This mocha buttercream may be the most delicious buttercream I’ve ever made. I wish I could take all of the credit for it, but it is from Carol Bloom’s The Essential Baker
I made the Devil’s Food Cake from The Essential Baker
It is made with whole eggs instead of just egg whites which gives it a lusciously smooth and creamy feel. The coffee and bittersweet chocolate are a perfect match for all of the sugar in the whipped Italian meringue that is the base. This recipe is decidedly more work than a simple Swiss meringue buttercream, but it is so worth it. I think this is my favorite recipe in the book so far. Over all I’ve come to the conclusion that this is a great cookbook and an essential addition to any bakers shelf!
How to Make Mocha Buttercream
See me make this buttercream step by step here and you’ll find the full recipe at the bottom of this post!
In a small sauce pan fitted with a Candy Thermometer,
Place the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and whip on medium speed until they are thick, pale in color and hold a ribbon when the beater is lifted. Once the sugar syrup has reached its temperature of 242° F,
then slowly pour it into the bowl of whipped egg yolks while the beater is going on slow. Be sure to pour it along the bowl so that the hot syrup doesn’t hit the beater and splatter! Allow the eggs and sugar mixture to beat on medium high speed until the eggs have cooled, about 8 minutes.
Add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time.
The buttercream will go through a stage that looks soupy and curdled, but continue to add all of the butter and it will come together.
The finished buttercream will be smooth and silky.
For Mocha Buttercream
Add a tablespoon of water to the espresso powder and dissolve.
Add the melted and cooled chocolate to the buttercream.
Mix to combine and decorate your cake. The buttercream will freeze if you have any left, wrapped really well in plastic. Just allow it to come bake to room temperature and whisk it on low speed to smooth it out.
For Peanut Butter Buttercream
Instead of using the coffee and melted chocolate, use 1 cup smooth peanut butter. It should be a commercial brand like Skippy or Jif, because they are emulsified and have the consistency that you want. Natural fresh ground peanut butter is awesome, but it is heavy and will make the buttercream too greasy and may even separate if you use too much.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
- 2 extra-large egg yolks at room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 lb (2 cups, 4 sticks) unsalted butter softened
To Make it Mocha Buttercream
- 6 oz bittersweet chocolate very finely chopped, melted over a double boiler and cooled to room temperature
- 2 tsp instant espresso powder
- 1 tbsp water
To Make it Peanut Butter Buttercream
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter. It should be a commercial brand like Skippy or Jif. NOT natural/fresh ground
Instructions
- In a small sauce pan fitted with a Candy Thermometer, bring the 1 1/4 cups sugar, water and cream of tartar to a boil over medium-high heat. If any of the sugar crystals get onto the side of the pan, be sure to wipe them down with a wet clean pastry brush. The sugar needs to cook until it hits 242° F on the thermometer. This takes several minutes.
- While that is boiling, place the eggs, egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and whip on medium speed until they are thick, pale in color and hold a ribbon when the beater is lifted.
- Once the sugar syrup has reached its temperature of 242° F, slowly pour it into the bowl of whipped egg yolks while the beater is going on slow. Be sure to pour it along the bowl so that the hot syrup doesn't hit the beater and splatter! Allow the eggs and sugar mixture to beat on medium high speed until the eggs have cooled, about 8 minutes.
- Add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time. The buttercream will go through a stage that looks soupy and curdled, but continue to add all of the butter and it will come together. The finished buttercream will be smooth and silky.
Mocha Buttercream
- Add a tablespoon of water to the espresso powder and dissolve. Add the melted and cooled chocolate to the buttercream.
- Mix to combine and decorate your cake. The buttercream will freeze if you have any left, wrapped really well in plastic. Just allow it to come bake to room temperature and whisk it on low speed to smooth it out.
Peanut Butter Buttercream
- Instead of using the coffee and melted chocolate, use 1 cup smooth peanut butter. It should be a commercial brand like Skippy or Jif, because they are emulsified and have the consistency that you want. Natural fresh ground peanut butter is awesome, but it is heavy and will make the buttercream too greasy and may even separate if you use too much.
I’m thinking of using this as a filling for a wedding cake I will be making in two weeks. Does this buttercream need to be refrigerated due to the eggs? I will need to travel with the cake (3 hours to the location, then set up, and ceremony) so I may go with something different for this event. What do you think?
Hi Marcy,
This icing will hold up well at room temperature for several hours, but if it is going to be in a warm spot or in the sun, it may melt. If you think it is going to be a warm day, then you may want to go with something a little more sturdy.
