Chocolate Russian Buttercream
After learning about Russian buttercream earlier this year, I fell in love with this incredibly simple and delicious frosting! I knew I wanted to work on a chocolate Russian buttercream recipe, and I finally got around to it this week.
Despite being made with pretty much just butter and sweetened condensed milk, Russian buttercream frosting isn’t overly sweet or heavy.
The addition of a bit of baking cocoa helps stabilize this frosting and adds a wonderful depth of flavor.
The chocolate pairs so well with the sweetened condensed milk, which gives this frosting a hint of caramel flavor.
I know it sounds crazy, but you’ll understand once you try it. Trust me on this one!
What Is Russian Buttercream?
Russian buttercream is a frosting that’s used on a lot of Russian and Eastern European cakes. It’s an insanely simple recipe that really is just butter and sweetened condensed milk.
To make chocolate Russian buttercream, I add in a hefty portion of cocoa powder. This not only adds a ton of flavor, but it also makes the frosting a bit thicker and easier to work with.
I also like to add a touch of vanilla extract and salt to elevate the overall flavor, but that part is optional.
Making this chocolate Russian buttercream is even easier than my American buttercream recipe, which I didn’t think was possible.
You simply whip the butter up until it’s light and fluffy, carefully mix in the cocoa powder, then slowly incorporate the sweetened condensed milk.
And voila! I love that there’s no powdered sugar involved, because it makes the process a lot less messy.
You do have to be careful mixing in the cocoa powder, though! If you try to mix it in too quickly, you’ll end up with chocolate clouds exploding out of your mixing bowl.
Do I Really Have to Whip the Butter for That Long?
The key to creating that delicately fluffy texture is to beat the heck out of the butter.
I’m talking at least 5 minutes at a medium-high speed with a whisk attachment or hand mixer. This incorporates a ton of air into the butter.
The butter should actually change color by the end of the whipping process and look very white in color, like the photo below.
All the air that’s incorporated into the frosting gives it that silky smooth texture, and a very light mouth feel.
This also helps the frosting taste a lot less sweet and richer. If you’re used to American buttercream, get ready for an entirely different texture and taste.
It’s kind of like a hybrid between Italian meringue buttercream and American buttercream.
Reasons Why Your Russian Buttercream Might Separate or Be Too Thin
While it is insanely easy to make a batch of this chocolate Russian buttercream recipe, that doesn’t mean that things can’t go wrong.
The main issue that I ran into while recipe testing was a soupy, thin frosting.
Reason #1: The Butter is Too Warm
This can happen for a few different reasons.
If your butter is too soft/warm, it won’t whip up as well and will have trouble incorporating all the sweetened condensed milk. This can lead to super soft, thin frosting that won’t hold its shape.
While the frosting in the photo below looks fluffy, you can see it isn’t really thick enough to hold its shape on the whisk attachment.
Right after this photo was taken, that blob of frosting fell back into the bowl. That’s when I knew my butter had been too soft.
I recommend taking your butter out of the fridge an hour before you plan to make this frosting, to ensure it can still hold its shape.
Butter that is properly room temperature shouldn’t be super soft to the touch.
You should be able to make an indent with your finger if you apply pressure, but the butter should still feel pretty firm to the touch.
Reason #2: The Butter is Too Cold
On the other hand, if your butter or kitchen is too cold, it might also throw off the texture of your frosting.
The key is that the butter and the sweetened condensed milk are at the same temperature.
Reason #3: The Sweetened Condensed Milk Was Added Too Quickly
Your frosting might also separate if you try to mix in the sweetened condensed milk too quickly.
It’s super important that you gradually mix it in.
I like to pour it in 3-4 additions, to allow the butter lots of time to incorporate all that sweet goodness.
How to Fix Separated Russian Buttercream
If your frosting does separate, it’s ok. We can easily fix it!
My kitchen is usually pretty warm, so a lot of the time, my frosting separates because my butter gets too soft.
If my buttercream is broken or soupy after I add the sweetened condensed milk, I pop my mixing bowl into the fridge for 20-30 minutes to cool it down.
