If you think regular cream cheese frosting is great, wait until you try this Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting! It’s silky, undeniably creamy, and delicious – a perfect complement to your favorite cake or cupcake!
If we thought the regular cream cheese frosting was the best then we’ve been doing this backwards – because this chocolate cream cheese frosting is actually the best! It’s probably become the most common frosting used in my kitchen and not just because it only requires 6 ingredients!
This is all you need when looking for a little something extra for your desserts! We’re using cocoa powder to accomplish that delicious chocolaty flavor, and the creaminess from the cream cheese makes it so smooth and easily spreadable onto baked goods! It’s hands down my #1 frosting for cakes, cupcakes, and even quick breads!
Ingredients
- Butter – Unsalted and softened.
- Cream cheese – Softened – make sure you’re using bricks of cream cheese.
- Cocoa powder – Unsweetened.
- Vanilla extract – Any brand will do!
- Espresso powder – If you can’t find this, you can use an equal amount of instant coffee.
- Icing sugar – Any brand will work great – this is the same as confectioners or powdered sugar!
How To Make Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Create the frosting: In a large bowl beat together the softened butter and cream cheese. You can use a hand mixer or stand mixer of your choice. Next, add the cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and espresso powder – beat until well combined. Finally, beat in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. And voila!
Note: If you’re finding the frosting is too thick, you can add a little bit of milk. It should be a pretty thick frosting and keep in mind it will thicken when put in the fridge!
Tips For Silky Smooth Frosting
- Check the quality of the cocoa – to make sure it doesn’t have any lumps in it. If it does, run it through a sifter with the powdered sugar so that you don’t have any lumps when you go to pipe it – there is nothing worse than finding a lump in your piping tip!
- Soften the ingredients – make sure the cream cheese and the butter are softened as instructed, before creaming them together. Cream cheese that’s still cold can also cause lumps in the frosting!
What Cream Cheese Works Best?
I definitely prefer to use the Philadelphia brand cream cheese however, if you’re not able to find it, you can use any brand you can find. Keep in mind that full fat cream cheese will give the best results!
A Piping Tip
The fridge is your friend when it comes to piping! Let it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes, in the piping bag and it’ll hold it’s shape much better when it comes time to pipe your baked goods!
How To Serve
Oh this could be a big list you guys, but I’ll get you started with the essentials; cake or cupcakes! Here are some suggestions:
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Gingerbread Cake
- Zebra Cake
- Double Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes
- Easy Texas Sheet Cake
Storage
Cream cheese frosting will stay good at room temperature for up to 8 hours, at which point it needs to be refrigerated – sealed in an airtight container it will last up to 3 days. Leftover cream cheese frosting can be frozen in a sealed container and will last up to 1 month.
Dreaming Of More Chocolate? Try These Recipes:
- Easy Chocolate Fudge
- Chocolate Swiss Roll Cake
- No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
- Chocolate Rum Balls
- Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- German Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Magic Cake
- Nanaimo Bars
Craving More? Follow Along:
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups butter unsalted, softened
- 8 ounce cream cheese softened
- 1 1/2 cups cocoa powder unsweetened
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 7 cups icing sugar same as confectioners sugar or powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese until fluffy. You can use either a hand mixer or stand mixer.
- Add the cocoa powder, vanilla extract and espresso powder to the bowl. Beat until well combined.
- Beat in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. If the frosting is too thick add a bit of milk, but this should be very thick frosting and will thicken even more when refrigerated.
Tips & Notes:
- Yields about 6 to 7 cups of frosting.