Thanks, Zoë
yes to your devil’s food cake. what is the right height of the 9 inch pan you call for in this recipe
at this link http://zoebakescom.bigscoots-staging.com/2008/01/06/not-your-average-devils-food-cupcakes/ it bakes in (two?) 8×2 pans
at this link http://zoebakescom.bigscoots-staging.com/2009/05/12/plate-lickingly-good-chocolate-cake-henris-two-birthday-cakes/, a half recipe is in an 8x 3 pan
I am puzzled by the different measurements
I’d like to bake and frost with the mocha buttercream, do i want to bake in two 9×1.5 or 9×2 or 2 8x2s or 2 8x3s
Hi Fay,
Depending on the size, shape or look I am going for, I will often bake my cakes in different pans. The most common cake pan size is probably 9 x 1.5 (or2)-inches, so if that is what you have it will work well.
Thanks, Zoë
hi zoe, what a delicious looking cake
can you possibly clarify:
to make in 9 inch pans, are those 9×1.5 or 9×2 pans?
8 inch pans are 8×2 or 8×3?
(you wrote to bake in 8×2 and yet when halving the recipe, bake in 8×3?)
or does it not matter how tall the pan is?
is there enough icing to halve each layer and turn this into a four layer cake or will i need to make more icing to do that?
Thank you!
Hi Fay,
Are you referring to the Devil’s Food cake? Let me know which recipe and I can try to clarify.
Thanks, Zoë
Dear Zoe,’ I made this buttercream tonight will not use it until a couple of weeks from now, how long is this buttercream good for and can I just keep it in the refrigerator in a sealed glass container or do I need to freeze it. and when you say wrap it well, do you mean get it out of the bowl and pour it in a plastic bag or is it ok in a sealed glass bowl? thank you!!
Hi Carolina,
You want to freeze it or it will go bad in that amount of time. You can freeze it in the glass container or in plastic bags, just make sure it is very tightly sealed. You will have to put it back on the mixer after it is defrosted.
Thanks! Zoë
Yes, indeed, this mocha buttercream is nothing less than outrageous. So glad I found this recipe in time for my husband’s birthday cake. And thanks for the note about freezing buttercream … I’m already looking forward to a batch of chocolate whoopee pies filled with mocha buttercream…
Could this buttercream be made with semi-sweet or milk chocolate?
Hi Larson,
Yes, but you need to use a little less or the buttercream may get too soft.
Thanks, Zoë
Hi Zoe,
This recipe looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it for my mother’s birthday; but there’s one hitch. She is allergic to eggs. Is there any substitute to eggs that I can use? or, do you have any such yummy eggless frosting recipes?
Yum! I just made this buttercream recipe with
My sister. We didn’t have instant espresso so we used instant folgers. The coffee flavor was subtle but overall delicious! next time I would use 2 1/2 tsp of coffee and 1/2 stick less butter. So glad I went with this recipe. FYI do NOT try a buttercream recipe that involves powdered sugar. It is overly sweet and will make u want to puke. Waste of time and money. Zoe got it right! This is light and will leave guests wanting more!
Well Zoe,
Happily the cake turned out great!. After the buttercream cooled in the fridge overnight I used my hand mixer at high speed and got that silky smooth thick(and firm) texture. I kept the cakes in the chiller and covered them in marzipan and fondant. It was a bit tricky, the marzipan started to slide and split the fondant on the largest tier. I wrapped foil tightly around the cake and put it back in the chiller and it came back together. The bride was thrilled with the final result.
Thanks again!
Hi Sonia,
The “art” of being a pastry chef is staying cool under pressure! Sounds like you did exactly that, congratulations, so glad it all went well and the bride was happy!
Cheers, Zoë
Ok , thanks so much. Well wish me luck; one more question, should fondant be OK? I intend to use the buttercream as a filling only and then cover the cakes with marzipan and fondant
Hi Sonia,
Yes, the fondant will be just great. It doesn’t love the humidity, but it holds up very well!
Enjoy and have fun! Zoë
Hi Zoe,
Thanks so much for this delicious recipe! I made it for a wedding cake and have a problem: similar to one of your explanations, the posts, I think the egg whites were too warm still when I added the butter. The flavour is wonderful, and it firms up nicely in the fridge, but my problem is our ambient temperature is really warm and I am worried that as a filling it will melt and have my wedding cake sliding!!! That would not be good at all!! Is there any way to make the mixture more firm(less meltable??)?
Hi Sonia,
This is the problem with using buttercream on a wedding cake. I am facing a similar issue today with a wedding cake that has to travel through 100° weather. I am going to refrigerate it and crank up the airconditioning in the delivery van and then assemble the layers at the venue. Make sure you have lots of support dowels between your layers and it should all go well!
Thanks and enjoy! Zoë
Hi
The instructions say to add the tablespoon of water to the espresso powder and dissolve but do not say whether that is then added to the melted chocolate or to the mixture after the chocolate has been added to the buttercream?
John A
Wow John,
I can’t believe it took this long for someone to bring that to my attention. Thanks! You can add it directly to the buttercream either before or after the chocolate. You don’t want to add it to the chocolate or it might sieze up.
Enjoy, Zoë
hi zoe
thanks so much for the brilliant recipe.i tried your buttercream today and it came out delicious i did add abit more coffee though just to make it darker….its smooth and tasty.
thanks for sharing!!!
