quick, easy to make, and sturdy.

Swiss meringue buttercream frosting is very similar to Italian meringue buttercream in that they both use egg whites. Swiss is preferred by many bakers because it doesn't use the hot sugar syrup and the egg whites are heated to 160 F in a double boiler to remove any salmonella risk.