Then I whip it up again, and it usually comes together right away. If that doesn’t do the trick, continue to repeat this process until it thickens up and comes together.
On the other hand, if you think your butter might have been too cold or your kitchen is cold, I suggest taking a different approach.
Scoop out about a half cup of frosting and place it in a separate bowl. Heat it up in the microwave for 5 seconds, then give it a good stir with a rubber spatula.
Repeat until the little bowl of buttercream is smooth again. Be sure to heat in small increments, so that the frosting doesn’t get too thin!
Add this back into your bowl of frosting, and try whipping it again. Repeat this process until your frosting comes together and is smooth.
How Long Does Chocolate Russian Buttercream Stay Good?
As I’m sure a lot of you know, I am all about making buttercream in advance! This chocolate Russian buttercream is less finicky than my original Russian buttercream recipe, and it keeps well.
If you want to work ahead on a baking project, you can make this frosting in advance.
It can last in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to a month in an airtight container.
While it can be made in advance, you will need to re-whip it with your stand or hand mixer once it comes to room temperature to get it back to the right consistency.
Adding This Frosting to Cakes or Cupcakes in Advance
Adding this chocolate Russian buttercream to a cake or cupcake the day you plan to eat it is best.
However, you can frost a cake or cupcakes in advance!
If you add it to a cupcake or cake ahead of time and chill it in the fridge, it will keep its shape and consistency.
I don’t recommend letting frosted baked goods sit out at room temperature for more than a couple of hours, as the sweetened condensed milk is perishable.
I’ve made layer cakes with this chocolate Russian buttercream and let it sit in the fridge for a few days. The frosting still tasted great, and it didn’t change in texture at all.
One thing to note, this frosting never gets super firm to the touch, and does not crust.
If you think you might need a firmer frosting, check out my buttercream frosting guide.
Tips for Making the Best Chocolate Russian Buttercream
- Use room temperature butter! I suggest taking your sticks of butter out of the fridge about 1 hour before you plan to make the frosting.
- Whip the butter until it becomes lighter in color.
- Slowly add in the sweetened condensed milk to prevent the frosting from breaking.
- Use the frosting shortly after making it.
- If the frosting seems a bit soft, pop it into the fridge for 30 minutes to make it easier to spread on cakes or pipe with.
- This buttercream is stable enough to be piped onto cupcakes, to fill and frost a layer cake, or to pipe onto cookies!
Let Me Know What You Think!
If you try this chocolate Russian buttercream recipe, I’d love to hear what you think of it! Please share a comment and rating below.
And don’t forget to tag me @chelsweets and use #chelsweets so that I can see your delicious creations!
Chocolate Russian Buttercream
Ingredients
Chocolate Russian Buttercream Recipe
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 226g
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste 4g – optional
- ¼ tsp fine salt 1g – optional
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted 100g
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk 396g
Instructions
Chocolate Russian Buttercream
- Whip the room temperature unsalted butter on a medium high speed with a whisk attachment of a stand mixer or hand mixer for 5-7 minutes. The butter should lighten in color as you incorporate air into it.
- Add in the vanilla extract, salt, and sifted cocoa powder mix on the lowest speed until incorporated. If you mix this too quickly, you'll get huge cocoa clouds billowing from your mixing bowl.
- Mix in the sweetened condensed milk at a medium speed, in 3-4 installments.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula throughout the process. The sweetened condensed milk sometimes pools at the bottom of the bowl, so be sure to scrape all the way to the bottom.
- Use to frost layer cakes, pipe on cupcakes, or even to ice cookies. It tastes amazing on just about everything!!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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This looks delicious ?
Thanks Yolandie!! 🙂
Hey! This frosting looks so pretty 🙂 Have you ever tried to dye chocolate frosting? Does it work?
Hi Alexandra,
Thanks so much! Sadly chocolate frosting can’t be colored because it’s so dark, unless you want to make a dark color like black or navy blue frosting <3
Hi, I wanted to know if this can be used to cover a cake
Hi Adela,
It sure can! It works great as cake frosting <3
Hi! I’m from Russia and I was so happy to this recipe here! This looks great! But we don’t often put this buttercream inside the cake, we use it only to frost the cake. Inside the cake we usually put frosting made of heavy cream or sour cream or custard. You need to try it! Also I highly recommend you to do Russian honey cake, you will love it for the rest of your life! I like your cakes!
