Chocolate Frosting with Cocoa Powder and Powdered Sugar
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This is a simple chocolate frosting recipe that you’ll use over and over again. Chocolate Frosting with
This is not a mind-blowing original recipe. I’ve been making it for years and years. It is a basic Chocolate Frosting recipe that you need to have in your arsenal. Plus, it’s my favorite. If I could, I would eat spoonful after spoonful of it straight from the pan….oh, wait, I did do that!
Chocolate Frosting with Cocoa Powder and Powdered Sugar
Chocolate Frosting with
This recipe is also easily adaptable. If you have a large sheet pan of brownies, you may want to double the recipe. For just a few cookies, you may want to half the recipe.
It really is a delectable 5-minute frosting that goes great on cakes and cupcakes. Add an additional 2 tablespoons of milk to make it into an easy pouring sauce for ice cream and bread pudding.
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Chocolate Frosting tips
One tip you must remember when making this icing recipe is to sift your sugar. Otherwise, you’ll have lumps and will have to stir A LOT, to get them out. I find that lumps are nearly impossible to get out once the sugar is stirred into the mixture.
Another tip—okay, I know this is two—is to use real
More recipes you’ll enjoy
If you’re new to my site, some of my most popular recipes are my pound cakes. Actually, I have over 60 pound cake recipes that I have tested, developed, and reviewed for you. I have highlighted some below (click on the photo) or you can get them all here: Pound Cakes Reviewed.
I include specific products that I use because I’ve had success in that particular recipe with that particular product. Many readers ask me specifically what brands/products I use. I had a reader complain because I recommended products that may not be available to everyone. I’m a real person behind your screen. I’m doing the very best I can to give you tested recipes that you can make successfully and one way to help you, in my opinion, is to tell you exactly what I use. Thank you for visiting Call Me PMc. I sincerely hope you find recipes you like and will come back time after time.
*The calorie count is for the whole recipe.
You can also find great recipes here:
- BROWN BUTTER FROSTING RECIPE
- BEST FUDGY COCOA BROWNIES
- CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE
- Coconut Cream Cheese Pound Cake
- PERFECT POUND CAKE RECIPES
- Oreo cinnamon rolls
Chocolate Frosting with Cocoa Powder and Powdered Sugar
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter salted or unsalted
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder I prefer this brand
- ⅓ cup whole milk whole or 2%
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract preferred brand
- 3 and ½ cup powdered sugar (aka confectioners) sifted
Instructions
- Sift sugar.
- Heat butter in a small pan on medium heat, do not let butter get brown.
- When butter is melted, whisk in cocoa, milk, and vanilla. Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time, whisking after each addition.
- Remove from heat, after all the sugar has been added.
- Whisk until smooth.
- Immediately pour over cake.
- If icing is too thin, add additional sifted sugar 1/4 cup at a time until desired thickness or sit it in the refrigerator a few minutes. Take it out and whisk it until creamy again.
- Frosting will thicken as it cools, but it’ll be harder to spread.
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
My Grandmother always said to add an 1/8 teas salt to any powedered sugar recipe and it will cut down on the starkness of the sweetness of the sugar. It is really more delicious
I’ve started doing this when I remember. I think it does make a difference. Thanks for commenting!
This is the best cocoa icing recipe and easiest!
I put it in the on freshly baked brownies and it tastes like chocolate fudge. Thank you for the tip to sift the sugar. 👍💕
I’ve been making this recipe since about 1970, but we’ve always used it for the icing on our chocolate sheath cake. Everyone in the south swears by this recipe so you know it has to be wonderful!!
I made this for my bundt cake and it turned out wonderful, everyone loved it. I had to be quick but I put roasted pecan pieces on top before frosting hardened. I definitely will be using this recipe again.Thank you for posting it. 🙂
So happy you liked it!
Is the nutritional info for 1 serving per person or the whole 2 cups of icing?
For this particular recipe, it’s for the whole 2 cups.
I do that because about 90% of my readers ask for specifically what I used so instead of having to reply separately to 100s of comments between all my social channels and blog I make it easy for readers to get the information.
This recipe has been my family’s go-to for generations, except we substitute coffee for the milk. It gives it a little extra something special without tasting like coffee.
Oooo, coffee sounds good! I’ll try that!
I added salt and a little coffee and it went from a 7 to an immediate 10. I will definately make this frosting again.
Good day maam how can i make chocolate icing for frosting through scratch?? I have already here but the problem is the chocolate icing is very runny ang i cant even plain it ..this is my agony right now i hope you can help me with this…..
Not sure what happened if you used the measurements listed but you can add more powdered sugar to make it thicker.
I have used this for grooms cakes and just cakes for years. I just use softened butter room temp or Crisco. It’s the best. Probably made thousands of lbs of it. It is thick ready to spread and stand in peaks.
Awesome recipes but I forget to place the plate on the salt while preparing cooker cakes n all cakes are pathetic. But today I’ll do exactly as you’ve shown n post a pic.❤️
My mother made this frosting back in the early 50’s and all the time I was growing up. But instead of whole milk she used Carnation Evaporated Milk one can I believe. I don’t know if her amounts were the same. I have her recipe somewhere if I can find it.
Very Easy & Delish 😊 reminds me of my grandmother’s that she used to pour over butter cake. Be prepared to work fast as it hardens rather quickly. More of a thick glaze that holds onto the cake than a whippet frosting. Great Recipe
Can we pour this on a cake with buttercream frosting? Will not melt down the frosting? Please advice.
Don’t pour it on while still warm, it’ll melt the buttercream.
If I wanted it to be hard when it set, how would I do that?
This frosting does harden when it cools. I bulked up this recipe with a cup extra powdered sugar and a little extra butter. I know with baking one should measure exactly, but I tend to fudge my recipes. (pun intended!). I also used orange extract instead of the vanilla and used some clementine zest to add a subtle flavor to my frosting. I kept it on the warm burner (heat off) until I was ready to frost the cake. This kept it in a liquid state. Once the cake was cool, I drizzled the frosting so that it poured over the edges a bit. The frosting hardens and really keeps it’s shape. Much like a glaze over a pound cake. Ort does not soak in, it’s hard enough to stay right on the surface. The result was wonderful! I’ll be making this again.