The honest truth is I love frosting, but do not enjoy making it. I appreciate frosted cake so much and I definitely know how to make frosting, but it's just a pain. And messy. This is probably why I'm not into cake decorating, because making and coloring the frosting and then cleaning up the crime scene after is torture. Okay, maybe not "torture" but not exactly my idea of fun. Which is why when I make a chocolate cake, I turn to this recipe -- my favorite chocolate frosting.
Here it is on picture a Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake.
Why This My Favorite Frosting
This is my favorite frosting because it’s easy and tastes just as good if not better than some of the more complex frostings. It's super basic, but changing up little things here and there elevate it. For instance, spending a little more on a higher grade cocoa powder, adding a pinch of espresso powder or a dash of vanilla paste, richening it up with a bit of cream or adding a little hit of bourbon. It's extremely versatile.
Natural Cocoa Powder and Sour Cream
For the cocoa powder, I always use “natural” style like regular old Hershey’s (in fact, I think the original version is on the back of the can) or Ghirardelli. For a splurge, I'll use Scharffen Berger. And then for extra flavor, there's the sour cream. If you are not a sour cream fan, you can leave it out and just use extra half & half, milk or cream. bit the sour cream gives is a special flavor.
There's really no way to wreck this frosting, but if you find a way to wreck it you can usually get it back on track. It's kind of like making soup in that way.
Recipe
Favorite Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened (170 grams)
- 2 tablespoons of sour cream, room temperature (60 grams)
- 1 ¾ cups confectioners sugar to start, plus about 2-3 T. more (220 grams) weight is before sifting
- ¾ cup natural style cocoa powder
- 1/16 teaspoon tiny pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons whole milk
Instructions
- Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. The butter should not be too cold, nor should it be melted.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer, mix the butter, sour cream, cocoa, salt and 2 tablespoons of the milk until it all starts to come together as a thick sludge.
- When everything is sticking together, add the vanilla. Increase mixer speed and beat until smooth, scraping bowl and adding more milk as needed until you get your desired texture consistency. Spread over the cake.
Sue says
Thanks for linking to this from FB. It’s nice having both recipes in one spot depending on what ingredients you have on hand.
Anna says
Glad you like it, Sandra! Thanks for saying so :).
Sandra says
This frosting is awesome! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe 🙂
Anna says
Hi Jennifer, this is a great frosting for that cake! I hope you like it. Email me and let me know, because this is one of my favorites. It makes a lot of frosting and you *should* have enough for that size cake.
Just remember to keep you ingredients at room temperature. If you had cool butter to the chocolate mixture, the chocolate might lump up a little bit.
Jennifer says
Anna,
Hi. I'm going to make Shirley Corriher's Magnificent Moist Golden Cake for Easter (decorated with yellow peeps to look like a sunflower.) And want to frost it with chocolate frosting. Do you think this recipe would be a good choice for that? I am going to make either 2 or 3 nine inch layers... Would I need to double the recipe?
Thanks,
Jennifer