Chocolate Cake Frosting, another name of which is chocolate cake icing, is a sweet, chocolate-flavored glaze made with sugar, chocolate, and milk or water, optionally enriched with other ingredients like butter, cream cheese, egg white and additional flavorings like vanilla or mint. The icing is used to coat the cake as well as to decorate it.

History of Frosting

Frosting has traditionally been used for cake decoration, and the first recorded recipe can be found in Elizabeth Raffald’s book ‘Experienced English Housekeeper’ of 1769. In 1915, Mrs Fred W. Gurney developed the first butter-cream recipe, and many more recipes were given by Fannnie Farmer in 1918 and 1923. Chocolate icing has been one of the most popular flavors.

Chocolate Cake Frosting Recipe Overview

The simplest form of chocolate cake frosting contains icing sugar, water or milk and chocolate. Additional flavours and colours can be added to this for fancier versions of the icing. The frosting is made by boiling together milk, chocolate pieces and butter. The hot chocolate mix thus obtained is beaten into icing sugar till a smooth consistency is achieved, after which it is spread over the cake by means of a spatula.

Chocolate Cake Decoration with Frosting

Chocolate cake is often a part of special celebrations like birthday, weddings, anniversaries, graduations or bridal showers, and chocolate cake frosting is an important ingredient used for cake decoration with various themes suiting the occasions. The frosting is used to make various types of designs and figures by using a pastry bag. Chocolate fondant is a type of frosting that is often used for sculpting and cake decoration.

Chocolate Cake Frosting Recipe Variations

Variations to the basic chocolate cake icing can be done in many ways. By beating fat into the icing ingredients, a buttercream version can be prepared, while addition of glycerine results in creation of fondant which is often used for decorating and sculpting of cakes and pastries. Cream cheeses and ground almonds are other additions that are quite popular. Here are some common examples of chocolate cake frosting recipe variations-

• White chocolate frosting: For preparing this chocolate cake frosting, milk, butter and sugar are boiled in a saucepan and then vanilla and white chocolate are added, stirring till the white chocolate melts in. The mixture is then beaten to a spreadable consistency and then applied as frosting on the chocolate cake. If the frosting is loose, it should be allowed to cool, and if too stiff, it should be heated before use.
• Chocolate Pecan Frosting:  For preparing this kind of icing, butter, milk and cocoa are heated in a saucepan, and icing sugar and sliced pecans are mixed into this.
• Fudge Frosting: This kind of chocolate cake frosting is made by heating butter and cream in a saucepan and mixing it with finely blended chocolate and vanilla extract.