I just finished making the mocha buttercream. It is the first time I’ve tried making a mirangue frosting. OUTRAGEOUSLY delicious, and amazingly easy. It could be served as a mousse! I’ve got to get it into the fridge before I eat more of it off of a spoon. I will NEVER go back to powdered sugar and butter again. This is so much better!
Inquiry: Have you halved the recipe? I’d imagine it would still work ok, but I was wondering if you’ve even done it.
Thanks for sharing this. It’s wonderful!
thanks!!
looks wonderful – can you tell me how you bake your devil’s food cake (you have instructions for cupcakes only) – how many layers, 8 or 9 inch cake pans, how long to bake? thanks
Hi Anol,
Here is a post that talks about baking the cakes in rounds: http://zoebakescom.bigscoots-staging.com/?p=2117
Thanks and enjoy! Zoë
Hi Zoë,
I am new to your site and I am very impressed. I made this frosting today to use in the chocolate macarons posted on The Parisian Peanut Butter Cup entry. This frosting is out of this world good! I am one of those people who prefer meringue or whipped cream frostings over buttercream, but this frosting has changed my mind!
I will also be making the peanut butter filling for the macarons, but since I’m testing them out on a couple of French people, I thought I would give them the chocolate option filling as well, since it seems that a lot of Frenchies aren’t fans of peanut butter. I am sure they will be delicious!
Merci!!!
Hi Zoe,
Can a cake frosted with this chocolate buttercream be frozen? Will the consistancy be all right when it thaws?
Thanks for your help.
Karen
Hi Karen,
Yes, you can freeze the buttercream and it is just as good after. Wrap it really well. You need to let it defrost still wrapped. You may mess up any design you made on the cake, but the taste will be great.
Enjoy, Zoe
Hi Zoe!
I just *tried* to make this recipe for the second time. The first time I made the recipe x2 and was successful, everything went as planned, it was so delicious and creamy, I added lemon zest and just splash of fresh lemon juice and it was perfectly tangy and sweet.
This time I tried making it x5 (for a lot of cake!), but I was not successful at all. Everything seemed look the right after I added the sugar, but after I added the butter, the mixture never became curdled, the mixture just remained a warm sugar/egg/butter soup.
Does this recipe not do well when you try to make it in high volume like this? should I just make several regular size batches to achieve the quantity I need?
Hi Stacy,
What size mixer are you using to make a x5 batch? Unless you are using a 20-quart mixer I can’t imagine how you could whip this? If you do have a pro mixer than it may have been that the egg whites were not cool enough when you added the butter and so it just melted, instead of setting up. If you do not have a pro mixer, then I bet you just couldn’t get enough air whipped into the egg/butter mixture.
I hope this helps? As long as you have the right equipment it should work as a larger batch!
Thanks, Zoe
Made this frosting this afternoon for a chocolate cake. So luscious and fluffy and yummy! The flavor is really remarkable. Thank you for sharing the recipe and the very helpful photos.
Hi Zoe,
I am now addicted to your website, even while b/feeding my 4 months old baby i keep on browsing your site. Thank you for the recipes and the details esp the pictures for direction. Just one question, will this be able to hold a fondant to finish my cake?
Hi Zoe!
I just made this recipe and cannot get over how incredibly light & fluffy it is! I’ve only made “American” buttercreams up until now and this was such a treat. Your blog & photos were super helpful!
The only issue I had was that there are a few small pieces of “scrambled egg” in it. Does that happen often…how can I avoid it in the future.
I definitely plan on making this beautiful & delicious frosting again.
Thank you!
Hi Maria,
Next time you make it bring the water in your double boiler to a raging boil, turn off the heat and then put the bowl with the egg/sugar over the steaming water. The residual steam should be enough to melt the sugar into the eggs, without actually cooking them. You also need to stir constantly with a rubber spatula. It amy take a few more minutes but you will not get that scrambled egg in your buttercream.
Thank you so much for trying it! Zoë
Hi Zoe,
1. I don’t have instant espresso powder, but I do have instant coffee, could you tell me how much to use?
2. Will this sit well at room temperature or will I have to refrigerate the cake?
Thank you!
Now my next question is, how do I make the traditional butter cream that is not too sweet (about like this or less) that when cold is almost like unsalted butter that chunks off the side of a cake slice, and when warm is creamy and wedding cake like…. I’d love to learn both, since this is awesome, but is not quite what a wedding cake features… Any help or email to my personal email would be great.
Thanks!
Just made this fabulous buttercream! This is the sort I like, and did not know how to differentiate between Swiss, Italian, standard and on and on… This is fabuloso!!! I just frosted my buche de noel with it. I used a Martha Stewart genoise cake recipe, and then filled it with a mousse I use from a Green & Black’s cookbook. So it’s white cake, chocolate mousse, and mocha buttercream… GLORIOUS and a beautiful, beautiful cake that was worthy of photos!!!!