Crusting Chocolate Buttercream with Cacao Powder
Chocolate buttercream is always in season and you will love the twist with this chocolate buttercream with cacao powder.
Rather than using cocoa powder, this chocolate buttercream recipe uses cacao powder.
Both cacao powder and cocoa powder come from the same beans but it comes down to processing the beans that makes the difference.
Cacao powder is less processed than the more popular cocoa powder. With less processing comes more nutrients and antioxidants.
I made the switch to cacao powder several years ago and I haven’t looked back (except for when I use black cocoa powder to make black dye free buttercream!)
You will absolutely love the flavor of chocolate buttercream with cacao powder.
Chocolate buttercream goes exceptionally well with vanilla, chocolate, almond, and s’mores cookie, cake, and cupcake flavors.
This chocolate buttercream is also a crusting buttercream and an American buttercream. This means that the frosting is perfect for piping and decorating.
Follow along for the chocolate buttercream that everyone will be begging you for the recipe.
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How to Make a Crusting Chocolate Buttercream With Cacao Powder
Picking the Right Cacao
The first step toward making this amazingly delicious chocolate buttercream is to make sure you use cacao powder rather than cocoa powder.
I use this brand of cacao powder for these cookies (and everything else that calls for cocoa powder in a recipe.)
When using other recipes, you will simply replace cocoa powder with cacao powder at a 1:1 ratio so don’t feel like you are buying this cacao powder for only this frosting (although, worth it!) you will get lots of uses out of it.
Making the Chocolate Buttercream with Cacao Powder
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, whip one cup of room temperature unsalted butter until light and fluffy. One cup of butter is equivalent to two sticks of butter or 16 tablespoons.
Once light and fluffy and all of the lumps are gone, mix in four cups of powdered confectioner’s sugar, 1/2 cup of cacao powder, one teaspoon of vanilla extract, and two tablespoons of room temperature milk.
Adding cold milk to the room temperature butter can cause the buttercream to break so make sure to use room temperature milk or heat it up for a couple seconds in the microwave.
We use four cups of powdered sugar in order for the frosting to form a slight crust. All that means is that the outer layer of frosting will dry to the touch.
Mix everything on low speed until the powdered sugar is mostly mixed in to the butter. Do not turn the mixer higher than low. If needed, use a rubber spatula to stir the frosting.
Over mixing buttercream can cause air bubbles. If you do overmix, here’s a post on how to fix it. I promise it’s not terribly hard to fix, but, as always, prevention is better.
If the buttercream is too thick to pipe with, add a bit more milk at a time. You may need to add up to 5 total tablespoons of milk depending on how thin you like your buttercream.
Do remember, if you make it too thin, the frosting won’t form a crust. So if that is important to you, like in cookie decorating, go thicker than thinner.
Once the frosting is mixed, place it into a piping bag with your preferred decorating tip and decorate.
If you aren’t ready to decorate, keep the buttercream in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week or the freezer for up to three months.
Crusting Chocolate Buttercream with Cacao Powder
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- Rubber Spatula
- Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup cacao powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2-5 tbsp. milk room temperature
Instructions
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the room temperature butter until soft and fluffy.
- To the stand mixer, add the powdered sugar, cacao powder, vanilla extract, and two tablespoons of milk and mix on low speed until creamy.
- If the buttercream is too thick to pipe with (I like a creamy peanut butter consistency) add up to three more tablespoons of milk until the desired consistency is reached. Don't add too much, or the frosting will not crust.
Notes
If you’re making this chocolate buttercream during the winter season, Christmas is soon approaching!
Make sure to check out my online Christmas cookie decorating class, Merry Cookies! This is a beginner level class with about two hours of in depth instructional video!
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