I often hear from friends (and readers) that regular buttercream is just too sweet. It’s heavy, dense and overly sweet to a point where you just eat the cake after scraping off some of the frosting. I tend to agree most of the time, unless it’s my chocolate buttercream, where I rely on a splash of heavy cream to make it lighter and fluffier. I do the same thing with my vanilla buttercream frosting when I use it for my small batch vanilla cupcakes. Because the whipped cream in these buttercream frostings created a light fluffiness, I thought about how fluffy a cake would be with an all whipped cream frosting. Heavy cream makes a light, ethereal frosting that packs just as much flavor as a buttercream! We know this from my whipped cream cream cheese frosting recipe, don’t we? The cocoa powder and chocolate shavings make this recipe just as rich as a standard buttercream, without going overboard on the sweetness.
How to Make Chocolate Whipped Cream
Making flavored whipped cream as a frosting is even easier than making buttercream, because you don’t have to worry about the temperature of the butter being too cold or too warm. The only thing to remember here is that very cold whipping cream whips up faster and fluffier, so do not take it out of the fridge until just before whipping. An additional step I like to do is to place my bowl and beaters in the freezer for about 15 minutes before making this chocolate whipped cream. It’s optional, but it really reduces the whipping time. Be careful not to over-whip and make butter. If your frosting curdles, you may have gone too far. Also, please know that the chocolate shavings are totally optional here.
The Ingredients
Heavy Whipping Cream. Also called double cream, heavy whipping cream is between 36-40%. Anything with a lower percentage of fat won’t whip up, so don’t try to use half and half. Powdered Sugar. I use powdered sugar in all of my frosting because it dissolves so easily without leaving behind any graininess. Also, it contains a small amount of cornstarch, which acts as a stabilizer for this chocolate whipped cream. Read below for more methods to stabilize. Cocoa Powder. Since we’re not baking the cocoa powder, we can use any type you have in the pantry! It needs to be unsweetened, however. If you want dark, richly colored chocolate whipped cream like you see in the photos here, reach for Dutch process cocoa powder. If you just have plain or regular cocoa, that works just fine, too! Salt. A small pinch of salt really elevates the flavor of chocolate, so please don’t skip it. Use fine sea salt so that it dissolves fully. Vanilla Extract. Try to use real, pure vanilla extract for this recipe, because again, we’re not cooking it, so the flavor will really shine. Bittersweet Chocolate. Adding 2 ounces of finely shaved chocolate to this chocolate whipped cream takes it to a whole new level, but please know that it’s also optional. You can use a vegetable peeler to shave it or grind it in the food processor. The chunks of chocolate might make it particularly hard to pipe the frosting if you use a small piping tip, so keep that in mind.
The Instructions
If you plan to pipe this chocolate whipped cream using a piping tip, be aware that the chocolate shaving pieces may clog a small tip. Try using a large open star tip for piping to get the best results. Speaking of open star tips, my marshmallow frosting is so pretty on a cupcake like this, too! *Cocoa Powder: Any type of unsweetened cocoa powder works here, but Dutch process cocoa will give this the darkest color. Stabilize: To stabliize this, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of unflavored gelatin powder on top of the cold cream before mixing.
