One of the most popular recipes on Our Best Bites is this flour frosting. Its velvety smooth texture combined with the not-so-sugary bite is perhaps the perfect thing on top of almost any cake or cupcake. If you read through the comments you’ll see that one of the most commonly asked questions is “Where’s the chocolate version??!!” Kate and I experimented a lot with adding chocolate to that recipe without much luck. We came up with a lot of things that tasted amazing, but there were always slight problems with the consistency. I knew I had seen similar recipes in chocolate before but I couldn’t seem to find one until one of you dear readers pointed me to a recipe on Sugar Plum. Sure enough, it was just what I was in search of! I adapted the recipe slightly by using plain ol’ salted butter and omitting added salt. And then I added extra chocolate to get a richer color and flavor. Everyone needs a “go-to” chocolate frosting and this is now mine!The recipe starts by cooking flour, milk, sugar, and cocoa powder in a sauce pan until it thickens, much like the first step in the beloved white frosting.
You’ll strain the mixture so you don’t end up with icky flour lumps in your frosting, because who wants icky flour lumps in their frosting??
While that mixture is cooling off, melt some chocolate chips in the microwave. I found this to be the key to having the frosting remain stable- the melted chocolate seems to bind it.
Then we whip real butter with our chilled chocolate mixture until it’s light and fluffy,
like so. At this point it’s much like the results of just adding cocoa powder to the white frosting.
But the secret is adding in the melted chocolate. Isn’t chocolate always the secret??
Whip that up and then give it a taste. If you want a richer chocolate flavor just add more cocoa powder. I added about 4 Tablespoons extra to get my frosting looking and tasting like this (I also found the color of the frosting darkened as it sat):
It pipes beautifully, and tastes amazing! And just WAIT until I show you what I put it on- that post is coming up Friday- and trust me, you’ll go bananas! (hee hee)
Chocolate Frosting
Recipe slightly adapted by Our Best Bites from Sugar Plum
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup milk
1 cup real butter, softened
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
Optional: Additional cocoa powder as needed
Melt your chocolate chips if you haven’t already and set aside to cool. You obviously don’t want it so cool that it hardens, but you can get it close to room temperature and still have it be soft and stir-able.
In a small saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, and milk; bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Boil 1-3 minutes or until thickened like a thinned pudding. Remove pan from heat and strain mixture into a small bowl. Cool completely in the refrigerator or freezer.
When chocolate flour mixture is cooled, beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the cooled chocolate mixture until well combined fluffy, about 1 minute. Finally add in melted chocolate and beat again until well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes. If desired, add additional cocoa powder to taste, up to 4 tablespoons more. Spread or pipe frosting on to cupcakes or cake.
Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.
Storage: Store unused frosting in fridge and bring to room temperature before using again. If needed, beat with an electric beater before using.
Questions & Reviews
that's 4 Tbs additional cocoa
You said 'up to 4 T cocoa' Is that up to 4 extra T or up to 4 total?
Thank you sooooooooooo much! I just made this frosting, sooo tasty!
I was just literally today wanting to find a chocolate frosting that would hold up well on a cupcake. I am not kidding! I was coming to get an idea for more freezer meals and there it was!!! Thanks Ladies! I will be trying this tonight.
Chocolate frosting is THE absolute best…isn't it?
Oooo! I see a chocolate frosted something in my future then! Thanks!
Shron, it's just as it looks in the picture! Just put it in a fine mesh strainer and use a spoon to stir it around. The mixture will pass through and any lumps will stay in your strainer.
Emily- thanks for sharing the recipe!
jmommy- a world without butter??! I can't imagine! I actually think you could get away with margarine here. I don't think it would taste as good as butter, but I think structurally the frosting would turn out just fine.
Okay – I always wonder this and now I'm really wondering. Usually I can replace magarine for butter (I'm lactose intolerant – butter doesn't even exist in my world) – will it cause problems with this recipe?
That is the most delicious looking cupcake I have ever seen in my life.
this looks fabulous and i must try it. and i hate to ask and reveal my ignorance – but – how do you 'strain' the cooked chocolate mixture?
I think the "flour frosting" is what my grandmother always used to frost red velvet cake. I think she called it a cooked frosting and it is the best frosting for red velvet!! It is one of my favorite frostings because it is not too sweet. Now, a chocolate version… WOW! I will have to make this!
I'm excited to try this out! I've been on the lookout for a good chocolate frosting recipe because my daughter's third birthday is coming up. Thanks!
This frosting looks DELICIOUUUUS!!
I will definitely try this. I am a chocolate Lover and I am looking for THE CHOCOLATE FROSTING for my cakes. Thanks for sharing.
Have a blessed evening.
Again, yes, you've done it again! Oh, how I wish I could just dip my finger in your bowl for a little taste!
