Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

chocolate buttercream frosting in a bowl — It’s just begging for someone to swipe a finger in there and get a taste!

Homemade chocolate buttercream frosting is light, sweet, and much easier than you might think! It tastes better than store bought icing, and only requires a few extra steps if you have the dry ingredients on hand.

One of the tricks to chocolate buttercream frosting is how you soften the butter. Don’t just heat it in the microwave – melted butter is not the same as softened butter, and you’ll get very different results. The best way is to leave the butter out for about 30 minutes or so at room temperature, but Land O’Lakes has a few tips if you’re in a bit of a hurry.

Chocolate buttercream frosting is rich in flavor, and perfect for cakes or cupcakes. It stiffens up quickly when chilled, so get creative on cookies and other refrigerated items!

This process will take about 5 minutes start to finish, assuming your butter is warm. Let’s mix!

Ingredients:

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsweetened cacao powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 Tbs milk or heavy cream

Step 1: In a large bowl, cream the butter with a hand mixer for about two minutes. It should be nice and smooth. Larger bowls will help catch the flying powder as you mix!

butter creamed in a bowl — Creamed butter should be smooth ad very soft.

Step 2: Slowly sift in the powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl, blending as you go, until the sugar and cocoa are completely absorbed into the butter.