This rich Chocolate Buttercream is a staple in any chocolate lover’s recipe collection. It’s deeply chocolatey and wonderfully creamy. It’s also not too sweet!
This buttercream is wonderful on German Chocolate Cake or any kind of cupcake.
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Chocolate Buttercream
Makes: 2 & 1/2 cups
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 & 1/2 cups (420g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup (41g) unsweetened natural or dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3 tbsp (45ml) heavy cream or milk, plus more as necessary
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy – about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, heavy cream, salt, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high speed and beat for 1 full minute. Add 1/4 cup more confectioners’ sugar or cocoa powder if frosting is too thin or another tablespoon of cream if frosting is too thick. Taste. Beat in another pinch of salt if desired.
Use immediately or cover tightly and store for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing, thaw in the refrigerator then beat the frosting on medium speed for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. After thawing or refrigerating, beating in a splash of heavy cream or milk will help thin the frosting out again, if needed.
Quantity:
This recipe is enough to frost 12-16 cupcakes or a thin layer on a 9×13 inch quarter sheet cake. It will also frost the top of a 9-inch naked cake.
For a delicious way to decorate any cake, especially this Southern Peanut Butter Cake, you must try this Peanut Butter Frosting recipe!
It is a classic buttercream recipe with the addition of peanut butter. It’s not complicated…just beat the peanut butter, butter and salt together. Add the confectioners’ sugar, a little vanilla and some milk and continue beating until it’s smooth and spreadable.
That’s all it takes. Not only is this buttercream amazing on cakes, try it on cupcakes, brownies or right off of a spoon!! My favorite way of eating it!
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Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes: 7 cups
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 cups creamy peanut butter
- 1 & 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- Pinch of salt
- 4 & 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 tbsp whole milk, room temperature
Instructions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat peanut butter, butter, and salt at medium speed until smooth and well combined, 1 to 2 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. With mixer on low speed, gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating until combined. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add milk, and beat at medium-low speed until smooth and spreadable, stopping to scrape sides of bowl.
Recipe from Bake from Scratch
If you are going to decorate cookies, you must have a recipe for royal icing. There are lots of ways to frost and decorate cookies, but royal icing will give you a beautiful foundation that will firm up and allow you to add more colors of icing or decorations. You can swirl it, marble it, color it and, of course, eat it!
For tips on the consistency, how to color it, how to pipe it and store it, check out my Royal Icing Tutorial.
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Royal Icing
Makes: about 6 cups
Prep Time: 7 minutes
Total Time: 7 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 (2-pound bag) confectioners’ sugar
- 5 tbsp meringue powder
- 3/4 cup warm water (105°F to 110°F)
- 1 tsp almond extract
Instructions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat confectioners’ sugar and meringue powder at low speed until combined. Slowly add 3/4 cup warm water and almond extract, beating until fluid, about 1 minute. Increase mixer speed to medium, and beat until stiff, 4 to 5 minutes. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
There’s buttercream and then there’s Snickers Buttercream! This buttercream gets an infusion of flavor from Apple Cider Salted Caramel Sauce and creamy peanut butter. An absolute winner…
Use this buttercream on your favorite cake or try it with the Caramel Apple Snickers Cake.
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Snickers Buttercream
Makes: enough to fill and cover 8-inch layer cake
Prep Time: 6 minutes
Total Time: 6 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (not the oily kind)
- 1/3 cup Apple Cider Salted Caramel Sauce (see Chef’s Notes)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup salted peanuts, chopped (See Chef’s Notes)
Instructions
To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar. Beat together until the butter is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Add the peanut butter, 1/3 cup of cooled Apple Cider Salted Caramel Sauce (or store-bought sauce) and the vanilla, beat, scraping down the sides as needed, another 2 minutes or until there are no streaks. Stir in the chopped peanuts.
Chef’s Note:
You can always use homemade or store-bought Salted Caramel Sauce, but the flavor of the snickers cream will be slightly different (still delicious, but without the apple flavor).
For the Snickers Buttercream, you can choose to eliminate the crushed peanuts from the buttercream if you want a smoother look to your frosting. If so, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the chopped nuts on each layer of cake after you’ve spread the buttercream. Do not spread nuts on the top layer.
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Classic Buttercream Frosting
Makes: enough frosting for a 3-layer 9-inch cake
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 cup (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened (optional, see note)
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 8 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (best quality available)
- 4-5 tbsp heavy cream, half and half or milk
Instructions
In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter (on medium speed) until completely smooth, 30 seconds to a minute. (If you are adding cream cheese, add it now, then beat until smooth). Add salt.
One cup at time, add 4 cups of powdered sugar, beating after each addition. Add vanilla and beat to combine. Add 2 tablespoons of cream, and continue beating.
Add the remaining 4 cups powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Add an additional 2-3 tablespoons cream until desired consistency is reached. If you want to pipe the frosting vs spreading it, the frosting should be nice and thick. Continue to beat another minute or so. The frosting should now be smooth and fluffy.
*Optional- I like a cream cheese version of this frosting best. The cream cheese adds to the creamy texture, and cuts down on the sweetness just a bit. If desired, for a very light cream cheese flavor add 8 ounces cream cheese, leaving the other ingredients (as listed above) the same. For a more traditional cream cheese flavor, reduce the butter to 1 cup, and add 16 ounces of cream cheese. If using a 16 ounces of cream cheese, you can reduce the cream or milk to 2 tablespoon total.
Recipe from Bobbette & Belle
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Chocolate Ganache
Makes: 2 cups
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup whole milk, warmed
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Instructions
Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted.
Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Allow glaze to cool completely.