Happy Day,
Jasey @ Crazy Daisy
Oh my goodness, that looks great! I've never tried the white frosting, but I'm guessing it's pretty stellar! And as for chocolate frosting, well, with banana anything? Yes, please! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it!
Nice! I literally just bought cocoa powder for the first time EVER, so I have been looking for a good recipe for it. I loooove your white frosting, so I am sure I would like this.
Excited to see this recipe! Just bought some dark chocolate powder which should work with this recipe perfectly!
I LOVE your blog!!! I have found some wonderful recipes on here that our family adores!
My son just had his 4th birthday and I tried a buttercream recipe I hadn't tried before (where you do the sugar water then add to stiff peak egg whites and mix in the butter) it was SOOOO gross! I felt horrible I hadn't tried it before hand but was at least thankful we had ice cream! I completely forgot about your white frosting and I can't wait to try them both!!! Thank you SO much for sharing your yummy recipes! I tell people about this site all the time and I know they have enjoyed it too!!!
Rachel…
i’ve used the simple syrup, egg white, butter recipe with great success but it is time consuming… don’t give up! it looks curdled and gross and then after quite a while on the kitchenaid it comes together and is my go to most requested frosting… just don’t quit too soon lol
Shanna- it should be enough to frost 24 cupcakes. I'll add that to the post- thanks!
Hi
This looks awesome. I have about 4 different chocolate frosting recipes I love and I am going to try this one out and add it to my repertoire! I was wondering what the yield is – it doesn't say in the recipe how many cups it makes or how many cupcakes it would frost. I am making 2 doz cupcakes and would love to know if one recipe is enough to pipe or if I should double the batch! Thanks. And I LOVE this site by the way I make one of your recipes ( sweet and savory) almost weekly!!
Shanna
[email protected]
This sounds really good and actually pretty easy:) It looks really pretty too. Can't wait to see what you put it on;)
Hi! I've been following this blog for a while but have never commented. I wanted to tell you both thanks for all the great recipes and ideas…including this one! I will definitely have to give this a try. I like the idea of using flour rather than shortening (aka grease, aka fat) to make a thicker frosting. Thanks for sharing!
Krista- I'm still on the hunt too, but I have a few bookmarked try. We'll see…
Chaviva- I've never used gluten free flour but I would assume it would work fine. It still thickens, right? If so, then I wouldn't see why it wouldn't work.
Looks like a winning recipe to me!
Think this'd work with gluten-free flour?g
Flour frosting, what a great idea! Personally, I love SWEET stuff, but I do know a lot of people who appreciate sweet treats that aren't overly sweet. I'll have to make cupcakes w/ this frosting for them. Thank you.
This looks fabulous! Thanks for all your work to get this out to us! (Cause, you know, I'm sure playing with chocolate was sooo hard!)
The flour frosting is my FAVORITE go to frosting! So excited to see a chocolate version of it that looks and tastes great too!
i'm SO excited to try this recipe out!!! have you come across a good white cake recipe yet? i still keep trying different recipes and i just can't find one i'm in love with…
Try White Almond Sour Cream Wedding Cake: http://www.food.com/recipe/white-almond-sour-cream-wedding-cake-69630
You can use vanilla instead of almond flavoring, but this is hands down the best white cake in terms of crumb, flavor, and texture. I suspect it is because you only use egg whites….Oh, and halving it works perfectly well (the original recipe makes a lot–like 60 cupcakes a lot!). Don’t bother with using any other flavors of cake mixes, they just don’t work as well or taste as good in my humble opinion. Hope you like it as much as I do! Oh, and only use Betty Crocker mix to start with. I have mixed results with other brands.
I haven't tried this yet, but I'm sooo glad you posted it! I moved to Switzerland about 4 months ago, and the powdered sugar they have here is different than in the States–and anything you make with it has a disgusting –REALLY disgusting taste. I thought I'd have to forgo anything that required a frosting. And then you posted this-yahoo!
Actually, I've been trying out a whole bunch of your recipes since I've moved here, since there are quite a few ingredients that I can't get here, so I've been trying new instead of old standby's.
So Thanks!!!
Reading your comment and being a Swiss, living in Switzerland, I can’t help it but laugh at this comment. I think you have just chosen the wrong type of powdered sugar. The one from Migros is rather ‘sandy’ whereas the one from Coop is super fine (flourlike or dustlike). Have a go with the one from Coop… and beat the hell out of it together with our butter. Our butter contains more fat (=better quality) than water, which makes it difficult to dissolve the sugar in it… hence the disgusting, sorry, sandy taste.
Me on the contrary I can’t adapt every US recipie, as our tastebuds have different preferences…
You can do the cooked part in the microwave. Just whisk it occasionally.