Easy Black Buttercream with Cocoa Powder

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Ever wondered how to make a rich black buttercream? Thanks to black cocoa powder and a bit of food color, this frosting is simple to make. Despite this buttercream's shade, it also won't stain your teeth or give you a black mouth, due to a few tips and tricks below to achieve a more naturally dark frosting.

A black velvet cupcake in a white wrapper, sitting on a white, airy linen cloth.

The stunning pitch black color definitely has a "wow" factor, but the flavor cannot be beat.

If you like the taste of an Oreo cookie, you'll really appreciate this recipe. Black cocoa powder, a key ingredient in Oreos, gives this creamy frosting its delicious and uniquely chocolaty flavor.

Use this dark chocolate buttercream to decorate black velvet cupcakes or this black cocoa cake at Halloween. But it's seriously delicious any time of the year.

And if you're a fan of this uniquely chocolaty frosting, you'll love my recipes for black cocoa cookies as well as chocolate cookies and cream cookies. Black cocoa is key in both and so, so good!

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Ingredients for this Black Frosting
4 Easy Steps for Making this Buttercream
Creating the Perfect Consistency
Why We Microwave this Buttercream
Time: The Best Ingredient in this Black Buttercream Recipe
Frosting Storage
Recipe Troubleshooting
Using this Homemade Black Frosting
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Easy Black Buttercream with Cocoa Powder

Ingredients for this Black Frosting

Ingredients for black frosting with food gel and black cocoa powder.

To create this black buttercream with food coloring, I used a base recipe similar to my almond buttercream frosting for sugar cookies.

Below are the key ingredients for taking that white buttercream and changing it to the shade of black you see here.

Room temperature unsalted butter – Butter contributes flavor and texture here. Mixing it with sugar gives you a soft, fluffy frosting.
Vanilla extract – The extract from your local grocery store is perfectly fine for this frosting recipe. I can never taste a huge difference between pricier extracts and more basic ones.
Powdered sugar - When incorporated into frosting, it dissolves easily and combines well with the other ingredients. It also provides sweetness but lacks the grittiness that comes with granulated sugar.
Black cocoa powder - Black cocoa powder is ultra-dutch processed. This means an alkaline solution has been applied to it, which reduces the cocoa's acidity. In other words, it's less bitter. This makes its flavor and chemical properties different from the brown type of cocoa powder you’ll typically find in grocery stores. I order Wincrest's black cocoa powder online and used it in this recipe.
Heavy cream - You can definitely use milk as a replacement in this recipe if you don't have heavy cream. But I recommend heavy cream because it is thicker and makes the black buttercream richer.
Black gel food coloring - To achieve a true black frosting, we get a little bit of coloring from black food gel. It helps intensify the color. I have had success with Wilton's liquid food coloring, but here I used Chef Master. I've heard great things about Americolor, too. Any of these (or another brand) should work just fine.

4 Easy Steps for Making this Buttercream

Powdered sugar and two types of cocoa powder in a mixing bowl to make frosting.

Step 1: In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine your unsalted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, heavy cream, both cocoa powders, and salt. Mix on a low speed for about 1 minute before increasing to medium-high speed for 2-3 more minutes. Stop your mixer and scrape down the sides of your bowl toward the center so everything combines evenly.

Charcoal-colored frosting in a mixing bowl.

Step 2: Add your food dye before mixing on medium speed for another 1-2 minutes. Frosting's color will deepen to a light black, almost charcoal, color.

Ramekin containing melted black frosting.

Step 3: To further darken buttercream, take approximately ¼ cup (or 50 grams) at a time of your frosting. Heat it in a microwavable bowl for five seconds on medium power. Add this melted frosting back into your main bowl and turn the mixer on again to combine.

Step 4: Continue to heat a small amount of frosting at a time and add it back to your bowl until you’ve achieved a deep black color. I do this twice and then let it rest overnight on my counter, at room temperature.

Creating the Perfect Consistency

When you're ready to use it, the frosting will likely feel very thick.

Cocoa is a drying agent, and so your buttercream will almost certainly need more moisture.

Pour in a few tablespoons of heavy cream or milk at a time, whipping your frosting by hand, until it has a spreadable consistency.

Then place frosting into piping bag fitted with tip of choice and decorate cupcake tops, cakes, and more!

Why We Microwave this Buttercream

Did you know your black buttercream will darken when heated? Higher temperatures activate color in food gel.

For best best results, I microwave my black buttercream in small amounts for a few seconds at a time and add it back to my larger mixing bowl.

Without that step, you'll have a harder (and longer) journey of achieving black cocoa buttercream.

Horizontal image of black cupcakes, sitting on white linen.

Time: The Best Ingredient in this Black Buttercream Recipe

Your frosting will intensify and reach a dark color with another secret ingredient: time.

If you have an afternoon or evening to spare, cover your buttercream but leave it out at room temperature and watch it change in color. You'll be amazed at what even a few hours can do!

You can also leave your buttercream in the refrigerator overnight. It'll change colors there, too, though just a bit more slowly. Warmer temperature accelerates the process.

And if you're short on time, you can always pursue the microwave method.

Frosting Storage

This frosting freezes very well and also stays fresh in the refrigerator for a few days.

Freeze it in an airtight container or tightly sealed plastic wrap for 3 months. Let it thaw and come to room temperature before attempting to use it to decorate cakes or cupcakes.

This buttercream will stay fresh keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for about 3 days.

You can also freeze fully decorated cupcakes or cakes that use this frosting.

For more on a related topic, I have a detailed guide for freezing cupcakes.

Recipe Troubleshooting

What colors make black frosting?

With cocoa powder and black food gel, this recipe is super easy. But if you don't have black food gel, there's a solution.

Mix 3 parts blue food gel with 2.5 parts red and 1 part green. Do this in a separate bowl to create your desired shade before adding it to your larger mixing bowl.

Does black buttercream darken? And how long does it take?

I highly recommend making this recipe about 8 hours before you need the frosting to turn black. Doing this an evening before will really help make the frosting darken. If you don't have that much time, read the tip below.

How do you make black buttercream in the microwave?

When you microwave frosting that has been dyed with food gel, the heat darkens your colors. This is a great hack so you don't have to use tons of food gel.

Instead, heat a small amount of buttercream (about ¼ cup) at a time. This simple step will shorten the process for creating a vibrant, dark shade. Also, because you are using heat to make the frosting instead of dumping tons of food gel into it, this black buttercream will not stain your teeth.

Is black buttercream bitter?

This buttercream is delicious, chocolatey, and far from bitter! People who notice a bitterness in their black frosting may have added too much food gel and are tasting that.

Why is my buttercream grey?

If your frosting isn't black yet, give it more time to deepen in color. To speed up the process, heat small amounts in the microwave - that will make it so much darker!

Using this Homemade Black Frosting

I've had a lot of fun exploring ways to use this delicious buttercream. This frosting is perfect for a spooky cake or cupcake idea!

I also used it in a variation for decorating these pumpkin sugar cookies to give them a dark and moody twist.

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