I’ll show you how to make thick, creamy chocolate fudge frosting with only 2 ingredients: melted chocolate and butter. It’s smooth, chocolatey, and perfect for frosting cakes and cupcakes.
This is an easy alternative to classic buttercream frosting that’s quick to make and just as versatile. Try my pourable chocolate ganache for another delicious cake topping!
This chocolate fudge frosting is like a whipped, spreadable, pipeable version of chocolate fudge. And you need just 2 ingredients, chocolate and butter, to melt on the stovetop! Since it’s made without powdered sugar, the frosting isn’t overly sweet, and just the right amount of fudgy. Once you’ve made 2-ingredient chocolate frosting, you’ll be hard-pressed to go back to anything store-bought again.
Why This Chocolate Fudge Frosting Recipe Works
- Only 2 ingredients. Traditional chocolate buttercream frosting calls for a short list of ingredients, including heavy whipping cream. But all you need to make this frosting is 1) a package of chocolate chips and 2) plenty of butter.
- Thick, stable buttercream. Melted chocolate thickens this fudge frosting without powdered sugar, for an extra-rich, stable consistency. It holds its shape well, whether you spread it, pipe it, or otherwise. Unlike some whipped cream-based frostings, this chocolate frosting is resistant to melting, leaking, and wilting at room temperature.
- Easy method. You don’t need any fancy tools to make creamy chocolate frosting. A stand mixer makes things easier, but an electric hand mixer works, too.
Ingredients You’ll Need
I’ve included some quick ingredient notes for this chocolate fudge frosting recipe below. You’ll find the full, printable recipe with amounts in the recipe card after the post.
- Chocolate Chips – I recommend semi-sweet chocolate chips. The better quality chocolate you use, the better your frosting will be. You can also make this frosting with chopped chocolate bars (like you’ll find from Lindt, Ghirardelli, or Guittard). You may find that chopped chocolate melts more smoothly than chocolate chips.
- Butter – This recipe calls for a good amount of butter. I use salted butter, but it’s a preference, and you can absolutely make it with unsalted butter if you prefer.
How to Make Chocolate Fudge Frosting
The key here is to not overheat the chocolate and butter, which can cause the chocolate to seize. Melt the ingredients slowly and stir often. It’s worth mentioning that this method also works with white chocolate chips (see my white chocolate frosting). Follow the steps here, and scroll down for the printable recipe card.
- Melt the chocolate. First, combine the chocolate and butter in a saucepan. Keep that over low heat and stir often while it melts. It will look thin from all that melted butter.
- Cool. Once melted, take the saucepan off the heat. Cool the mixture completely, and chill it in the fridge until it’s solid. The butter might separate as it cools, but that’s OK. The mixer will take care of that!
- Whip the frosting. When you’re ready to whip your buttercream, transfer the solid chocolate/butter mixture to your mixing bowl and bring it back to room temperature. Once softened, whip the frosting. It takes about 2 minutes to get it light, thick, and fluffy. That’s it! Your chocolate fudge frosting is ready to use.
Ways to Use It
This recipe makes enough chocolate fudge frosting to fill and frost an 8-inch two-layer cake or 24 cupcakes. Pro tip: Use the “2x” and “3x” options in the recipe card to scale the recipe as needed. And if you need some inspiration, here are a few easy ways to use your fresh, fudgy frosting:
- Cakes. Use this frosting to frost and fill a frosted fudge cake or classic yellow cake.
- Cupcakes. Pipe or spread this frosting over your favorite homemade vanilla cupcakes, or try it in place of the peanut butter frosting in my banana cupcakes!
- Brownies. I think this chocolate fudge frosting would be amazing slathered over a batch of fudgy brownies or buckeye brownies.
- Cookies. Spread your frosting over chocolate sugar cookies or pipe it between two chewy chocolate chip cookies to make a cookie sandwich.
How to Store Homemade Frosting
- Refrigerate. This homemade chocolate buttercream frosting lasts up to 1 week in the fridge. Store it in an airtight container and bring it back to room temperature before you use it. I recommend re-whipping the frosting, too, to bring back the fluffy texture.
- Freeze. You can freeze this frosting for up to 1 month. Thaw it in the fridge and bring it back to room temperature. Again, give the frosting a fresh whip before you frost your cakes or cupcakes.
More Easy Frosting Recipes
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 3 cups (approx.) 1x
- Category: Frosting
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Description
This 2-ingredient chocolate fudge frosting makes a thick, creamy, chocolatey frosting that’s perfect for frosting cakes and cupcakes!
Ingredients
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 pound (2 cups) butter
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, melt the chocolate chips and butter over medium-low heat, whisking frequently.
- When melted, cool completely and chill until solid.
- Remove from the fridge and allow to come up to room temperature.
- Put all the chocolate in a mixing bowl and beat on medium for 2 minutes until light in color and fluffy.
Notes
- Makes enough frosting to fill and frost an 8″ layer cake, or frost 24 cupcakes.
- Store refrigerated, but allow to come back to room temperature before serving.
Ohhhhh this looks sooo good! I am definitely trying this !
Can you please give a carb count per serving.
Why chill it until solid? Why not just cool to room temperature and whip it in stand mixer until fluffy?
Well, I made the mistake of using salted butter (Kerrygold) and milk chocolate chips. Frosting ended up too salty. I am trying to salvage with some powdered sugar. Oh well, live and learn 🙂
Excellent and easy. Tastes better than the cream inside a Lindt truffle!! Thanks so much!!
L. Fox
Could you use two cups of any chocolate for this? Say Toblerone?? 🙂
I always recommend a semi-sweet as it’s a little more stable…so if Toblerone is semi-sweet absolutely! But I would love to hear if you use a milk chocolate instead… it is just a tad softer due to the higher milk fat. But honestly I bet it would work!
Tried this and loved it. Used unsalted butter, a splash of vanilla, and then added some salt so you could actually taste the salt (I was thinking about salted caramel or this dark chocolate w sea salt bar I like). It was so good and now I make this all the time!
I find it amusing that there’s an ad in the sidebar of this page for Plus Size clothing . . . hmmm. But throw caution to the wind – this recipe is easy peasy and delish!
hahaha!
So I just made this because I didn’t have any sugar to make normal frosting. It turned out really good! I put it on a yellow sheet cake. It is a little sweeter than I’m used to and next time I will cut 1/4 of it out (ended up with too much leftover!). Overall, I’m pretty happy though!
I made this using homemade GAPS/Paleo Chocolate chips and a coconut oil ghee blend that I get from Green pastures. I didn’t actually make the chips this time, just melted the coconut oil and honey, then added cacao and blended, To that liquid mixture I added two cups of the ghee blend and let it melt, then chilled and treated as above. The frosting was amazing. It ended up tasting a little rich to us so I added a few drops of organic peppermint which gave it a great taste!
Homemade chocolate chips are eash…
It’s a one to one ratio of coconut oil and cocoa or cacao, and honey to taste. I usually use 1/2 cup of each coconut oil and cacao, then add about one tsp of honey as we don’t have a sweet tooth, but you can add to your taste. Here is the recipe I base mine on:
http://thecoconutmama.com/homemade-chocolate-chips-soy-free-dairy-free-vegan/