• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Gretchen's Vegan Bakery
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Cake Recipes
    • Cupcakes
    • Icings and Fillings
    • Cookies
    • Cheesecake
    • Layer Cakes
    • Brownies and Bars
    • Pies and Tarts
    • No Bake Desserts
    • Holiday Baking
  • Cheesecake
  • Layer Cakes
  • Privacy Policy
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube

Easy Chocolate Buttercream Recipe

March 15, 2022 By Gretchen 9 Comments

Tired of hardened chocolate pieces in your Chocolate Buttercream Recipe?

After all we’re not making chocolate chip buttercream!

Check out this awesome life hack for Easy Chocolate Buttercream

Easy Chocolate Buttercream Recipe

With no streaks and no melting chocolate necessary!

The secret to perfect smooth, deep chocolate buttercream is

COCOA PASTE!

Yep, cocoa powder and boiled water is all you need to make instant chocolate buttercream

Well that’s not all you need

First you need your favorite recipe for buttercream

Aquafaba Italian Meringue Buttercream

5 Buttercream Recipes

Hopefully it’s mine!

Since I do have five recipes for you to choice from here on my website!

And all of them work perfectly with this addition of cocoa paste

By adding boiling water to cocoa powder, it unlocks the magical properties of the cocoa

Unleashing the most intense chocoalte flavor ever!

Easy Chocolate Buttercream Recipe

No added sugar either since buttercream is already super sweet

Not to mention it’s so cheap!

Cocoa powder versus chocolate? You do the math.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can make as little or as much as you like to add to your buttercream recipe

For a light chocolate taste I would stick to 1X the recipe below

But for super dark rich chocolate buttercream go for 3x!

I would not add much more than that to a single recipe of buttercream though since you run the risk of over saturating your emulsion

a.k.a Buttercream Recipe which can then cause curdling and an utter mess!

So add the cocoa paste slowly while mixing right after you add your vanilla extract in whatever recipe you are using

WARNING:

Ermine buttercream is the most fragile of all buttercream recipes, so be wary to add another more to that!

CLICK HERE FOR HOW TO SAVE A FAILED BUTTERCREAM!

Pro Tip:

Add hot brewed coffee instead of water to the cocoa powder for added depth of flavor

Since coffee and chocolate are best friends already, they literally bring out the best in each other!

FOR A QUICK LOOK AT HOW EASY IT IS TO MAKE THE COCOA PASTE SKIP TO 4:12 IN THIS VIDEO!

Mocha Ombre 7 layer Cake

For more recipes using buttercream cake click the links below!

Chocolate Eclair Cake
Chocolate Eclair Cake
Mint Chocolate Chip Cake
Mint Chocolate Chip Cake
Snickers Cake ~Vegan
Snickers Cake

Chocolate Eclair Cake

Chocolate Mint Cake

Snickers Cake

5.0 from 1 reviews
Easy Chocolate Buttercream Recipe
 
Print
Prep time
20 mins
Total time
20 mins
 
Serves: 6cups
Ingredients
  • Vegan Butter 3 Cups (6 sticks) (672g)
  • Confectioners Sugar 6 cups (720g)
  • Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons
  • Butter Extract 1 teaspoon *optional
  • Salt ¼ teaspoon
  • Cocoa Powder 6 Tablespoons
  • Hot Boiled Water 5 Tablespoons (75ml)
Instructions
  1. Combine the cocoa paste and hot boiled water in a small bowl and whisk smooth
  2. Set aside and cool completely at room temperature
  3. Place the vegan butter & salt in the work bowl of your electric mixer with the paddle attachment
  4. Whip on medium to high speed for about 3 minutes.
  5. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl then add the sifted confectioners sugar all at once.
  6. Mix on low speed until incorporated then scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and then mix on medium to high speed for another 3 minutes.
  7. Add the extracts and the cooled cocoa paste to the buttercream while mixing on low, then turn up to medium high speed and whip smooth
Notes
Chocolate buttercream can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days in a cool spot in an airtight container

For longer storage keep refrigerated for up to 1 month

Freeze for 3 months
3.5.3251

 

Filed Under: All Recipes, Icings and Fillings

Previous Post: « Vegan Oreo Cheesecake
Next Post: All the Green Things~ Bakes for St. Pat’s »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Melissa

    May 11, 2022 at 5:26 pm

    Hi Gretchen! Just wondering, isn’t 6 sticks of butter 3 cups? Not 1.5 cups?

