This Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting goes along with this Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake. That recipe card covers both, but this frosting is just too good to not have it’s own post! It would be great on so many different cakes or cupcakes. Don’t be turned off by the number of steps here. This recipe is originally from Cook’s Illustrated, which means every step and ingredient serves a specific purpose in turning out the most delicious end result! I’m so glad I stuck with the recipe and made this frosting. It’s more labor intensive than beating some butter, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder together but it’s sooo worth it. The flavor is so perfect. It’s sweet, but not too sweet, so the great chocolate flavor really shines through. You’re going to come back to this one again and again, I promise!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Semisweet chocolate – Chocolate chips work great, but so would a chopped up chocolate bar.
- Unsalted butter – Use real, unsalted butter. The butter in this recipe gets cooked with sugar. Although you could probably use salted butter, the salt at that step could affect the way the sugar dissolves. Adding it at the end helps highlight the chocolate flavor as well, so unsalted butter is preferred!
- Granulated sugar
- Light corn syrup – Like Karo brand. This is not high-fructose corn syrup, by the way. It’s mostly glucose and helps prevent sugar crystals from forming. You’ll find it on the baking aisle near the other syrups.
- Vanilla extract
- Table salt
- Heavy cream
How to Make Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting
- Start by melting some chocolate. The glass bowl you see in the pictures is sitting on top of a pan of simmering water. After the chocolate is melted, set the bowl aside and dump out the water that was in the pan. Now you’ve already got a warm pan for the next step (butter melting). Remember that when you read the recipe and it tells you to use 2 pans. I’m all about one less dish to
have sitting in my sink for dayswash. - To the melted butter, you’ll add a little corn syrup, vanilla, and granulated sugar. As soon as it’s all melted together and the sugar is dissolved, add it to a large bowl along with the chocolate. The beautiful, glorious, melted chocolate. And also some heavy cream. You know, for good measure.
- You’ll stir this all together and have sort of a chocolate sauce consistency. Place your bowl in a bowl of ice to bring the temperature down, and just keep stirring until the mixture starts hardening against the side of the bowl. Then you can pop the paddle attachment on your mixer and start whipping. Magically it turns thick and fluffy.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store finished frosting in the fridge in an airtight container. When ready to use, let sit at room temp for 20-30 minutes then rewhip briefly before using.
- Don’t overcook your sugar mixture! Keep the heat low and remove it from heat as soon as you don’t see sugar crystals.
- If you jumped the gun and didn’t cool your frosting mixture enough, pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes and whip again!
- Note that the texture of this frosting is so light and soft, and whippy, that this frosting would probably be best for slathering- like smeared all over a cake, or just plopped on top of cupcakes, as opposed to piping. If you’re looking for a good chocolate icing for piping- try this Chocolate Frosting!
Frequently Asked Questions
For sure! Just store it in the fridge in an airtight container. When ready to use, let it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes and then rewhip to restore texture before using.
This recipe is best for semi-sweet chocolate. Milk chocolate will result in a softer, sweeter frosting (likely overly sweet) with a less deep chocolate flavor. White chocolate is mostly sugar and cocoa butter, with no cocoa solids, so it melts and behaves quite differently than semisweet chocolate. I would not expect the frosting to turn out well at all with white chocolate!
Regular whipping cream would be an ok substitution, but your frosting may not whip up as firmly. I would not use milk.
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
- 16 ounces semisweet chocolate finely chopped (I measured 16 ounces chocolate chips on a kitchen scale, it’s a teeny bit more than 2 ½ cups.)
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoons table salt
- 1 ¼ cups cold heavy cream
Instructions
- Melt Chocolate in heatproof bowl set over a saucepan containing 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat until melted. Increase heat to medium; add sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt and stir with heatproof rubber spatula until sugar is dissolved, 4-5 minutes. Add melted chocolate, butter mixture, and cream to clean bowl of stand mixer and stir to thoroughly combine.
- Place mixer bowl over ice bath and stir mixture constantly with rubber spatula until frosting is thick and just beginning to harden against sides of bowl, 1-2 minutes (frosting should be 70℉). Place bowl on stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Stir with rubber spatula until completely smooth.
Notes
- Store finished frosting in the fridge in an airtight container. When ready to use, let sit at room temp for 20-30 minutes then rewhip briefly before using.
- Don’t overcook your sugar mixture! Keep the heat low and remove it from heat as soon as you don’t see sugar crystals.
- If you jumped the gun and didn’t cool your frosting mixture enough, or it just seems a little too soft, pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes and whip again!
- Note that the texture of this frosting is so light and soft, and whippy, that this frosting would probably be best for slathering- like smeared all over a cake, or just plopped on top of cupcakes, as opposed to piping. If you’re looking for a good chocolate icing for piping- try this Chocolate Frosting!
Questions & Reviews
This post is perfect timing. How will this frosting freeze? I’m baking an ice-cream filled cake for a birthday party this weekend. I plan to frost the cake the morning of the party and stick it back in the freezer for a few hours until showtime. Will this frosting hold up? Would your other chocolate frosting recipe work better? Thanks!
No idea Kim, I’ve never frozen it. Let us know if you give it a shot!
I did it! I used the other frosting recipe because use said it was better for piping. https://body-revolution.news/2010/05/chocolate-frosting/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I baked the cake on Thursday, filled it with ice cream and froze it. I frosted the cake at noon on Saturday and put it back in the freezer uncovered. I took it out at 4pm and let it sit on the counter uncovered until I could stick a wooden skewer through the ice cream–about 40 minutes. It looked and tasted great. The frosting froze and thawed perfectly.
Next time I’ll let it sit out longer because the cake was still pretty frozen. But still yummy!
OHG, I loved the cake and I absolutely love this frosting, do you think it would hold its shape to be piped onto a cupcake???… I cant wait to try it!!!! THanks . Bea
It’s very soft Bea. You’d have to refrigerate it for a bit to pipe it. If it were me I’d just spread it on.
It reminds me of the cake on Pollyanna. Evey time I watch that movie I crave a homemade Chocolate Cake.
I could not wait for the cake recipe to post. I used the Hershey’s one you referenced. OMG the cake and frosting we UNREAL. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
It’s good that you didn’t post the recipe for the cake today as well. And that I don’t have the stuff to make the frosting. I am already trying to think of an occasion to make this!
Sara, this chocolate frosting looks out of this world delicious! Wonderful job on it, and thanks for sharing. I’m glad to have found your beautiful blog and am going to explore more of your recipes! 🙂 – Georgia
Just in time for my 10 year old’s “Golden” birthday tomorrow. I already made the cake but was just checking your site for a great chocolate frosting recipe, you read my mind.
I may have to invent a reason to make some cake and frosting. It’ll be my peace offering to all this blasted wind! Please tell me it ends!
so i do not have a kitchen scale (I KNOW, I KNOW!) so how many cups of chips is that please 🙂 i just want to make it and eat it by the spoon full! thanks sooooo much for the tips, i hope the cake isnt to hard cause my Boyfriends bday is coming up and he will love this! 🙂
This frosting looks to die for! I’m drooling at my keyboard and trying to figure out a reason to make this that will satisfy my husband who is trying to eat healthy and keeps getting mad at me when I make treats. What’s a girl with a chocolate craving to do though? It must be satisfied.