Buttercream!!! Who doesn’t like this creamy, sugary goodness?? From kids to adults alike, one can never tire of enjoying a slice of cake or a cupcake frosted with buttercream. There are so many varieties of buttercream from an American style buttercream to Swiss/French/Italian meringue buttercream!!! Buttercream is just an icing made by combining fat and sugar, whipped to the desired consistency and thickness, sometimes flavored with various additives like chocolate, fruit preserves/purees etc for variations. As much as I love buttercream, I don’t make it that often. I prefer simple non-frosted cakes to enjoy with my evening tea. Of course, an occasion is incomplete without a frosted cake, which is the only time I actually make them! So this time when I made some frosting for my eggless chocolate cupcakes, I thought I’d share it on the blog. I’ve slightly adapted the recipe for this chocolate buttercream frosting from here, and this has since been my go-to chocolate buttercream frosting.
This is a very simple and straight forward recipe. After trying this recipe, I bet you will never return to buying those ready-made canned chocolate frosting. There is a world of difference between pure buttercream frosting and the canned ones made with Hydrogenated vegetable oil and preservatives, lacking butter flavor and loaded with trans fat. You just need butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and some cream to make this creamy, smooth and ridiculously delicious, chocolate buttercream frosting. Commercial bakeries use vegetable shortening because it is shelf stable and holds well, but I’m sure many home bakers prefer butter instead of shortening. Even without the use of shortening/margarine in my buttercream frosting, I have had no problems with the stability of buttercream. This chocolate buttercream holds its shape well at room temperature too. However, if you live in a very hot and humid climate, you can refrigerate the frosted cupcakes in an air tight container or keep the frosted and decorated cake in a cool room. I prefer to use heavy cream for the liquid ingredient, as it makes the buttercream even richer, light, fluffy and smooth. It almost resembles a mousse! Oh yum!!! I’m sure with this recipe your search for the perfect chocolate buttercream frosting will come to an end!
INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
1.In a mixing bowl, sieve confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder, whisk well and set aside. 2.In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, place butter and beat on medium high speed until pale and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl, as required, about 2-3 minutes. You can also use a hand mixer. 3.Next, add the sugar-cocoa powder mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Beat on lowest speed until all the sugar-cocoa powder mixture is well combined with the butter. 4.Add vanilla extract, and beat on medium low speed another few seconds. 5.Stream in the heavy cream, a tablespoon at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as required, until the frosting is smooth and fluffy. 6.Frost the cooled cakes/cupcakes using nozzles, or simply spread the frosting with an offset spatula! Yummmm !!
NOTES
For a silky-smooth buttercream that is free of lumps, always use room temperature butter. Powdered sugar/Confectioner’s sugar should always be sifted before adding to the creamed butter.
To avoid too many air bubbles in buttercream, never whip it too much. Again, if you start off with cold butter, you will end up over beating the butter, thereby creating more air bubbles. Beat the buttercream just until light and fluffy.
If your buttercream is not holding shape after piping onto cake/cupcakes, try adding more sifted confectioner’s sugar to help stiffen it. Also, wait for the cake/cupcakes to cool down completely before frosting.
This chocolate buttercream frosting is just the right sweetness for me. If you wish, you can reduce the sugar to 2 cups or for a more intense chocolate flavor increase the unsweetened cocoa powder to ¾ cup, adjust the liquid accordingly.
Always add liquid a tablespoon at a time, It is much easier to control the desired thickness of the frosting this way, rather than adding everything in one go, only to find out the frosting is too runny.
If the frosting is thick, add some cream to thin it out. If it is runny, add some confectioner’s sugar and beat until it is thick enough to hold its shape.
You can store the frosting in the refrigerator for 2 weeks and in the freezer for 2-3 months. If storing in the refrigerator/freezer, let it come to room temperature, and whip again to get a smooth consistency before using.
This recipe will yield enough frosting to frost 15-18 cupcakes depending on the size of the swirl. You will have to double the recipe if you want to fill and frost a two-layer, 8″ or 9″ cake.
You may use margarine/shortening instead of butter, or use 50:50, 75:25 ,25:75 margerine/shortening:butter ratio, whatever works best for you depending on climatic conditions.
HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING WITH COCOA POWDER?
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