    Reply
    • Gretchen

      May 13, 2022 at 12:24 pm

      Hey there I just saw this! Not sure why I did not get a notification, but YES! You are correct! Thanks! I’ll have to update this!!

      Reply
  2. Tadeja

    May 13, 2022 at 8:43 pm

    Hi, Gretchen, love your recipes. Thrilled to try this buttercream too. If I wanted to make a smaller batch, let’s say half of it, what would the amount be? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Gretchen

      May 13, 2022 at 11:06 pm

      Thanks! Sure you can simply HALVE all the ingredients listed & proceed as the instructions say

      Reply
  3. Elizabeth

    September 4, 2022 at 2:11 pm

    Morning. In your book you state to add 20 oz melted cooled chocolate and 2 tb cocoa powder. 20 oz is A LOT chocolate. Can you confirm if that is correct?

    Reply
    • Gretchen

      September 4, 2022 at 6:25 pm

      Hi Elizabeth! Ugggh grrr, that’s a typo! I was appalled when the final book came out!
      Since this is such an obvious error I hope others (LIKE YOU) can see right away that , that is NOT correct.
      Unlike the website here, where I can correct typos in an instant, the printed book….not so.
      I’m sorry for this, but you are correct it should be 2 ounces ~ TWO ounces~ not 20…. uggh

      Reply
  4. Kylen

    February 20, 2023 at 8:34 pm

    Hi, Gretchen,
    I made this for the first time with your Aquafaba Swiss Meringue Buttercream (my favorite). It tasted like brownie batter and piped like a dream. That being said the buttercream split. I’m wondering if the cocoa paste was not cool enough? I did get a bit impatient and made things in the wrong order. I’ve watched your other video on how to save a failed buttercream and followed your advice from that – I kept mixing and mixing. I do think it helped, but I eventually gave up because it seemed like I was mixing for ages and it never fully came back together. Do you think I should have stuck with it or was there possibly another problem? Thanks! I love all of your recipes!!

    Reply
    • Gretchen

      February 21, 2023 at 4:26 pm

      Hey there! Yumm brownie batter sounds amazing! LOL
      But seriously, I’m sorry this happened. It’s possible the cocoa paste was not cool enough, but I doubt that was the cause. Aquafaba Swiss BC is a very fragile mix all by itself & then to add more “things” to it can often throw off the balance.
      The vegan butter you are using is going to be the main key to success (or fail) in all vegan buttercream recipes. I prefer Earth Balance, and while pricey $$ it is the best. It has the lowest moisture content and moisture content is the reason for breaking buttercreams.
      The fat to liquid ratio is throw off causing unbalance of the emulsion.
      Did you use the shortening? This will help. Also adding more shortening (like another 1/4-1/2 cup) can help to bind it back together as well

      Reply
      • Kylen

        February 22, 2023 at 12:33 am

        OK, thanks! I did add the shortening and I’ve been using country crock plant butter. I can try the recipes with earth balance and/or try with more shortening. It’s been perfect in the past, but I hadn’t tried the chocolate version until recently. I love the Swiss Meringue recipe because it has the sweetness level I am looking for. Thanks for the tips!

        Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe:  

Primary Sidebar

My Cookbook is available!

See What's New! Subscribe to my email list!

loader

Email Address*

Name

Yep, it's me Gretchen~ Owner of Gretchen's Bakery. Well, I no longer own a physical bakery since I sold mine in late 2014 & since 2016 I make nothing but the best vegan recipes! Read More…

Recipe Categories

Copyright © 2023 Gretchen's Vegan Bakery on the Foodie Pro Theme