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
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
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!
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!
For more recipes using buttercream cake click the links below!
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- Chocolate Eclair Cake
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- Mint Chocolate Chip Cake
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- Snickers Cake
- 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)
- Combine the cocoa paste and hot boiled water in a small bowl and whisk smooth
- Set aside and cool completely at room temperature
- Place the vegan butter & salt in the work bowl of your electric mixer with the paddle attachment
- Whip on medium to high speed for about 3 minutes.
- Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl then add the sifted confectioners sugar all at once.
- 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.
- 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
For longer storage keep refrigerated for up to 1 month
Freeze for 3 months
Hi Gretchen! Just wondering, isn’t 6 sticks of butter 3 cups? Not 1.5 cups?
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!!
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.
Thanks! Sure you can simply HALVE all the ingredients listed & proceed as the instructions say
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?
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
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!!
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
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!