Oh my goodness. This Chocolate German Buttercream is everything you ever wanted in a frosting! It's creamy, silky, chocolatey and just the perfect accompaniment to pretty much any cake. It's a chocolate version of my German Buttercream, which is basically a custard buttercream. And it. Is. Glorious!
What is German Buttercream?
German buttercream starts with a custard base which is then whipped into butter and sugar to make a light, silky frosting. It is a lot less sweet than a traditional buttercream but so full of flavour! It is very commonly used in a lot of German bakes. I use it for my Vanilla Custard Cake and it is sheer perfection.
But this takes it one step further and makes a Chocolate German Buttercream - which is just about the only way that a custard buttercream could get any better! I developed this recipe to go in my Prinzregententorte (a traditional German Layer Cake) which I made for my Great British Bake Off Bake Along, and honestly this silky chocolatey goodness was the star of the show!
What can you use Chocolate German Buttercream for?
If you manage not to eat it all right out of the bowl, there are many things you can use chocolate german buttercream for. Its silky smooth consistency means it pipes like a dream, so it's perfect on top of cupcakes or to decorate a cake. You'll be able to smooth it out beautifully, and it also holds its shape very well for swirls and rosettes. But chocolate german buttercream isn't all style and no substance! It makes for a very luxurious filling inside your bakes as well. You could use it to frost in between a layer cake, or even pipe it into donuts or eclairs.... I'm drooling thinking about those eclairs now!
Ingredients in Chocolate German Buttercream
Milk - Try to use whole milk if you can, but skim milk will do
Egg Yolks - All my recipes use large eggs, and I always use free range. Keep the egg whites to make something else tasty later
Sugar - Just plain old white sugar goes into the custard portion of the chocolate german buttercream, we'll be sweetening it more later
Cocoa Powder - Use a high quality cocoa powder, this won't be baked so you'll notice the difference more
Butter - Make sure the butter is room temperature. You can use salted or unsalted here, I actually like the touch of salt
Icing Sugar - Make sure you taste test as you go and add the icing sugar a little at a time so you can make the frosting exactly as sweet as you want it
Dark Chocolate - Yes, of course this frosting uses real chocolate! Make sure you get dark chocolate that is at least 70% cocoa solids so you'll really get that luxurious chocolatey flavour coming through
Stop licking the screen and go make some!
Seriously, you will thank me for it - go and make some of this delectable frosting and then come back and tell me how Chocolate German Buttercream is your new favourite frosting/filling/bowl snack!
Recipe
Chocolate German Buttercream (Chocolate Custard Buttercream)
Ingredients
- 5 Large Egg Yolks
- 2 cups Whole Milk 480ml
- ½ cup White Sugar 100g
- ¼ cup Cornstarch 30g
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ⅓ cup Cocoa Powder 35g
- 3 sticks Butter 340g (room temperature)
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar 57g
- 5 oz Dark Chocolate 140g (finely chopped)
Instructions
- This is my classic vanilla pastry cream recipe. Make it in advance so it has time to cool for at least 2 hours.
- Take two tablespoons of white sugar and put into a bowl along with the egg yolks and cornstarch - whisk to combine5 Large Egg Yolks, ½ cup (100 g) White Sugar, ¼ cup (30 g) Cornstarch
- Put the remaining sugar into a saucepan with the milk and vanilla and slowly warm over medium-low heat2 cups (480 ml) Whole Milk, 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- When it begins to get warm, drizzle a small amount of warm milk into the egg yolk mixture and whisk, then add a little more, repeat until everything is together in the bowl, then pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan. It's important to do this slowly and gradually so you don't scramble the eggs
- Keep heating the mixture, whisking constantly until it begins to boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes or until it begins to thicken. Remove from the heat.
- Pass the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl to make sure there are no lumps. Cover with plastic wrap and let it cool to room temperature.
- Once the custard is cool, chop the chocolate into small pieces and melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second increments until completely melted. Set aside to cool while you prepare the butter.5 oz (140 g) Dark Chocolate
- Beat butter and powdered sugar together until pale and creamy.3 sticks (340 g) Butter, ½ cup (170 g) Powdered Sugar
- Add in cocoa powder and beat until totally incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is mixed evenly.⅓ cup (35 g) Cocoa Powder
- Switch to a whisk attachment and gradually add the custard 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking on medium speed as you go.
- Once the custard is completely added, pour in the cooled melted chocolate and continue whisking until everything is totally combined. The frosting should be smooth, silky and chocolatey.
Sarah
In the interest of time and fewer dishes to wash, would it work to whisk the chopped chocolate into the thickened custard when it’s hot, then cool and proceed with the rest of the recipe?
C Spencer
how long will this keep?
Jules Grasekamp
It will be good in the refrigerator for a week 🙂
Jules
J
This recipe is a major disappointment. I have made German buttercream before with absolutely no issues but needed to make chocolate German buttercream specifically so tried this recipe. This recipe is very different from the other recipe I use - the addition of flour, among other things, is puzzling. I followed the recipe exactly as written and have a bowl of thin, gloppy, runny goop that will not firm up no matter how long I refrigerate it or what else I do. Sorry to say but this recipe is terrible. I am now 3 hours late to the function I was supposed to be providing cupcakes for with no frosting for said Cupcakes, and I am now in a bad mood as well.
Pam
This recipe is great. Favorite frosting ever. One note, if it's too thin you can put it in the fridge overnight and then whip up the next day. Because of that I don't make it the same day I need it just in case. The first time I made it, it was soupy but set up once refrigerated and whipped. The second time worked fine.
Jules Grasekamp
So glad you love the recipe Pam! Thank you for taking the time to let me know 🙂
Jules
jul
flour?? it's cornstarch. i just made this recipe and it came out perfectly, i think you did something extremely wrong. taking it out on the recipe when it is clearly your fault is definitely not a good look for your character
Judy Huntley
I made this and used for a layered marble cake & it turned out awesome & everyone loved it! despite using 6 egg yolks instead of 5...woops! I heavily frosted it (really spread it on thick) & I still had about 2 cups of frosting left. Thank you for this recipe! It is a keeper!
Wendy M.
Fabulous recipe! Followed it to the tee and the results were just amazing. I don’t usually make many recipes requiring these many steps but trust the process and you won’t regret your efforts. It’s a nice change from a classic buttercream recipe (which I often find way too sweet) and it holds its form so well. Paired beautifully with the Prinzregententorte recipe on this website. Bravo- This is a keeper!
Tadiwa
Unfortunately this recipe didn't work for me at all , turned into a runny mess despite following all the instructions I'm not quite sure what to do with me mixture as I don't want to throw it out
Jules
Hi Tadiwa,
I’m sorry to hear that! The two most likely causes I can think of are that the custard may not have been cooked for long enough, or the butter was too warm and runny. Other than that it could really only be a measuring issue, sometimes when measuring with cups it’s hard to be accurate, so I always recommend using a scale.
Have you tried putting the frosting in the fridge for a while and letting it firm up, then whipping again? It really does need a lot of whipping to get the right consistency.
I hope this helps, let me know if it works!
Lesley
Wow, this frosting is delicious. This recipe definitely has more steps than most frostings ive tried ,but it is totally worth it. I made a chocolate cake with this frosting and everyone loved it. This is now my go-to chocolate frosting.
Thanks Jules