Tired of chocolate chunks in your Chocolate Buttercream Recipe?
Check out this awesome life hack for Easy Chocolate Buttercream
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
Boiling water added to cocoa powder unlocks the magical properties of the cocoa powder
Unleashing the most intense chocolate flavor ever!
And there’s no added sugar! 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 2 or 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
Add the COOLED cocoa paste slowly while mixing right after you add your vanilla extract in whatever recipe you are using
Here on my website I have several recipes of buttercream for you to choose from!
And all of them (with the exception of Ermine Buttercream) work perfectly with this addition of cocoa paste
Butter Emulsion is a great way to enhance vegan butter recipes!
While it is not essential I would highly recommend trying it out!
WATCH HOW TO MAKE THE COCOA PASTE SKIP TO 4:12 IN THIS VIDEO!
Easy Chocolate Buttercream Recipe
Cocoa powder for the most intense chocolate flavor ever! And there's no added sugar, since buttercream is already super sweet, not to mention it's so cheap versus using real chocolate!
Ingredients
- 3 cups Vegan Butter 672g
- 6 cups Confectioners Sugar 720g
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract 10ml
- 1 teaspoon Butter Extract *optional see notes 5ml
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 6 Tbs Cocoa Powder 32g
- 5 Tbs Hot Boiled Water 75ml
Instructions
- Combine the cocoa paste with the hot boiled water in a small bowl & 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 & bottom of the bowl then add the sifted confectioners sugar all at once.
- Mix on low speed until incorporated then scrape the bottom & sides of the bowl again & mix on medium to high speed for another 3 minutes.
- Add the extracts & the cooled cocoa paste while mixing on low, then turn up to medium high speed & whip smooth for 30 seconds
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!
This might be a silly question. But do I have to make a separate buttercream recipe and add this recipe to that one? Or is this the whole thing? I’m looking to use this for cupcake icing. Will this work?
Not a silly question, sometimes I feel like I am being really unclear so PLEASE don’t hesitate to ask if something seems strange or hard to understand! LOL
This is the complete recipe, the cocoa paste is what you are adding at the end to the actual buttercream recipe.
Can I add the cocoa paste to the Italian Meringue Buttercream recipe? If so, do I add the paste at the end, after the butter and shortening?
yes! same method applies to add buttercream recipes
Hello Gretchen.
I know you have taken down all of your non vegan recipes, but I was wondering if you could send me the recipe for your Best Buttercream and Chocolate Buttercream recipe. It’s the only buttercream my family will eat.
How to make white buttercream and for colouring do i just add the colours great recipes
Hi Yes CLICK HERE for all the buttercream recipes
Hi, how much cake will this buttercream ice? I have made two 8 inch cakes of your German chocolate cake and would like to add a crumb coat and a top coat of buttercream icing. Will 1x the cocoa buttercream recipe above be enough for a crumb coat and the top coat or should I double this recipe?
Thanks!
So this will make about 6 cups of icing which would be plenty to fill & ice an 8″ cake
Thanks very much!