P.S. I hope I didn’t make many grammatical mistakes
That is so interesting, and sounds absolutely delicious!! 🙂 I definitely want to try both! Do you know a good recipe for either of those that I could try? Please let me know, you can email me at chelsweets@gmail.com <3
@????????? ???????I would love het this recipe of your frosting., I had some at a party and the lady used cream and condensed milk but I have no idea how it will set.
This looks amazing! Can I use this frosting in between the layers of a two tier (6” and 8”) cake?
Hi Deepa,
You can as long as the tiered cake is properly supported and chilled! It can sit out to thaw to room temp, but I wouldn’t let it sit out for more than a few hours <3 Hope that helps, and that your tiered cake turns out great!
Hello I was wondering can i use black cocoa powder?
Hi Angeala,
You totally can, that would taste delicious!
Hi, if I don’t have an electric whipper, is it okay to whip them up with just a hand whisk itself? Also , how long it would take if it was going to be whipped with a normal whisk?
Canadian condensed milk comes in 300 ml cans. 14 oz works out to 414 ml. Should I open an extra can or scale back the butter and other ingredients by 1/3? Have any Canadians made this with one can?
I answered my own question 🙂 – For Canadians use one can of 300mL condensed milk, 3/4 cup butter, 3/4 cup cocoa, 1 tsp vanilla, pinch of salt. The frosting was excellent and not too sweet. I used dutch process cocoa. On its own it was very fudgy and much darker than the frosting pictured above, but it was perfect on the cupcake. Next time, I might use Hershey’s regular cocoa.
Would you post a recipe for those if you have one? They sound delicious.
Referring to the Russian Honey cake and filling.
This buttercream recipe is amazing!
Hi my name is Shehla and I’m from Pakistan, this buttercream looks amazing I will definitely try?
Hi my name is Shehla and I’m from Pakistan, this buttercream looks amazing I will definitely try?
I made this last week for a friend’s birthday and she loved it! Easy to make and decorate on your cake as well. Not too sweet either.
It looks delicious – my question is: can I frost cupcakes or a large cake and then freeze for a future date? I would defrost in a fridge but am not sure if you can freeze a Russian buttercream cake and it keeps still keeps its shape/texture. TiA x
1 can of condensed milk? can i cut the condensed milk?
This is delicious! Thank you for the tips on what to do if it separated, my butter was too warm. I saw the comment above about 3/4 cup of butter to 10 oz can of sweetened condensed milk but I ended up adding the extra quarter cup of butter!
Oh wow, I have just fallen in love with this frosting!!! Thank you so much!
I plan on trying your vanilla one next. Can I add a gel colouring to it, do you know?
If I want to make coffee flavored buttercream, what substitutions can I make in this recipe? Thanks
I made this recipe for coffee cupcakes. I added 3 tablespoons of Kahula to the frosting. Everyone loved it!
Realistically, no you cannot hand whip the butter for this recipe for the time and to the consistency you need for success. It takes 5 – 8 minutes on medium high speed using an electric mixer, so you can see how impractical it would be to try this by hand.
Hi there! May i know how long can i keep the chocolate buttercream in the fridge and in the freezer pls?! Thank you!
Christy 🙂
I want to use this to put between the 2 layers of a birthday cake and then ice the cake with regular buttercream..can I do it the day before..I will not be able to put it in a fridge and I live in a hot place..will it be ok
Conflicted…I loved the idea of this frosting but it was way too bitter for my family’s personal taste. However, I will make again with much less cocoa powder because the consistency was beautiful! I’ve made traditional Russian buttercream and love it too. I love the taste and consistency you’re limited with the piping, but I’m all about the taste on this one!
I made this for the first time tonight. I put it on simple chocolate cupcakes and cupcakes I filled with German chocolate icing. Yum!! I love how simple it was.
