Best frosting for a chocolate cake?

January 15, 2020 11:52 AM

I'm working with a chocolate cake and wanting to put some frosting on it. Ideas for less-sweet kinds of frosting?

Are there kinds of frosting that are more like whipped cream than like pure sugar? What's the best way to stabilize it? And then I was reading about swiss meringue? But then you have to keep it refrigerated, it sounds like? Will that get gross over the course of, say, 5 days?

I'm interested in the best frosting generally but then also a frosting that will work for this cake right now. We do not have cream cheese in the house, is one issue. We have butter, whipping cream, (backup frosting in a can), and basically your standard pantry of flour, sugar, spices, etc. For flavor options, we have vanilla (I'm leaning this way), frozen cherries, frozen blueberries, strawberries, lemons, oranges, and cocoa. (I wish we had raspberries!)

posted by slidell to Food & Drink (20 answers total)

Just make a chocolate mousse recipe, but cut the sugar until it is not too much for your taste. Once iced you will want to store the cake in the refrigerator.
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:04 PM on January 15, 2020

I always prefer a chocolate ganache - it's just heavy whipping cream and chocolate, no added sugar. There is a bit of a technique to getting it to set up just right, but it's very versatile - it can be poured, cooled and spread/piped, or whipped.
posted by muddgirl at 12:06 PM on January 15, 2020

Melted 72% chocolate stirred into full fat sour cream - add a little corn syrup if you need it sweeter. Holds up nicely, really tangy and not too sweet. Make sure the sour cream is at room temp and chocolate has cooled or you'll get little chocolate chips in the frosting... though maybe that's a feature and not a bug.
posted by Saminal at 12:10 PM on January 15, 2020

I'm fond of just sprinkling a little sifted confectioners' sugar on top at the time you eat the cake. If you want to be fancy, you can make a stencil using some cut or arranged paper before sprinkling the sugar (ideally through a sifter, but you can also put it in a big spoon, hold the spoon over the cake, and gently tap it -- this will be slow if you do it right).

Then you can, if you wish, serve berries and cream on the side. Or just ice cream.

Seriously - try it without frosting! Just have something moist and/or fatty on the side.
posted by amtho at 12:11 PM on January 15, 2020

Another vote for ganache. Alternatively, if you have a berry jam or jelly in the house, split the cake in half and spread jam/jelly on the bottom half, maybe a handful of chopped frozen cherries, and reassemble. This would also be nice with ganache on top of cake, or just dust with confectioner's sugar before you serve.
posted by slightlybewildered at 12:11 PM on January 15, 2020

you're in luck. no need for cream cheese. you want chocolate ganache, and if you want it like whipped cream, go for a 1:2 ratio of chocolate to cream. You control the sugar level with the kind of chocolate you use. Can add additional flavors (mint, orange, cognac, coffee etc) with liqueur or extract. Easy peasy. But 5 days is pushing it just a smidge (for this ratio of cream -- lower cream ratio = more chocolate = more stable), and of course it does need to be in the refrigerator.) I think it'll be ok 5 days at this ratio, though.
posted by fingersandtoes at 12:11 PM on January 15, 2020

I have used this recipe for flour frosting on chocolate cakes to great success.
posted by Kpele at 12:15 PM on January 15, 2020

I love Italian meringue (similar to Swiss meringue and both are much less sweet than American buttercream), but yes I do refrigerate it because the butter component will melt if it gets too warm.

With what you have, a chocolate ganache decorated with dots of whipped cream and cherries!
posted by DoubleLune at 12:20 PM on January 15, 2020

You could just make some stabilized whipped cream and pipe it as rosettes on the top of the cake. or spread it between the layers and on top and add strawberries.
posted by briank at 12:40 PM on January 15, 2020

Whipped dark chocolate ganache is my go-to for not very sweet but very rich cake frosting.
posted by phunniemee at 12:51 PM on January 15, 2020

A mixture of cinnamon and powdered sugar is also interesting.
posted by amtho at 12:58 PM on January 15, 2020

I’m on my phone so can’t link properly, but you want Stella Parks’ fruity stabilized whipped cream: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/08/super-thick-fruity-whipped-cream-recipe.html
posted by la glaneuse at 1:54 PM on January 15, 2020

Also came to suggest ganache. I use this recipe.
posted by yawper at 2:07 PM on January 15, 2020

Okay, you guys are amazing. There are so many good ideas here, and I've done much debating over plain whipped cream (which I love) vs chocolate mousse and ganache and this intriguing ermine / flour frosting. Also I definitely am going to make meringue frosting one of these days. But for today I'm moving forward with that fruity whipped cream (raspberry) that la glaneuse linked in between the layers and (assuming I get to it) ganache for the outer layer. Or maybe just more fruity whipped cream. I'll report back. Thanks!!
posted by slidell at 3:45 PM on January 15, 2020

sour cream frosting is amazing but also god plain unsweetened whipped cream is the best
posted by poffin boffin at 4:04 PM on January 15, 2020

You saw the recipe calls for freeze-dried fruit, not frozen, right?
posted by kate4914 at 4:24 PM on January 15, 2020

Yep, my husband was going to the store so I jumped on the opportunity to have him pick up freeze dried fruit.
posted by slidell at 4:58 PM on January 15, 2020

Thanks devrim. I finally found out what the frosting my grandma made is called.
posted by kathrynm at 6:42 PM on January 15, 2020

Sorry your husband left for the store already, but Helen Evans Brown chocolate frosting from a James Beard Cookbook ticks off all your requirements. It's just semi-sweet chocolate bits and a small amount of sour cream. It really seals up the cake so it stays fresh and crumbly. It offers layers of flavor and texture contrasts, intense chocolate flavor, and smooth mouth feel. Try it on your next chocolate cake.
posted by Elsie at 6:50 PM on January 15, 2020

The day I made the Swiss meringue buttercream with toasted sugar from the Serious Eats recipe, I never made any other frosting ever. Mildly sweet, and so silky and light. Re: melting, I used SMBC on cupcakes for a summer party in San Diego when the cupcakes sat in a box on a table under an awning in ~85 degree weather for at least 4 hours. I've also had cupcakes frosted with SMBC sitting covered on my kitchen counter for an entire weekend in the summer (no direct sunlight) and the frosting held up perfectly (that was an experiment specifically designed to see how long the SMBC would last.) Unless you were leaving your SMBC frosted cake out in direct >75 degree sunlight for hours, it won't melt.

Also, if you have to refrigerate it, all you need to do is put it in a slightly warm oven and watch it for 15 minutes - it goes right back to being silky-soft. SMBC is popular for the very reason that it is delicious AND resilient.
posted by Everydayville at 8:52 PM on January 16, 2020