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    Home / Recipes / Cakes, Pies & Cupcakes

    Chocolate Fudge Frosting (with Cocoa)

    Feb 24, 2021 · Updated: Nov 12, 2023 by Dee Dine · Affliate links disclosure.

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    cake frosted with chocolate fudge frosting.

    A chocolate fudge frosting that tastes like a mug of hot chocolate, with melted chocolate. No cooking involved, just melt the butter in a microwave and mix up frosting in one bowl.

    a slice of cake with fudge frosting and fork

    This chocolate fudge frosting with cocoa will seriously have you swooning. It's a chocolate buttercream frosting that is firm and shiny, and easily holds its shape on a cake or cupcakes and tastes like a mug of hot chocolate.

    a jar full of piped chocolate fudge frosting.

    Not only does this fudge frosting taste incredible, but it also pipes onto cupcakes and cakes like a perfect dream, leaving a tiny crunchy surface just like bakery frosting. I use it often on my dairy-free chocolate cake and my healthy chocolate cake and sometimes even my chocolate tuxedo cake!

    Jump to:
    • Why You'll Love This Frosting
    • Ingredients
    • Substitutions
    • Steps to Make
    • Recipe Tips
    • How to Store
    • What to Use It On?
    • FAQS
    • Other Frosting Recipes
    • 📖 Recipe

    Why You'll Love This Frosting

    Easy one bowl frosting. This chocolate frosting is easy to make. You will microwave butter, chocolate and shortening to melt but add everything after that into one bowl and it's easy to mix with a hand-mixer or even a spoon.

    Outstanding chocolate flavor. The mix of cocoa and melted chocolate make this frosting outstanding. And the flavor is within your control and based on the brand of either chocolate you use.

    Ingredients

    ingredients for chocolate fudge frosting labeled.


    Powdered Sugar: Any powdered sugar works, but organic tastes better because it contains tapioca instead of corn starch found in most commercial powdered sugars.

    Butter: I normally use vegan butter, but any butter works. Be sure to allow the sticks to be at room temperature before use; this takes about two hours or overnight.

    Organic Shortening: Use a healthier red palm version such as by Nutiva or Spectrum. Don't use Crisco or the like. Another frosting that uses this shortening is my fluffy white frosting recipe here.

    Cocoa Powder: Dark dutch process cocoa will help darken the color.

    Dark chocolate: Melted. Choose a quality dark chocolate bar or chocolate chips.

    Supporting ingredients: Milk, vanilla, salt

    Substitutions

    Shortening. You can replace the shortening portion with more butter but then you won't have the lovely light bakery frosting crunch on the surface, or the rich fudge flavor.

    Steps to Make

    For more detail, visit the complete recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps.

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    melted chocolate in a bowl.

    Step 1: Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for 1 minute.

    melted butter in a bowl.

    Step 2: Melt the butter and shortening together in the microwave at 10 seconds.

    cocoa in with frosting to make fudge frosting.

    Step 3: Add all ingredients to a large bowl and mix with a hand mixer until smooth.

    mixing fudge frosting in a bowl.

    Step 4: Spoon in the melted chocolate last. Add additional tablespoons of milk if needed.

    Recipe Tips

    1.As with most frostings, you can control the creamy level with the type and amount of milk you add. I used almond milk, but for an even richer flavor you can use a high fat milk such as full fat coconut milk or even heavy cream if you don't need the frosting to be dairy free.

    2. This recipe works well with 6 tablespoon of milk, but you can add more or less depending on how dry or wet you want your frosting texture to be.

    3.This recipe can be made in one bowl and makes enough frosting to frost about 18 cupcakes or 1 (2-layer) cake.

    How to Store

    Frosting. Keep it in a sealed container for 1 week, or frozen for 3 months.

    Frosted baked goods. Keep frosted cupcakes or cakes on the counter at room temperature for about 24 hours. After that refrigerate them.

    What to Use It On?

    Frost cakes. I use this frosting on all my cakes, including my healthy chocolate cake, my chocolate tuxedo cake, my fluffy vegan vanilla cake, and my dairy free chocolate cake.

    Frost cupcakes. This recipe frosts 18 cupcakes or 12 if you use a lot of frosting per cupcake. I use it on my chocolate cupcakes, my vanilla cupcakes, and sometimes use it as a chocolate filling in my chocolate dipped cupcakes.

