Recipe first, tidbits second. Enjoy!

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Real Chocolate Frosting

Real Chocolate Frosting Without Cocoa Powder

★★

1.7 from 3 reviews

Easy to make chocolate frosting made from real chocolate chips instead of cocoa powder. You won’t believe the difference in flavor, this frosting actually tastes like chocolate. Light and fluffy yet stiff enough to hold shape and decorate with.

  • Author: carol@carolthecook.com
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 2 1/2 Cups 1x
  • Category: Dessert

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
  • 1 large pinch of salt
  • 2 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

Instructions

  1. Combine the butter and chocolate chips in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until completely smooth. Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl.
  2. Add the vanilla, heavy whipping cream, and salt. Stir.
  3. Add the confectioner’s sugar 1 cup at a time and mix until smooth.
  4. Use frosting to decorate as desired immediately or store in fridge for 3-5 days in airtight container until ready to use.

Notes

  • Microwave – If you’re in a hurry you can use a microwave to melt the butter and chocolate in step 1 but take care not to seize the chocolate.
  • Wooden Spoon or Whisk? – Either works. I prefer a wooden spoon for steps 1 and 2 then switch to a whisk for step 3.
  • Serve at Room Temperature – The chocolate chips give this frosting a slightly harder consistency than traditional frosting so it’s best to serve it at room temperature. Bonus, thanks to its consistency I find this frosting travels very well.

Keywords: Real Chocolate Frosting

This Recipe’s Roots

We have a lot of summer birthdays around here. And name days which are an even bigger deal than birthdays if you’re Greek. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting is almost always the go to request (which is great because of all the different kinds of cake, I dislike chocolate cake the least).

Well recently I volunteered to host one of our many summer family shenanigans. And of course there was a request for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. We’re a family blessed (and cursed) with many good cooks so I chose to make the cake from scratch. The cake was a success, the frosting not so much.

There is something about chocolate frosting made with cocoa powder that I just do not like. It tastes like I bit a piece of scrap metal or something, not a delicious chocolate dessert. I decided to fix that and made up my own chocolate frosting recipe.

And let me tell you, I may not like cake, but this frosting recipe definitely gives me something to look forward to come dessert time.

Taking a Closer Look

Is there anything more marvelous than the swirl of melted butter and chocolate? I’ll admit it, I ate a few spoonfuls at this stage of the recipe. When I’m in a rush I melt the butter and chocolate chips together in the microwave but low and slow on the stove is always the preference due to the risk of seizing the chocolate.

After whisking in the confectioner’s sugar the frosting holds wonderful peaks, perfect for decorating a cake.

Speaking of which, I need to seriously work on my cake decorating skills. Except I won’t because I don’t like cake. And I despise cleaning all the frosting tips and bags and spatulas and pans and cooling racks and other random things required to bake and decorate a cake.

Just because I can make delicious frosting doesn’t mean I want to do anything aside from eat it.

What I Like Most About This Recipe

It tastes like chocolate. Need I say more?

Leftover Thoughts

While I don’t like baking and decorating cakes I have an enormous amount of respect for those of you who do. I mean seriously, exceptional cake decorators transcend pastry making into the realms of world class art. Have you seen some of the things people make with cake and frosting?

Incredible. Bravo.

Feel free to use my real chocolate frosting to make your creations taste as good as they look. Leave me a comment and let me know how it goes!