So, I tried this recipe over the weekend – I liked It but my family did not. I will say that I did have to use just a small amount of powdered sugar – it was extremely hot and humid here. It piped beautifully. It’s so funny how unsweet it is! Thanks for the recipe
Beautiful and smooth buttercream, I found there was far too much cocoa! (I used Hershey’s too).It was almost black and very bitter. I ended up putting in another approx. 1 cup of icing sugar and a bit of milk, then it was lovely. I would suggest to start with a ¼ cup cocoa and add to your liking.
I want to make it but can’t seem to print this one without printing the whole 20+ pages. The other recipe had a printer option. Am I missing it on this one?
Love everything I have made from this site!!!!
Hi, thank you for this recipe. Is it possible to use half whipping cream and half condensed milk to make this buttercream?
Hi Soraya,
Great question! I haven’t tested this recipe with that combination, so sadly I’m not sure. The sugar in the sweetened condensed milk is what stabilized the frosting though, so I’d be worried that if you use less that the frosting wouldn’t keep its shape.
Boy, am I glad I found this! I needed frosting but had no powdered sugar and no time to run to the store. I had heard sweetened condensed milk could be used for frosting and I had a can of that. This is delicious and so smooth and creamy, I may never use powdered sugar for frosting again! There was plenty of frosting for my 2 dozen cupcakes and everyone loved it. Good job!
So happy to hear that!! It is so refreshing to make buttercream without powdered sugar, I totally feel ya!! Glad you loved this recipe, thank you so much for sharing!
Could this be used as a filling for cupcakes?
Hi Cheryl,
It totally can, it would be delicious as a cupcake filling 🙂 Hope that helps, happy baking!
are you able to use the frosting if you failed to whip the butter enough to start?
Hi Patti,
It’s definitely more difficult to get the consistency right if the butter isn’t properly whipped at the start of the recipe, but if you beat it and can get it to thicken/fluff up after adding in the condensed milk you can still use it! That part can be challenging though, I hope you were able to salvage yours <3
This is my go-to quick frosting for a sheet cake. It’s decadently rich, has a deep dark chocolate color, and not overly sweet. Plus, it’s easier and less messy than ABC! Once it refrigerates for a bit, I find it’s plenty strong enough to be piped. Thanks Chelsea for a great recipe!
Yessss!! It really is so good! Thank you for sharing Jeanne 🙂
Easy enough to make, but you really have to like the taste of condensed milk.
I do have to agree with this, if someone didn’t like the taste of it, this would not be the frosting for them!!
Help. The taste is delicious. When I first made it, it was a great consistency. I put it in the fridge for a 1/2 day, then brought to room temperature and re-whipped. That’s where it fell apart. I ended up using the very soft frosting as a glaze instead of icing. I had even added a cup of powdered sugar. What went wrong?
Worked out great! Thank you!
So happy to hear that Kathy, thank you for sharing!!
Hi could you add cooled melted chocolate instead of coco powder?
Hi Xanine,
I haven’t tested this recipe out with melted chocolate but in theory that could work! If you try it please let me know how it turns out!!
Delicious and smooth! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Yay, so happy to hear that Lin!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Just finished making the chocolate Russian buttercream frosting. Outstanding. I did have trouble with the butter. I left it out all night and apparently, 64° is a cold kitchen so I put it in the microwave and the butter was just right. Frosting was very easy to spread. I found the frosting sweet enough without powdered sugar.
Just one thing. I’m not new to the kitchen but food requiring condensed milk was not something I was brought up on. I knew it was going to be a thick liquid but it was like trying to pour molasses outside in January. It was interesting working with it.
Thank you
Hi Cynthia,
So happy to hear you loved this recipe! This time of year is hard because “room temperature” is so much cooler than it is in the summer! Sweetened condensed milk does have such a thick texture, it is definitely unique 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing!
I tried this recipe on a fudgy cream cheese chocolate cake, and it was delicious! Will definitely add to my go-to recipes.
Sounds like a delicious combination Jamie!! That’s wonderful to hear, thanks so much for sharing 🙂