Easy chocolate buttercream icing
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- less than 10 mins
- Serve
- Makes enough to fill and top one 20cm/8in cake
An easy chocolate buttercream that tastes better than the usual, because of the real melted chocolate. This recipe can be easily doubled.
Ingredients
- 50g/1¾oz good-quality dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
- 100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened
- 200g/7oz icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- milk, to loosen
Method
Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. (Do not allow the base of the bowl to touch the surface of the water.) Allow to cool until the chocolate no longer feels hot to the touch.
Beat the butter in a bowl until soft, then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Add the vanilla extract and beat again.
Fold in the melted chocolate until completely incorporated (add a few drops of milk if the mixture is a little stiff).
This icing can be kept in the fridge for a few days. Bring to room temperature and beat again until smooth before icing your cake.
Recipe tips
This recipe makes enough to fill and top one 20cm/8in cake. Double the quantity of this icing if you want to entirely cover a cake of this size.
If your icing sugar is a bit dry and pebbly, sieve the icing sugar to get rid of any clumps as these will not dissolve in the chocolate buttercream.
If you want an extra silky buttercream swap the milk for double cream, or a mix of both.
Tips for chocolate buttercream
Let the melted chocolate cool until it is no longer hot to the touch. If the melted chocolate is too hot it may start to melt the butter.
If the buttercream is too soft, from being too warm or adding too much liquid, it will droop or slump. This can happen even if you are working in a very warm kitchen.
You can chill it to get the right consistency. Pop the bowl of icing in the fridge and mix every 4–5 minutes until it is firmed up a bit.
Make sure your cake is cold before adding buttercream icing. Any residual heat will melt the butter in your icing and make it difficult to work with or even melt completely and slip off your cake.
To make ahead
Buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the fridge. It will harden in the cold, so when you’re ready to use it, bring it to room temperature then briefly whip again with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Buttercream icing freezes brilliantly. Keep it in an airtight container (label it, so you remember what it is!) for up to 3 months. Defrost it in the fridge and give it another beat with an electric handheld mixer to loosen it up again.
Occasionally previously frozen buttercream will split or curdle when thawed. If this happens, remove a couple of tablespoons and heat until just melted. Whip the melted buttercream back into the rest and you should end up with perfectly smooth buttercream.
