How to make delicious, homemade chocolate frosting

It’s pretty easy to grab a container of store-bought icing when you’re out shopping. But maybe you’ve wondered how to make chocolate frosting at home instead.

The benefits include fewer additives and less artificial taste. You’re also cutting down on cost, since most of the ingredients you use to make chocolate frosting can be used in lots of other recipes as well. And there are the bonus bragging rights you get when you serve your cake and can say that you made it from scratch.

Allrecipes has a simple but highly rated homemade chocolate frosting recipe by Rachel Kane that will have you walking right past the ready-made section of the baking aisle. Instead, you’ll purchase some simple ingredients and make your own at home.

Even better, this recipe only has five ingredients.

Whipping together powdered sugar (also known as confectioners’ sugar), cocoa powder, butter, milk and vanilla extract is all that it takes to make this chocolate frosting.

Allrecipes user My3Kings said that a double batch was enough for a three-layer cake.

“So easy to make, smooth, creamy and tasted great!” the recipe maker commented, giving it five stars. “This recipe is definitely a keeper!”

A few Allrecipes bakers said they added more milk to make the recipe work for them. Another had an important tip for other bakers.

“In a recipe like this, it is critical to not use melted butter,” wrote Rhonda H. “The butter must be properly softened, ideally at room temperature over several hours, but if not, then on very low power in the microwave. Cut a stick of butter into 3 chunks and rotate them every minute while microwaving on lowest power.”

Recipe creator Kane did note that you can substitute margarine for butter.

You can read the whole recipe to learn how to make chocolate frosting on their site.

If you’re looking for more suggestions on how to make chocolate frosting, you might try Just a Taste’s 5-Minute Chocolate Buttercream icing. Baker Kelly Senyei adds a pinch of salt to her recipe, which is very similar to the Allrecipes one.

She recommends using the best cocoa powder you can find and opting for the beater blade on your mixer rather than the whisk attachment.

“It’ll result in creamy frosting that lightens in color the longer it’s mixed,” Senyei says.

Bunny’s Warm Oven also believes that the best cocoa powder makes the tastiest chocolate frosting. Her recipe creates two cups of frosting, or what she says is just the right amount to ice a 9-by-13-inch cake.

“Why buy prepackaged when you can make homemade?” Bunny said. “You will be the hit of any party and will be able to surprise people when you are able to tell them that the chocolate frosting was made from scratch.”

Sifting your cocoa powder and powdered sugar before combining ingredients and making sure your butter is very soft can be very helpful in making a good chocolate frosting, according to Lauren of Lauren’s Latest. She says to use less milk in the recipe if you plan to pipe the icing versus spreading it. And if you think your frosting is coming out too sweet, add a pinch of salt or use salted butter.

Do you know how to make chocolate frosting and do you have a favorite recipe? Or are you more of a store-bought frosting type?