    Frosting as a cookie dip. Use this frosting with a cookie platter as a dip. Cookies that work include my vegan chocolate chip cookies, my chocolate sugar cookies, and my copycat milano cookies. 

    Frosting as a filling for homemade chocolates. Use this fudgy chocolatey filling in my homemade filled chocolate recipes. 

    overhead of a cake frosted with chocolate fudge frosting.

    FAQS

    How do you make fudge frosting from scratch?

    It's very easy to make this fudge frosting from scratch. Just put all ingredients in a bowl, including melted chocolate, butter and shortening, along with sugar, vanilla and salt, mix and you have a delicious dark chocolate fudge frosting.

    Why is my fudge icing grainy?

    Fudge frosting can turn grainy if even a spec of water gets into the mix. So be sure all your tools and bowls are stone dry. 

    How do you make chocolate frosting thicker?

    I make frosting thicker by adding more powdered sugar. Some people add flour but I don't normally unless I am making my cookie dough frosting.

    Other Frosting Recipes

    • white frosting
      Fluffy White Frosting
    • overhead view of 5 cupcakes frosted with sweet potato frosting
      Chocolate Sweet Potato Frosting (2 ingredients)
    • vegan buttercream frosting
      Vegan Buttercream Frosting
    • a bowl of icing with gingerbread behind it
      Vegan Royal Icing

    If you tried this Chocolate Fudge Frosting Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!

    📖 Recipe

    a slice of cake with fudge frosting and fork

    Chocolate Fudge Frosting (with Cocoa)

    Created by Dee Dine
    A chocolate fudge frosting that tastes like a mug of hot chocolate, with melted chocolate. No cooking involved, just melt the butter in a microwave and mix up frosting in one bowl.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe SaveSaved! Rate Recipe
    Cook Time 5 minutes mins
    Total Time 5 minutes mins
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American
    Servings 18
    Calories 240 kcal

    Equipment

    • 1 Mixing bowl
    • 1 Measuring cups & spoons
    • 1 Hand mixer or stand mixer

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 4 cups powdered sugar
    • ½ cup butter
    • ½ cup organic shortening
    • 6 tablespoon cocoa powder
    • 6-8 tablespoon dairy free milk
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ⅔ cup chocolate chips, melted
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    Instructions
     

    Prep

    • Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for 1 minute and set aside.
    • Warm the butter and shortening together on a microwave safe dish at 10 seconds in microwave - twice if they don't appear soft.

    Make Frosting

    • Put all ingredients - except for the melted chocolate - and 6 tablespoon of milk in a large bowl and use a hand-mixer to mix the frosting until it is smooth. Add the additional 2 tablespoon if needed to achieve a creamy texture.
      4 cups powdered sugar, ½ cup butter, ½ cup organic shortening, 6 tablespoon cocoa powder, 6-8 tablespoon dairy free milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ½ teaspoon salt
    • Once all other ingredients are incorporated, fold in the melted chocolate. It can be warm, but not hot.
      ⅔ cup chocolate chips, melted
    • To keep it soft, put a soaking wet paper towel over the bowl until ready to frost. This will keep the frosting soft for about 10 minutes so plan your baking around this window.

    Store

    • Store this frosting in the refrigerator for two weeks. To use it, let it sit at room temperature until it is soft. Normally I store it in frosting bags with a 2M frosting tip in the bag so it's ready to use on freshly baked cupcakes.

    Video

    Notes

    1.As with most frostings, add vanilla and control the creamy level with milk. This recipe works well with 6 tablespoon of milk but you can add more or less depending on how creamy you want your frosting texture to be.
    2.This recipe can be made in one bowl and makes enough frosting to frost about 18 cupcakes or 1 (2-layer) cake. It can easily be doubled.
    Store Frosting. Keep it in a sealed container for 1 week, or frozen for 3 months.
    Store Frosted baked goods. Keep frosted cupcakes or cakes on the counter at room temperature for about 24 hours. After that refrigerate them.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 240kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 1gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 49mgPotassium: 35mgFiber: 1gSugar: 29gVitamin A: 177IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 20mgIron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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    5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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    cake frosted with chocolate fudge frosting.
    dee dine

    My name is Dee Dine and I’m a two-time cookbook author and certified nutritionist. Here you’ll find clean healthy recipes made with few ingredients, dairy free, & gluten free. About Dee →

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